The List of the Mothers
Published in Issue #20 Translated from Hebrew by Ruth Rowinski(Excerpt from a Novel)
subscribe to unlock the full story
1945
The detainee was unsure whether to let hope sneak into his heart, and although he wholeheartedly wanted to avoid disappointment, he could not resist asking himself time and time again: Will she come? Will she be at his side at his most desperate hour? Or perhaps she is better off without him, and alone he would face the scornful, hate-filled crowd, primed to tear him apart.
Through the bars of the cage he could see the fickle season – winter had passed, yet still, gray frost hung from the gutters and sparkled like pearls between the worn sidewalk tiles. Bucharest was readying itself for another cold, late-March evening, and even the last rays of twilight sun did nothing to warm the passersby. Gypsies wrapped in colorful wool shawls wandered around selling tiny blue hyacinths, a promise of spring that refused to arrive, on the street corners and along the banks of the Dâmboviţa, which was raging in the cold wind, alternately raising green and brown currents that were stopped on the right and on the left by stone walls.
A rickety cart pulled by two horses, one a yellowish color with a sickly appearance and the other dark brown and wounded by the lashes of the whip, traversed the main road, its wheels clattering over the smooth, round cobblestones. Automobiles hardly impeded its progress, and its jolting cargo drew the attention of passersby. Wearing checkered woolen skirts and carrying books and notebooks covered in brown paper against their chests, the...
Subscribe now to keep reading
Please enter your email to log in or create a new account.