The city street was sticky and hot. All along the street the windows of the empty houses on the block winked. Everyone was up in the country everyone except for the Schwartzes! Summer was drawing to a humid close and Malki was starting to feel desperate. Malki didn’t stop dreaming but now that she was in seventh grade so much older and wiser this time the dream was not for her. It had all begun on Seder night. Malki’s mother sat at the Yom Tov table looking like a beautiful but very tired queen. Malki’s mother was always tired. She would rise at seven singing to get the children ready for school and prepare breakfast and sandwiches. Then she would work all day come home and still help with homework mend bruised knees and feelings and then serve yummy tasty suppers. As Malki read about Yetzias Mitzrayim she dreamed of her mother having her own neis.