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

own group in the family.
    When we got to Gyár Street, I was grateful to find it deserted as I was not ready to face my friends. Mother closed our gate and walked us into the kitchen. Iboya and Lilli took the children into our bedroom.
    â€œYou must be hungry,” Mother said, as she removed the stove ring under the red enamel pot, exposing it to the coals. A few minutes later she dipped a spoon into the simmering mixture and filled a plate with hot pörkölt. The sight of large chunks of veal held together by a thick paprika gravy made my mouth water. “Eat first,” she urged. “Then you can wash, change your clothes, and go out to see your friends.” I savored the tender and spicy pörkölt, so different from Babi’s bland dishes. As I finished, Lilli, holding the baby, appeared in the doorway.
    â€œMother wants to transform you back into a city girl,” she said, as she handed Joli over to her. Cradling the baby in her left arm, Mother sat down in the armchair beside the kitchen table, and with her right hand, opened her blouse. Joli turned her attention to the breast and Mother caught my eyes watching intently. “She sucks the way you eat,” she said jokingly, “anxious for every drop. Come to think of it, you nursed the same way.”
    Mother watched as Joli grew drowsy in her arms. After a few more minutes, she rose with the baby and walked toward her bedroom to put Joli down in the crib. When she returned to the kitchen, she filled the tub with water from large pots that had been warming on the stove, and I sat down in it. Holding a bar of soap in her left hand and the brush in the other, Mother proceeded to rub and scrub, determined to get me clean and shining. She even tried to wash the dark bruises off my bony legs.
    â€œThey are from the heavy water buckets hitting up against me as I carried them from Tercsa’s well,” I explained.
    â€œAnd climbing and falling,” added Mother.
    â€œI am going to miss Komjaty,” I reflected.
    â€œI think I got you home just in time or you would have turned into another Rozsi.” Mother studied my face. “What does Rozsi do all day while my mother is out in the fields?”
    â€œShe looks after the chickens, geese, and ducks; she gathers eggs, milks the cows, gives them water, works in the vegetable garden, cooks, and takes Babi her lunch if she doesn’t come home for it. She cleans the house and sings,” I finished.
    â€œSings? Doesn’t she talk to anybody all day?”
    â€œThere is nobody around during the day.”
    â€œWhat about the girls across the road—Molcha’s sisters?”
    â€œThey are busy during the day helping their mother around the house. Rozsi talks to Babi in the evening when they sit and sew.”
    â€œBut she needs to be with people her own age,” Mother commented, as she gave my elbow a hard scrub.
    â€œShe visits with neighbor girls on the Sabbath. They all get together then.”
    Mother and Lilli exchanged glances. I stood up in the tub, and Lilli poured clean rinse water over my sudsy body. At that point, the two little ones came into the kitchen, their hands covered with wet sand. They giggled at seeing me undressed. Manci looked into the tub and rinsed her hands, Sandor copied her; they giggled again and ran out of the kitchen.
    I bent over and Mother poured warm water on my head. Cupping the soap in the palm of her hand, she began to vigorously lather my scalp and hair. After two such soapings and several clear rinses, Lilli brought over the final vinegar rinse, which Mother slowly drained through my matted hair.
    â€œThere, your hair finally squeaks and shines again, the way it should,” Mother said, wrapping it up in a towel. I put on the dress Lilli had picked out for me, and went to sit in the yard. Mother fine-combed my long hair and clipped off the straggly ends. Then, after a final survey, she opened the big gate.
    I