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“Maybe I’ll sew him a bondage costume, too,” she laughed. Whatever had been in that shot loosened her up. Although perhaps it was just being around her people, Alex mused. In addition to the five from the first theater, there had to be double that here.
The house lights flashed, and a gong signaled a warning that intermission was wrapping up. “Oh my gosh, we have to get downtown!”
Nora and Alex swam upstream against the current of audience members excited for the final act. It was almost disconcerting when they finally burst through the exit door and onto the city street. The dreary afternoon was almost too bright compared to inside, and the bracing fresh air a sharp contrast to the close, humid heat of the theater. The snow they’d witnessed earlier had stopped, but clung fresh to the trees and dusted building awnings.
“Oh wow, it’s still holiday time out here,” Alex joked, as they were bombarded with Christmas songs pouring out of open shop doors, colored lights bedazzling food carts, and shoppers bumping their knees with their bags.
Hands in coat pockets, they raced into the closest subway and Nora navigated them down to the West Village. “Last stop on our tour, I promise.”
“Am I like some Jewish Ebenezer Scrooge, and you’re the ghosts of Hanukkahs Past, Present, and Future?”
Nora really laughed now, unabashed. Like that first time making her crack up at the party, the throaty chuckle at the end just gut-punched him. He didn’t know where they stood, or where they would find themselves, come Monday on the floors of Britesmith.
But it was the third night of Hanukkah and time with Nora felt as precious – no, precarious, as a certain cruse of oil. How long would it last?
ChapterFourteen
“Ishould warn you… there’s Off-Broadway and then there’s Off-Off-Broadway.” Nora held open the door of the Feldman Theater. It was Jewish Repertory, but you never knew what you might get.
Tonight it didn’t really matter though. Because the show didn’t start until six. But the seventy-seat theater had a holiday tradition that its actors loved to uphold.
“What the…” Beck looked back at the door, and forward again. Two steps down and they were transported into a 1940s Brooklyn brownstone. No separation from the stage and the audience; if you were sitting in the first row, you were essentially on the set. “Sothisis the ghost of Hanukkahs past.”
Nora recognized some of the people on stage. They were setting an elaborate table. Linens, doilies, china, and an unassuming brass menorah. An older woman in a plain dress and apron bustled up to Beck. “You’re looking thin, boychik! Come, have somepolkesandkishkaby the fire.”
Nora suppressed a laugh. Beck’s face clearly said he had never triedkishkain his life, but had resigned himself to being polite and let himself be led away.
“Such ashayna punim.” A kindly-looking older man, hisyarmulkesitting atop what remaining frizzled hair he had left, smiled and cupped Nora’s chin. She had never known her grandfathers on either side of her family, but liked to think this was the dotage she would’ve received.
“Zeyde, Zeyde, can you teach us?” Two little kids, a boy and girl also in period clothing, ran across the “room” to the table, clutching dreidels in their hands. The boy hugged Nora’s legs for good measure.
“Ask your parents, I need to ready the candles. It’s almost sundown.”
The little girl grinned up at Nora and took her hand, leading her to where Beck sat, by an electric fireplace, at an upright piano.
“I’ll show you, sweetheart – while your…fatherplays us the song.” She side-spoke to Beck, “Assuming you know The Dreidel Song?”
Beck smiled, clearly more comfortable now that he understood he was only playing a part. And that the kishksas were props. He started a dwindling, playful melody that began to romp around, not unlike a top might spin. The kids dropped to the floor and began to play, with Nora kneeling and pointing out the Hebrew letters.
More “family” joined them on the small stage – you could tell the audience apart from the actors, not just by their modern street clothes but by the wonderous looks on their faces. A young woman in a kerchief sat next to Beck at the piano and began to sing the lyrics to the traditional holiday song in a strong clear voice, encouraging the others to join in. Pretty much everyone knew it, whether Jewish or not.
Beck got an ovation, and the “Bubbe” figure rested her hands proudly on his shoulders after. “That’s my boychik.” She took Nora’s hand first to help her to standing, then to place it in Beck’s. “Theshadchanmade such a perfect match. We couldn’t be happier for you – or more blessed.”
Nora felt so in the moment, she almost opened her mouth to protest they had just met, and were just –
“Bashert.” Zeyde was back. The Yiddish concept meant different things to different people.Meant to be.The closest thing to soul mates, but she still wasn’t sure she believed.
He gave Nora a wink before he gathered everyone, and there had to now be twenty people crowding around the dining room table. Teens, kids, adults, and some real grandparents as well. His “wife” handed him matches from her pocket, as if they had done this song-and-dance together for years now.
“Baruch atah Adonai…” Their spoken chorus wasn’t as loud as their singing one, but those who knew led the group, Nora and Beck included. Slips of paper with the Hebrew written in phonetic English were passed around, and by the end everyone was in unison. “…ner shel Hanukkah.” All eyes on theshamashand its three candles in the antique menorah, all four flames dancing on the dimly lit stage.
Nora’s fingers found Beck’s hand down by the embroidered tablecloth. She ran her thumb into the center of his palm, and heard him draw a deep breath.
Everyone was clapping around them, but Nora and Beck didn’t take back their hands. “Thank you all for coming to the Feldman Theater. Our shows this season – ” Zeyde had dropped his old world accent to reveal his true Brooklynese and proceeded with his spiel.
“They call it their ‘potluck’ – it’s a mix of an open house and an improv performance every year before their Sunday performances in December,” Nora explained, as they made their way off the stage.
Many of the participants were now taking their seats in the audience, as others were just arriving, and the actors were heading backstage. “Looks like it’s going to be a full house tonight.”
