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Raina’s house wasn’t big, but it was home. For her neighborhood, it was a perfectly respectable two floor, brick house with a small porch and grassy backyard that her siblings loved to play in. After ringing the bell, Raina clasped her hands behind her back and shifted from one foot to the other as she waited for one of her parents to open the door.
“Raina!” a high voice exclaimed, one that most certainly didn’t belong to her parents. As the red door swung open, a little girl came into view, a ginormous smile on her face. She was standing on a step-stool, clapping her hands happily.
Raina squealed in excitement. “Esti!” She bent down to give her youngest sibling a hug. Dressed in mismatched socks, a pink striped top, and polka dot skirt, Esti looked the same as when Raina had last seen her. Raina was 100% sure Esti had even been wearing that exact same blue bow in her hair when they had said goodbye. “How are you?”
“Good, we colored rainbows in school today!” Esti chattered, making exaggerated hand motions. “And I used red and yellow and green and purple and blue and drew clouds and sparkly suns. Two suns!”
Raina smiled, glancing back to check that Jesse and Nicole were still behind her. Jesse was grinning widely, but Nicole looked horrified.
“Raina, I didn’t know you had...little siblings,” Nicole said, managing to keep the majority of her disgust out of her voice.
Somehow, Raina was able to stifle her laugh. “Oh, yes. Four of them.”
“Well this is going to be fun,” Jesse said cheerfully, cutting off Nicole’s reply. “Hello, mini-Raina. Can we come inside?”
Esti nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Ariel is beating Tal in basketball and Tzipora is hiding in her room! Abba is in his office and you can’t go in there. I don’t know where Ema is,” she said, all in one breath.
“And what’s your name?” Jesse asked.
“I’m Esther Liat Cohen, but everyone calls me Esti. I’m seven years old and I live in the pink room.”
“That’s good to know,” Jesse said seriously. He held up one of their bags. “I’m Jesse, and I think your sister brought you presents. Where should I put them?”
“You can put them aaaaaaall in my room,” Esti informed him. “It’s the prettiest pink room in the world! Tzipora is in trouble and doesn’t get presents and the boys are meanies so they don’t deserve them either. So you can give them aaaaaaall to me.”
“Alright,” Raina cut in. “Let’s go inside. And Esti, we don’t open the door without Ema or Abba there, okay?”
“But I wanted to see you, Raina!”
“Yes, but it could have been someone else who wasn’t me.”
“I looked through the peeky hole,” Esti countered, before darting up the stairs. “My room is this way! Come see!”
“You don’t have to go,” Raina said quickly.
“Nah, I’ll go.” Jesse shrugged and winked. “I’m curious now about this pink room.”
“Raina, you’re home!” her mother’s voice called from the kitchen.
Raina winced. “Come on, follow me,” she murmured to Nicole. Then she called, “Hi mom!”
“Raina, you’ve gotten so tall!” her mother exclaimed when Raina and Nicole passed through the doorway. “And this must be your friend, Nicole. How nice to meet you. So sorry I couldn’t greet you at the door. I was finishing up dinner. It’s your first proper meal in months, Raina! I went all out! It’ll be like a mini Shabbos.”
“Thanks, mom,” Raina said, forcing herself to smile. She turned to Nicole. “Shabbos is our holy day, our rest day,” she said quietly as she led the other girl out of the room. “Come on, let’s go up to my room.”
Nicole scoffed once they were out of earshot of Raina’s mom. “She does know school doesn’t starve you, right?”
“She doesn’t like that I have to cook my own meals since it takes time away from my homework. My room is down here. Let me grab Jesse.”
After promising Esti that Jesse would be back to play dolls with her later, Jesse and Raina returned to her room. Nicole was sitting on the blue diamond-patterned bedspread, seemingly in a staring contest with Tzipora, Raina’s 13-year old sister.
“Tzipora!” Raina exclaimed once she entered the room, beaming at her younger sister. “I missed you!” She looked around their shared room, taking in the familiar lavender walls and wooden furniture. The shaggy blue rug was new, adding a bright pop of color to the floor.
Tzipora tore her eyes away to smile briefly at Raina. “I missed you too. Mom and Dad get me into a lot more trouble when you’re not here.”
“Yes, Esti mentioned that.” Raina frowned, unable to keep the scolding tone from her voice.
Tzipora winced. “Some of my friends were playing around after school and I forgot to wipe off the lip gloss they put on me. It’s fine, I’m only grounded for two days this time.”
