“I’m not going anywhere with Aunt Ita. Not even from the Kiryah to Ramah Beit. She’s an old grouch!”

“This isn’t happening to us,” Shifra says.

She’s resting in bed, wearing her new top, a Yom Tov gift Gedalya urged her to buy. But the blue fabric and the shining pearls aren’t having the desired effect. Simchah is not what she’s feeling.

“This isn’t happening,” she says weakly. From outside the door, she hears the children rumbling around, chattering, arguing. Soon her sister and brother-in-law will be here, they’re coming to spend Shvii shel Pesach with her and the kids. Gedalya’s going to Yerushalayim. She insisted on his going, not wanting him to miss the reenactment of Kri’as Yam Suf at the main beis medrash.

“It is happening to us,” Gedalya says firmly as he opens the closet door. He takes out a shirt, a pair of socks. “This is what Hashem wants, for me to go with Tovi.”

“But you don’t know English.” The latest message from Dr. Barclay’s clinic had stated emphatically that the child must be accompanied throughout her stay in the hospital by an adult who speaks English well.

“I was thinking we might find someone in the kehillah there who could act as our interpreter,” Gedalya says.

“It has to be someone Tovi feels comfortable with.”

“Maybe a woman, then?”

“I’m not going to America with Aunt Ita!” With those words, the door suddenly swings open. “Ima! Who came up with these ideas? Chaimke says you’re sending me with Aunt Ita!”

“We don’t burst into a room like that,” Gedalya informs Tovi. “Especially not the parents’ room. Go out, please, close the door, and knock properly.”

Tovi goes out, almost slamming the door. Her knuckles rap out an impatient staccato.

“I’m not going anywhere with Aunt Ita,” she announces immediately upon admission to the room. “Not even from the Kiryah to Ramah Beit. She’s an old grouch!”

“We don’t talk that way,” Gedalya remarks dryly.

“Fine,” Tovi says. “So, considering the fact that my saintly great-aunt has weathered 70 winters and one spring, I fear that due to her advanced age and stern disposition, I shall not feel comfortable traveling with her for my surgical procedure.”

Shifra can’t keep from laughing. Even Gedalya lets a smile slip through.