Donkeys and goats, Jews and Arabs mingled in the streets, but I was no longer fazed

Elka

I hurried down the hard-packed, rocky roads, a bag with Papa’s lunch clutched tightly in my hand. Papa had forgotten his sandwich this morning in the rush to get to yeshivah, and with Dovid staying in yeshivah for lunch, there was no one else to bring Papa his food. If I didn’t get there soon, though, Papa would be in the middle of working on something, and he didn’t like to stop until he was finished. He says that way the product comes out better. So I hurried along the path, nodding quickly at friends and neighbors as I passed.

Donkeys and goats, Jews and Arabs mingled in the streets, but I was no longer fazed. In fact, at this point I was so used to them, I didn’t even notice them. Finally, the marketplace came into view and I turned automatically toward the door of Papa’s shop. As my eyes grew used to the dimmer lighting, I looked around for Papa. Akeem was there, sitting on a chair, but I didn’t see Papa at all.

“Akeem?” I called.

“Elka,” Akeem said, looking up.

“Do you know where my father is?” I asked, holding up the bag in my hand, “I wanted to give him this.”

Akeem pointed somewhere behind me, and I turned around to find Papa fast asleep on the deep wide windowsill, the one I usually sat on when Papa and I schmoozed. Poor Papa, he must have been really tired to fall asleep like that. For a few moments I watched as his chest rose and fell to the rhythm of his breathing, the light filtering through the window and falling across his chest. Would Papa want me to wake him up?  His food was here, and he always wanted to rush through work so he could have more time to learn in the evenings. Should I wake him?

“I already tried.” Akeem seemed to read my mind and answered my unasked question. “He must be very tired, because he didn’t hear me.”

I looked around at the tidy shop. It was usually very neat; the disarray indicated how tired Papa must have been. Usually, the first thing he did upon coming into the shop each day was to straighten it up. Almost without thinking, I began to gather the tools that lay haphazardly around the shop. As my fingers worked to lay them down neatly on the workbench, I made up my mind to clean up and then ask Akeem to wake Papa again.