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Bernard was on his feet, his graying brown curls bobbing like a halo of righteousness. He shook a finger at Jay.
“I love my brother-in-law, my brother really, as much as my own life and my niece is his in every way.”
Levy paced for a moment, stalking his floors. The shuffling of his slippers, the only sound in the house, held the room in rapt attention. There was no doubt as to who was in command. Urs’ uncle filled the space, his space, his domain.
When he sat again, his eyes blazed, but he knit his fingers, the pose calm despite the power emanating from him, just waiting to be set free. His age was nothing. He could have felled Jay in a single punch, there was no doubt.
“My sister, my younger sister, Amalia, was a blonde as a child. Her hair didn’t darken until she was twelve.” Urs’ uncle’s voice shook.
What? Of all the topics of conversation? Jay reached into his pocket. The bag was still there as were all seven tablets.
“Judah and Amalia were born on the same day. The midwife ran back and forth between our houses. Our mothers had been acquainted before, but became dear friends afterwards. That’s how I met and married Miriam.” Bernard twitched his fingers.
Where was this going? A hardness grew in Jay’s stomach, as if a great stone sat, expanding, collecting debris. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. He could only wait for the inevitable as Levy continued.
“Judah and Amalia though, that was a friendship to envy. They were inseparable. They shared secrets and almost their own language. When they were together, it was as if they were in their own world.”
A tear dripped from the older man’s eye.
He was going to be sick. He was going to vomit from the words alone.
“It was as if God had created them for each other, like Adam and Eve, that pure, that innocent, that right,” Urs’ uncle said.
Nothing good could come from the story and yet both he, the listener, and Bernard, the teller, were powerless to stop it.
“They made both our families better and we loved them for it, so very much.”
Levy’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed over and over.
“Amalia became ill a week after they’d announced their engagement. She was only twenty when she died, younger than Ursula is now.” Bernard’s voice shook. “See, I can say my niece’s name.”
Droplets hit the older man’s collar, but he didn’t wipe them, didn’t even acknowledge what occurred.
Jay’s very soul twisted. He was an only child, but the pain, the gripping, grasping pain reaching through the words, through the years, snatched at his heart.
“Judah took to his bed for nearly a year afterwards. I had to work so hard to even force him to—that’s another story.”
Urs’ uncle waved away the ending with a hand, though his cheeks were ashen and stained.
Jay cleared his throat, searching, turning over every possible phrase of comfort until he could put something, anything reasonable forward.
“But he found love again.” Jay raised his head. The moment he said the words he regretted them.
Damn him, why was he so foolish? Ursula’s mother held Levy’s deceased sister’s place. Mentioning her rubbed salt in the man’s wounds.
Bernard’s mouth twisted and bitterness edged into his tone.
“That he did.” Levy folded his arm.
The room grew ten degrees colder. Everything was still. There was more though, something more.
“She’s his daughter, you know? If someone had gone to a tailor and ordered the female version of Judah, every single part of who he is—if anything were to happen to her, he would die. She’s the only thing he’s lived for, for a very long time.” Urs’ uncle sighed.
All thoughts of the past dissipated in the wake of the warning, the real warning. He was a monster and Levy would slay him if he had to, to protect his family, to stave off the hurt, the undeserved, tragic hurt.
The man tilted his chin, his eyes boring straight into Jay’s. “You’re right that I don’t care for you, Mr. Truitt. If I may be frank, being a gentile isn’t the half of it. You’re a selfish man, in very many ways. My family is blinded by a need to mend, to care for, because they each see their value in what they give, not what they are.”
He stood and moved
