Until the Dawn's Light

Until the Dawn's Light by Aharon Appelfeld Read Free Book Online

Book: Until the Dawn's Light by Aharon Appelfeld Read Free Book Online
Authors: Aharon Appelfeld
him in front of everyone, and said, “We Jews stand by one another.”
    The word “Jews,” as it left the tall man’s mouth, startled those in attendance with its simple clarity. Most of them were converts. “Ida couldn’t bear it any longer,” Blanca’s father said, removing his hat.
    The tall man, whose heart was touched by Blanca’s father’s distress, said, “You mustn’t fear. Death redeemed her from her sufferings, and we must accept the judgment.”
    “True,” said her father, although he was put off by the man’s confident tone.
    “Life after death is a life with no suffering. All our sources speak of that explicitly and simply.”
    “I didn’t know,” said her father in the voice of a man who has been beaten.
    “There is no reason to worry,” the man said in a different tone of voice. “The condition of the Jews in this region isn’t splendid, but we stand by one another. We shall support you. We won’t let you fall.”

13
    DURING THE SEVEN-DAY mourning period, Blanca’s father sat in the living room with a skullcap on his head, distractedly receiving the few visitors. That quiet man, who had said little over the years, now spoke at length, mainly about his late wife, whose many talents were never properly expressed. He spoke about her musical ear, about her talent for writing, and he showed the visitors the landscapes in the living room, which she had painted when she was in high school. Blanca sat with him all morning, prepared his meals, and at noon she returned to her home. The hours in the company of her grieving father brought her surprising consolation. More than once she was on the verge of telling him about the harsh insults that were her lot at home, but seeing that he was completely immersed in his grief, she didn’t dare. Mourning cut off his ordinary life, a life of sorrow and worry about the coming day, and brought him to a world that was all mercy. Blanca, having no alternative, was forced to take care of all the practical matters: preparing to sell the house, paying his debts. Blanca’s father didn’t realize what distress his daughter was in, and he would say, “You’re still young, and your life lies before you.”
    Adolf would return late at night and whip her with his belt. Now he didn’t hit her in anger, but with the intention of hurting her. “We have to uproot all your weaknesses from you and all the bad qualities you inherited from your parents. A woman has to be a woman and not a weakling.” In bed he behaved like an animal, turning her over like a mattress, and afterward he would get out of bed, drink some brandy, and say, “What kind of woman are you? You don’t know how to be a woman.”
    “What should I do?” she asked, trembling. All her efforts to please Adolf were in vain. He hit her and cursed her.
    “What do you want from me?”
    “To be a woman and not a Jewess.”
    “I’m not a Jewess anymore.”
    “One baptism’s not enough, apparently.”
    She would cry, and her weeping drove him crazy. He would throw a tantrum and curse her and her ancestors, who didn’t know how to live right, bound up with money and flawed in character.
    On Sundays his brothers and friends would fill the house; they would guzzle and gobble and finally sing and dance in the yard until late at night. The next day she would get up early to make Adolf his morning coffee. After he left the house, dizziness would assail her, and she would sink to the floor, ravaged.
    When she could no longer keep it all in, she told something of it to her father.
    “Everything isn’t going so well at home.”
    “Why not?” her father asked, with a kind of obtuse surprise.
    “Adolf isn’t the way he was.”
    “Everything will work out. You mustn’t worry,” her father replied superficially.
    Blanca’s father’s debts proved to be many. The head of the Himmelburg burial society did keep his promise, and every week he brought some food and a bit of money, but where would her

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