“It’s possible,” Shayndel said.
“Who knows,” said Zorah.
Esther, too tired to sit up any longer, rested her head on the table.
“That’s it, my friends,” said Shayndel. “Time for bed.”
They walked outside to say good night.
Leonie kissed them all, cheek after cheek. When she got to Tedi, she whispered, “What do you smell?”
Tedi held her close and said, “Pine trees and lavender.”
Tedi lifted Zorah off the ground in a bear hug.
Esther put her forehead to Shayndel’s and said, “Bless you.”
Shayndel hugged her and said, “Enough, already. We will see each other in the morning.”
Esther led Jacob away, serenaded by a melancholy chorus of “Good night.”
Shayndel and Leonie, Tedi and Zorah walked back to their room and dropped into bed like leaves falling from the same tree. Even Zorah slept like a child, soundly and deeply throughout the night. And each of them saw wild and dappled visions in her dreams.
Shayndel floated on a wooden raft in the middle of a lake surrounded by willow trees and birches. She dipped her finger in the sweet water and brought it to her lips.
Zorah soared in a white winter sky, like a hawk, weightless on the wind. Then, suddenly, she was on the ground watching as a great bird flew into the distance.
Tedi sat at a table piled high with fruit that glistened like polished stones, far too beautiful to touch, much less eat. She saw a loaf of brown bread and bowed her head.
Leonie walked into a quiet room with a child-sized bed. Her name was carved on the headboard, and when she lay down, she found it fit her perfectly and fell into a second dream of open windows and sunlight.
Farewell
Shayndel smiled blankly at the handsome young woman who sat down across from her. It took her a few seconds before she recognized the girl in the dark green blouse. “Is that really you?”
Zorah’s hair had been smoothed into a chic little bun that revealed a pair of high, round cheekbones. Her eyes, the circles and shadows erased by a good night’s sleep, shone like polished onyx. “I look ridiculous, I know,” said Zorah, “but this girl pulled me into her room and refused to let me out until she, well, until this.” She waved her hands around her head as though she were shooing gnats.
“You look beautiful,” said Tedi, as she and Leonie joined them.
“Don’t be silly,” said Zorah.
“Not at all,” Leonie exclaimed. “Did you see yourself in a mirror? Whoever chose that blouse for you is an artist. From now on, you must wear only that color.”
Esther shrieked when she saw Zorah. “I knew it.”
As they settled down to eat, Shayndel asked, “Did you sleep well?”
Esther answered, pronouncing the Hebrew words as precisely as she could, “I do not remember so good a sleeping.”
“Me as well,” Zorah said. “Better than ever.”
“Yes,” they all agreed and filled their mouths with bread and salad to avoid talking about the rest of the day.
A thin man with powerful forearms stepped into the dining hall waving a newspaper over his head. “Seligman,” cried the people at the other tables. “What does it say?”
“Comrades,” he announced, “we are on the front page in the Palestine Post, so that even the English know what’s up. And here, my friends, is what Ha’Aretz has to say.
“Two hundred and eight Maapilim Were Freed by Force from Atlit,” he read.