Women's Minyan (7 page)

SHEINHOFF
: Bring a cup of tea for your mother.

[
SHEINHOFF
waving her away. In an angry whisper
:] She’s going in a minute! [
FRUME
disappears.
SHEINHOFF
gropes for a chair
.] Sometimes, that woman makes my head spin…. [
sits.
]

SHEINHOFF
: [
indicating a place at opposite end of table.
] Sit in your place, Chana.

BLUMA
: [
standing.
] With a teaspoon and a half of sugar.

CHANA
: Just as I like it. You remembered. [
taking a sip.
] It looks good on you, the head covering, Bluma. [
taking out her gift.
] I brought you a silk one. It’s your favorite color—sky blue. [
BLUMA
doesn’t take it.
] Come, sit.

CHANA
: [
hurt.
] How is your husband? [
no answer.
] Are you…happy?

BLUMA
: [
hedging.
] I accept God’s will. One shouldn’t complain.

CHANA
: In which yeshiva is he learning?

BLUMA
: [
angry
.] He isn’t learning. He has a job in a printing plant. He learns in the evenings.

CHANA
: [
placatingly
.] So you’ll have an income. Not every man has to be a scholar. You’ll have time to raise your children, when they come, God willing.

CHANA
: Blumeleh really? Oh, may God grant you an easy birth at a favorable hour. [
goes to embrace her.
]

BLUMA
: [
repulsing her.
] Ssh! Rav Aaron says we shouldn’t speak of it for the first three months because of the Evil Eye.

CHANA
: Do you believe everything Rav Aaron tells you?

BLUMA
: Who can I believe? You won’t even be here when I need you.

CHANA
: [
sighs.
] I’ve failed you. When you were born, my eldest, I had such plans; I wanted to be the perfect mother….

BLUMA
: Yes. [
with irony
.] You were always so busy being so perfect behind the piles of ironing, the mountains of dishes. You never had time for us. It was a factory…!

SHEINHOFF
: [
cutting her off.
] This is no way to speak to your mother! Besides, this is the way of our world. I’m surprised at you, Bluma!…[
calling
] Shaineleh! Come, take away the cups. [
SHAINE RUTH
enters
.] Go say good-bye to your mother. She’s leaving.

BLUMA
: [
to
CHANA
,
in a whisper.
] I don’t want anyone to know!

SHAINE RUTH
: [
helplessly
.] Good-bye,
Ima
.

CHANA
: [
with mixed emotions
.] Sit with us a moment. [
to
SHEINHOFF
.] Is that all right? [
SHEINHOFF
nods her consent.
CHANA
sits her daughters down on either side of her by the table.
SHAINE RUTH
does so with enthusiasm.
BLUMA
with reservations. All
of
them are conscious of the ghosts of past family gatherings around this table. Pause. To
SHAINE RUTH
.] Tell me, how you are managing with the children?

SHAINE RUTH
: Both grandmothers help me. And Bluma.

CHANA
: Do they talk about me, sometimes?

BLUMA
: They are not big talkers.

SHAINE RUTH
: [
joyously
.] Moishele acts like a yeshiva boy, and Yitzchak’s gotten three inches taller—

CHANA
: My brilliant little Talmud scholars! And my red-headed twins, Ruchele and Faigele? For their beautiful long hair. [
takes out pretty hair clips
.]

SHAINE RUTH
: [
slightly embarrassed
.] We had to cut it short. There was no time to braid it every morning.

CHANA
: Oh, their lovely hair!

BLUMA
: Their hair will grow. They are perfectly fine.

SHAINE RUTH
: [
breaking in.
] Except—Eliahu has asthma.

CHANA
: [
worried.
] What? From when?

BLUMA
: [
angry
.] From when you left. But with his medicine, he’s fine.

CHANA
: [
sadly
.] My children…. Do they wonder…ask…about me?

SHAINE RUTH
: Not like they used to….

BLUMA
: Sometimes.

SHEINHOFF
: Chana, it’s time.

CHANA
: I hope that you bought Moishele and Shmuel Zanvil the bikes for their birthday. That was what they wanted before I—

BLUMA
: Out of the charity Rav Aaron collects for
Aba
, it’s impossible to buy such luxuries.

CHANA
: [
flabbergasted.
] But what about the money I sent them for their birthdays, for all your birthdays, and the money for Chanukah presents every year. Didn’t you get it? [
SHAINE RUTH
:
indicates no
.
SHEINHOFF
looks away.
] And my letters—you read the little ones my letters, didn’t you? Bluma? Shaine Ruth? [
no response. Understanding dawns
.] He didn’t give them to you….

BLUMA
: Father knows what’s right.

CHANA
: I’m not surprised they don’t ask about me…

SHEINHOFF
: Chana, you have no idea what went on here. It was the price we had to pay to help the children heal. Please, go now. Quietly.

CHANA
: [
to herself, absorbing the full impact.
] Two years. Not a single letter…. not one birthday present…. nothing. [
to
SHEINHOFF
,
accusingly.
] To make them think
I’d
forgotten them.

CHANA
: You lied to me, Mameh Goldie. My children are not fine. They’re suffering. [
urgently, pleading.
] You must let me see them. Just for a few minutes. What harm could I do to them in just a few minutes? I will just tell them that I never stopped thinking about them and loving them, and then I’ll go. No one has to know! Please, I’m begging you, in the name of that love we’ve always felt for each other. I can’t leave this way…!

GITTE LEAH
: So
we’ll
leave.

FRUME
: You’re right, daughter. Come girls.

ETA
: Come Tovah, the time is short and the work is tall…long…great—

CHANA
: [
shouting.
] No! No one is going anywhere until I see my children!

GITTE LEAH
: Come, come. It’s time to go, girls. Let her sit here and wait for her police to come rescue her. Unlike her, I have a family waiting for me.

SHEINHOFF
: [
getting up
.] Adinaleh, we’ll also go. There’s nothing more we can do to help her…

CHANA
: [
desperately.
] Wait! Wait a minute. I have an idea. Maybe…maybe we can make some kind of deal.

GITTE LEAH
: A deal? What is this, the marketplace?

ETA
: [
to
TOVAH
.]
Vus is dus
(what is this)? What does she want?

TOVAH
: To make a sale…. [
shrugs.
]

SHEINHOFF
: Quiet! Why is it impossible to listen and speak like human beings? Chanaleh, what are you suggesting?

CHANA
: [
thinking fast.
] “Deal” is not the right word. I can’t think of the right word just now…. But all of you want me to leave here quietly, true? I understand that, and I’ll go, I promise, only listen to me first. That’s all I ask.

GITTE LEAH
: That’s your deal? It’s no wonder your clothing business went bankrupt.

FRUME
: She thinks that we’re merchandise that she can buy or sell.

SHEINHOFF
: [
concerned.
] That’s what you want Chana, to talk?

CHANA
: Yes, and for all of you to listen, honestly. It’s not much. All I ever wanted in life was to be a mother. You’ve stolen the dearest wish of my soul. Don’t I at least deserve the right to change your minds? Aren’t you at least curious to know the truth?

GITTE LEAH
: Yankele told the truth to the Rabbinical Court.

CHANA
: Did you hear what he said?

GITTE LEAH
: A God-fearing woman doesn’t get mixed up men’s business.

FRUME
: My wise daughter. [
to
CHANA
.] And the Rabbis judged you and found you guilty and gave you your divorce.