Upon the Head of the Goat by Aranka Siegal Read Free Book Online

me.
    â€œIt’s all right, little lamb, some things are hard for all of us. That is the way it goes with life.” She wiped away my tears with the hem of her apron. “Here, I have something to take away the sadness of parting.” She reached into her apron pocket and brought out a small box, opened it, and lifted out the garnet earrings she had given me for my birthday.
    â€œYou forgot about these, didn’t you? Well, I want you to take them home with you and wear them on special occasions so that you’ll remember your Babi.” Her worn brown fingers shook as she hooked them through my earlobes. When she had finished, she smoothed my face first with tender fingers, then with her own face, which she rubbed against mine. I tried to say goodbye, but the words would not come out. I kissed her wrinkled face, hoping that she would understand. Rozsi picked up the large suitcase and one of the baskets. I picked up the remaining two, thankful for the excuse to turn away from Babi and start moving.
    â€œI’ll come back right after I’ve put Piri on the train, most likely in time for lunch, if the train is not late,” Rozsi said. Babi walked down to the road with us. “Godspeed,” she called after us.
    Fifteen minutes later we stopped to rest and I turned to look back at Komjaty. Babi’s house seemed so small in the distance. I wondered if she were still standing in the road, trying to see us.
    â€œBabi isn’t in the road,” I said to Rozsi.
    â€œNo, she went back in just after we left. Come on, let’s move. We’ll stop again soon,” Rozsi urged as she looked toward the forest. The leaves on the maples and oaks skirting the road had just begun to turn their autumn bronze, yellow, and red, and the forest evergreens contrasted harshly with the bright colors. In the distance I could hear the rushing waters of the Rika. Soon we were closed into a separate world by the walls of the forest and the sound of the water; no sight or sound from the outside penetrated this world.
    We rested on the bank of the river. I looked down into the water, watching the swiftly flowing current. We could not hear each other above the noise, but Rozsi took a pendant watch out of the bosom of her dress, checked the time, and motioned that we should start walking. I was grateful to move on. My thoughts drifted back to that early spring day when I had seen the uniformed bodies floating in the water. With Father and Lajos in the army, my imagination was creating awful pictures. Why did I think of such terrible things, I wondered.
    Coming out into the open clearing with the bright sun and blue sky to greet us lightened my mood. The Komlos station was in sight. “We made good time,” said Rozsi, checking her watch, “It’s only ten o’clock.”
    The big coal-burning train came screeching down the tracks with large clouds of black smoke puffing from its smokestack. The wheels stopped abruptly, and we picked up the baggage and climbed aboard. After I was settled, Rozsi went to talk to the conductor about looking after me and helping me off the train in Beregszász. Then she hugged and kissed me goodbye and gave me instructions. “Take care of yourself,” she called over her shoulder as she left the train.
    The whistle blew and the wheels began to turn. I leaned out of the window to wave goodbye to Rozsi and Komjaty.

BEREGSZÁSZ

6
    I T WAS EXCITING to be back in Beregszász; the big houses and city people generated a kind of energy that was absent in Komjaty. My whole family turned out to welcome me at the train station. Mother, Lilli, and Iboya carried off the suitcase and baskets. I ran over to Manci and Sandor, who were standing near the baby buggy.
    â€œShe is big, not the way I pictured her,” I said. Joli cooed and waved her arms. With her sparkling blue eyes and square shoulders, she resembled Sandor and my father; the three of them made their