They promised her, and they’ve done all they could to make it happen, but now their way forward is blocked

First they make sure their sweet little resident spy is fast asleep, and only then does Shifra leave her vanilla cream, wash her hands, and tiptoe into Gedalya’s little home office.

“Close both doors,” he whispers. “Here, and the one to her room, too.”

Shifra laughs. Surely Tovi can’t hear them now, when she’s asleep, and with her hearing device off for the night.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “She can’t possibly hear us.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” says Gedalya. “Sometimes I think she has the power to attract sound waves. At least when it comes to our voices.”

He sits down and spreads some papers out on the desk.

“Information from a ‘Parents of Children with Microtia’ Group,” he says. “Katz printed it out for me in the office. Have a look.”

On the first page there’s a picture of a little girl in a pink dress, with a bright blue sky behind her. “This is Jeanette, our two-year-old,” a father from Florida reports. “She’s absolutely perfect. When she’s older, we’ll let her choose whether to do reconstruction or not.” The child has Grade 3 microtia; only a sliver of ear shows on her right side, where her flowing dark hair is pulled back.

Next is Jorge, a 30-year-old man from Barcelona. He chose not to have reconstruction. “I’m fine with the way G-d created me,” he declares.

Shifra pushes the papers away. Lessons in emunah from a Spanish non-Jew aren’t what she’s looking for.

Gedalya moves on to the next page. He hovers over the garbled translation Katz added for him.

“Gedalya,” she says.

He says nothing.

“Gedalya, I don’t want to read this.”

Silence.

“Jeanette from Florida and Jorge from Barcelona aren’t going to be in shidduchim. They can go around without an ear and talk as high and mighty as they want.” At this moment, Shifra hates Jorge from Barcelona with a passion. “You do realize that seven or eight years from now, if Tovi goes into shidduchim with perfect hearing and two normal-looking ears, she’ll be considered a great catch, right?”

“I don’t see it that way,” Gedalya says, shaking his head vaguely. “If we believe that shidduchim are made in Shamayim, then how can this ear surgery affect her prospects one way or the other? What’s bashert is bashert.”

“Gedalya! What are you thinking? That we can call off the surgery now? We’ve already gotten passports and applied for a visa! And we’ve paid a huge advance for the operation!”

“Yes,” he concurs, avoiding her eyes. “And I can’t do any more.”