Lilah by Marek Halter Read Free Book Online Page B

think I did wrong? They’re women like my mother and—’
    â€˜Oh, Sogdiam,’ Lilah said, smiling to stop herself crying. ‘Of course you did what you had to do.’
    As Sogdiam had predicted, Master Baruch forgot the pain in his stomach and his desire for herb tea when he smelt the dish the boy had prepared. For a moment, he allowed himself to be overcome by the aroma of the food. ‘Delicious,’ he murmured, a rapturous look on his face, while Lilah made sure he was comfortable. ‘Exquisite!’
    Sogdiam had helped Lilah to bring in the bowls and place them on the writing chest. His eyes shone with pride. ‘I was thinking of you as I cooked it. Master. And your teeth,’ he added, with a bow.
    â€˜May the Everlasting bless you, my boy, wild as you are.’
    â€˜Wild now, Master,’ Sogdiam said, serious again, ‘but one day you may make a good Jew of me.’
    Master Baruch roared with laughter. ‘It takes more than a dish of turnips and fish to become a child of Israel! But perhaps the Everlasting will make an exception for you.’
    Sogdiam laughed and went out, dancing despite his limp.
    â€˜I didn’t know Sogdiam took such good care of you,’ Lilah observed, as she wrapped a blanket round Master Baruch’s frail shoulders.
    â€˜For a barbarian,’ Master Baruch chuckled, ‘the boy certainly has many qualities. Perhaps the Everlasting has already made an exception for him.’
    Ezra had pushed his stool under the window, and sat there with a scroll across his knees. He had not looked up during this exchange.
    â€˜Master Baruch, can’t you persuade Ezra that he, too, must eat from time to time? The news from Jerusalem won’t be any better if he dies of hunger.’
    â€˜You’re right, my dove. You’re absolutely right. His studies won’t be any better either, I might add. An empty stomach does nothing for the eyes or the ears.’
    â€˜I eat my fill!’ Ezra protested, without looking up.
    â€˜Increase your fill, then,’ Lilah said, annoyed.
    Apparently indifferent to the quarrel that was brewing, Master Baruch closed his eyes as Lilah filled his bowl. But after he had eaten a mouthful, he murmured, in that voice of his that was always obeyed, although it seemed never to give an order, ‘Such is the irony of the Everlasting. We’re gloomy and sick because we received bad news from Jerusalem. Sogdiam does the cooking, and the shadow of Jerusalem no longer pains our stomachs, only our hearts and minds. Is that why Nehemiah failed? Or because the people of Jerusalem no longer have the hearts or the minds to suffer what they’ve become? Lilah is right, my boy. Do honour to our Sogdiam and share my meal.’
    Reluctantly, Ezra resolved to try. After swallowing a few spoonfuls, he seemed to find the food pleasant, and emptied the bowl rapidly.
    Lilah looked at him and smiled. Ezra was like that. Severe, obstinate, tormented by the desire to do the right thing, the correct thing. And sometimes too impatient, too impulsive and unyielding, unconcerned about the realities of life, as if the years of childhood were still with him. But perhaps that was only the result of his faith: according to Master Baruch, he was becoming wiser than any sage, purer than any zealot.
    Ezra became aware that his sister’s eyes were on him. He looked up at her and gave the smile thathad delighted her for more than twenty years, the smile that spoke of the indestructible love that linked brother and sister, uniting them in the same tenderness, like two sounds in harmony on the same lyre, sweeping away all doubt and discord.
    Today, though, Lilah remained deaf to its call. With a pang, she looked at Ezra’s beloved face and thought of her beloved Antinoes. God of heaven! How could she speak the words she had been repeating to herself all night? How could she say to Ezra the phrases she had written on the