How could she make life fair for her twins?

“D

id you say frumofficejob654321@gmail.com?” Gila asks, pen poised in her hand. Doubt colors her tone. “Sounds a bit… strange, no? Do you even know which office this is?”

There’s a scuffle in the background, muffled voices conferring. Then Shifra’s back. “Aidy says it’s normal, loads of businesses hire like that these days. Anyway, this isn’t my first choice or anything, just a backup.”

A backup of the backup, Gila thinks wryly as she heads for the computer to send off Shifra’s résumé, again. Not that she’s complaining; Gila’s all for taking responsibility. And Shifra, of course, is the epitome of responsibility. Now, if only…

Her phone rings again. Aidy. Gila smiles to herself.

See? Nothing to worry about. Of course Aidy’s going to take care of her job applications. She’s probably calling about that now.

“Ma?” Her daughter sounds breathless. “Basically, it’s our last out-Shabbos this week, can you believe it? And we wanna go somewhere amaaazing, you know? I mean, who knows when we’ll be back here in Israel? So I was thinking, you know we have those second cousins in Herzliya? Do you think they would have room for five of us — no wait, sorry, what did you say, Bassie? Debby and Aliza wanna come also? — okay, Ma, so seven. We’ll help out, we won’t be a bother, I—”

“Aidy,” Gila interrupts. “Bobby’s second cousins are in their nineties. I think they live in a tiny apartment in Herzliya” Gila asks, pen poised in her hand. Doubt colors her tone. “Sounds a bit… strange, no? Do you even know which office this is?”
There’s a scuffle in the background, muffled voices conferring. Then Shifra’s back. “Aidy says it’s normal, loads of businesses hire like that these days. Anyway, this isn’t my first choice or anything, just a backup.”
A backup of the backup, Gila thinks wryly as she heads for the computer to send off Shifra’s résumé, again. Not that she’s complaining; Gila’s all for taking responsibility. And Shifra, of course, is the epitome of responsibility. Now, if only…
Her phone rings again. Aidy. Gila smiles to herself.
See? Nothing to worry about. Of course Aidy’s going to take care of her job applications. She’s probably calling about that now.
“Ma?” Her daughter sounds breathless. “Basically, it’s our last out-Shabbos this week, can you believe it? And we wanna go somewhere amaaazing, you know? I mean, who knows when we’ll be back here in Israel? So I was thinking, you know we have those second cousins in Herzliya? Do you think they would have room for five of us — no wait, sorry, what did you say, Bassie? Debby and Aliza wanna come also? — okay, Ma, so seven. We’ll help out, we won’t be a bother, I—”
“Aidy,” Gila interrupts. “Bobby’s second cousins are in their nineties. I think they live in a tiny apartment in Herzliya, and they don’t speak any English.”

“Oh.” Aidy contemplates that for a moment, then perks up again. “But maybe they know someone else there? Or do they have kids? I don’t care about the Hebrew, I know enough of the language by now.” She giggles. “And if not, Shifra will talk to them. She literally could pass as an Israeli.”

In the background, Aidy’s twin protests. Gila smiles. She missed her girls. It’ll be good to have them back.

“Okay, you know what, Ma, Bassie has a different idea, we’re gonna see…” Aidy’s voice segues to gibberish; she must have moved away from the window. A moment later, the phone beeps in her hand.

“What about your résumé?” Gila asks the air.