Read Online Upon the Head of the Goat by Aranka Siegal - Free Book Online Page A

play out some of the parts.”
    Mother and Mrs. Gerber’s conversation turned to food rationing, and Lilli excused herself to take a walk to the tobacco store. She returned with a newspaper, holding up the front page for Mother and Mrs. Gerber to read. The headlines were twice the usual size: HUNGARY JOINS GERMANY TO INVADE RUSSIA. Judi and I left the shade of the chestnut tree and read over our mothers’ shoulders.
    â€œLucky for us that Mr. Kovacs is past forty,” Mother said. “He will be able to continue to run the store for us. Without him, we’d lose our weekly income.”
    â€œWith this general draft in effect, there won’t be many men left,” commented Mrs. Gerber. “Hitler has come to claim his payment for helping the Hungarians take back Ruthenia and the Czechoslovak and Ukrainian lands. He’s going to leave Hungary a country of old men, women, and children.”

9
    I N SEPTEMBER I entered the fifth grade. Gymnastics were extended to two hours a day. “Soon you won’t have time to learn,” Mother commented when I told her about it.
    â€œThey are training them for the army,” said Lilli.
    â€œBite your tongue,” was Mother’s quick reply.
    Iboya joined a subdivision of the Red Cross in charge of individual street detail. They enforced blackout drills by inspecting all of the windows, and they were also trained in first aid.
    Toward the end of the month a postcard came from Father saying that his company was being transferred and would pass through Beregszász on or about October 6. Mrs. Gerber appeared with a similar postcard from her husband. She and Mother pooled their rations over the next few days and bought as much flour, sugar, eggs, and butter as they could. They made us pick the walnut tree clean. We peeled the outside green covering off the nuts until our hands were stained jet black. Mrs. Gerber and Mother sat on the porch, cracking the hard shells and chopping up the walnut meats, which were still moist with milk. There was no time to let them dry out.
    Lilli’s hands became busier than I had ever recalled seeing them. She rolled and filled strudels with nuts and sugar and grated lemon peel from morning until dark. Mother piled the split logs into the bread oven, lit them, and after they had burned down, filled the oven with all the pastries they had prepared.
    At dawn on the morning of October 6, our two families went to the main railroad station at the other end of Beregszász, to sit on the benches with our bundles and wait for the train that would pass by with Father and his men. Jumping up every time a train moved over the tracks, Mother talked to all the conductors and attendants, hoping to get some information. They had none. When it grew dark, Lilli, Iboya, Judi, and I took the children and went back to our houses while Mother and Mrs. Gerber continued their vigil, taking naps in turn and watching the bundles. We returned to the station in the morning with breakfast for them. They looked tired but refused to go home to freshen up while we remained at the station. We went through the same routine for three more days until, disheartened, Mother and Mrs. Gerber were finally persuaded by the train officials to return to their homes.
    That night after we had all fallen asleep, Mother was awakened by a knock on her window. By the time she had wrapped her robe around her and looked out the window, Father was knocking on the guest bedroom door at the back of the house, waking Lilli and Manci. Soon we were all crowded around him. Mother picked Joli up so she could meet her father for the first time. In spite of the hour and the confusion, Joli seemed to understand that this was her moment. Mother handed her to Father, and she snuggled into his arms and stroked his prickly face. Wanting to be held too, Sandor began to call, “Daddy, Daddy,” to get Father’s attention. Still holding Joli, Father sat down on the