Page 7 of In Just a Year
“I want the Klonimus who came back from honeymoon,” Nagy said in his throaty voice.
“I’m afraid, Mr. Nagy, I have little to report to you.” Gideon spoke in a low voice but held his chin high behind the wall of Jews facing Nagy in the middle of the Pearler’s elegant drawing room.
Someone stifled a laugh, and Nagy lifted his hand to quell it, like a nasty headmaster calling for order at a students’ celebration. How dare he interrupt their celebration? Ben was distracted from his thoughts because his father shook the dreidel behind his back as if it were hot.
“I was on honeymoon, Mr. Nagy.” Gideon approached hand-in-hand with Rosie and stopped in front of Pavel.
As if in a choreographed dance, Pavel took a step back, then another. Ben stepped forward, and took the dreidel from Pavel’s hand and dropped it in his right pocket.
One of the little ones let out a cry.
“Oh dear,” Esther said.
“Take the children, please,” Eve and Chawa said in unison.
Rustling and murmurs washed over the room as Esther picked up her little sister, Ruthie. Ben jumped into action, took his nephew Joseph’s hand, called to the other children, and hurried out, his right side away from Nagy on his way out.
“Upstairs with you. Come on,” Esther said in the soft tone she used with the children.
She cast Ben a knowing look that made his heart hurt. Flooded with a lifelong friendship, shared upbringing, and years of love that grew so strong he could barely contain it, he and Esther understood each other without a word and shuffled the children up the stairs to the nursery as if they’d rehearsed the moment. They’d played together as children with such ease, yet now he found it difficult to speak to her.
“Can we put on a puppet show?” Fave and Rachel’s daughter Maia asked.
“I’ll be the evil bailiff.” Joseph said, aged three. He stood in front of the nursery door and copied Nagy’s throaty curling voice. “I dare from the Austrian emperor that though shalt not pass!”
Esther slumped, setting Ruthie down. “Can we please go in, now?”
“Thou shalt not pass,” Joseph declared solemnly, stretching his little belly to pretend to be bigger.
“He’s your nephew, Ben, can you—”
“Certainly.” Ben chuckled and released the little child’s hand. “Milord, ahem, we need to obtain passage to the realm of colors.” Two could play at that game. With five brothers, Ben knew every trick. Esther had even more siblings, so she was unimpressed by Joseph’s temporary blockade.
Joseph’s sweet button eyes grew wide.
“You see, if we don’t refill the cauldron of sparkles, there won’t be colors for the morrow. And when the colors run out,darkness descends.” Ben spoke the last words with foreboding slowness.
Joseph gasped, dropped his hands, and Esther pushed the handle down to open the door. She entered the room as if nothing had happened, followed by all the children except Joseph, who remained outside the nursery with Ben.
“Is it really true that the evil Bailiff wants to kill us all?” Joseph acted as if they were warriors in a medieval story.
“Who told you that?”
“Papa told mama that Nagy wants to see us ruined.”
Ben rolled his eyes. Raphi and Laila needed to control what they said in front of their little son. “Oh, Joseph”—Ben squatted in front of his nephew—”he wishes us ill, but it’s against the law to kill us. Don’t worry, we’ll all protect you.”
“Papa said you would.”
“Your papa is right. He’s my big brother, but I’m your big uncle, so I’ll always be there to protect you.” Ben picked Joseph up and hugged him.
The little one melted against his chest as if life made sense again. Family first.
The moment was short lived, for voices in the hallway downstairs made Ben glance back over his shoulder.
“I’m sure we’ll see you soon,” Gideon said as he ushered Nagy toward the Pearlers’ front door, followed by Fave and Arnold.
“And I’ll get you, Klonimus,” the bailiff said, but Ben couldn’t hear any more because a scream sounded from the nursery.
