One day soon, I would miss a lot of learning time and there was no way I’d be able to hide that from Mama

Elka

M

ama had to practically push me out the door into the fresh morning air that first day of school. I grabbed Leiba’s hand, took my books and food, and waited at the corner for Faiga. And then we walked. And walked. And walked. I’m glad it’s morning, I thought as I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Even with the morning breeze, the heat was already getting to me.

“Come on, Bracha.” Faiga tugged at her sister’s hand. “If you walk so slowly we’re going to be late on the very first day.”

Bracha was practically running to keep up. I looked down at Leiba and saw that she was struggling not to fall behind. “Can we slow down?” I asked Faiga. “How much longer is the walk, anyway?”

“We’re 20 minutes away,” Faiga replied, “and with the way these kids walk, it will probably take us a half-hour. I didn’t think of that when we left, or I would have left earlier.”

I looked over at Miriam, trying to catch her eye, but she was looking the other way. In Kovno, my school was only a short walk away, and it was pretty close in Chevron, too. But it looked like here in Yerushalayim, I’d have to walk over half an hour to get to school each day.

We reached the school gates exactly on time, and Faiga rushed to show Leiba and Bracha their classroom before we headed to ours. On the way, she pointed out Miriam’s classroom, but we didn’t have time to watch her go in.