From Siberia With Love

by Ilana Cohen

  She went inside the yard and carefully closed the heavy gate behind her, trying as best she could to muffle the sound of the screech. She took off her slippers and ran barefoot down the paved walkway leading to the front door. Rose bushes were planted on the sides of the pathway and she scratched her leg from their thorns.

  Before going into the house, she raised her head to the sky. From the infinity, countless stars twinkled-winked at her, sparkling stars, thousands of stars. This time, she also counted the ones she’d never counted before. No wonder, it was the holiday season and the skies were wide open, promising her renewal, promising her a different life, promising her love and joy.

  The following morning, everyone was talking about the event, about the big party held in their neighborhood. Doctor Zuriel became an overnight celebrity in the entire settlement. A dentist had arrived in town.

  “They brought a real live orchestra and a professional singer to a private house! These people are really ostentatious! Putting on a show for the neighbors,” gossiped old Amalia’s friends. The four grandmothers would normally gather at twilight next to their garden gate. In the shadow of the hedges, they would stand in a semi-circle, neither inside nor outside the garden. They were always closer to the street than to the yard, so they would have a wide view of the few neighbors passing by, returning to their homes at the end of their workday. Every day, at the end of the day, toward nightfall, as the heat of the sun weakened a bit, the grandmothers would meet to discuss the passing day’s real and televised events. Today, they had a subject to discuss. Edith joined them this time, walking around them, curious to hear something about the latest gossip.

  “Three times the police came to that new house.” Edith knew the old ladies were exaggerating, as was their way.

  “I’m telling you, people have no patience. They can’t bear to see other people having a little fun, and new neighbors to boot. But these guys didn’t give up, they just kept on going till dawn with their singing and music. This doctor is a dentist. He’s a dental surgeon; he’s the manager of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department in the hospital. His wife’s a doctor as well, so I’ve heard. Not a doctor of medicine, but some kind of other doctor. Doctor Zuriel has a private clinic in the city and there he provides all the dental treatments people need.”

  Edith was shocked by what she’d heard. Where did they get all that information? How could it be? I was there, and I’m the last one to know, she thought to herself.

  “Their son studies medicine abroad, he’s going to be a doctor like his father. These are some very interesting new neighbors that came to our neighborhood, what do you say?”

  “Their daughter didn’t marry so well, she lives with her small children in a development town somewhere in the south,” another grandmother wickedly pointed out.

  Edith listened with wonder. Could it be that the party in the new villa had simply been a part of these people’s self advertizing campaign and not just a naïve party thrown for their close circle of friends? One could never know with such celebrities. Edith already wanted to get away from the gossiping old ladies, when she heard, “Amalia, perhaps you even know these people, this Doctor Zuriel family.”

  “What do you mean we know them? What’s wrong with you?” her mother-in-law objected. “I’ve never heard of these people, where would I know them from?”

  “They came from Czechoslovakia, just like you.”

  Edith froze in her tracks. Here it comes, she knew it, and she guessed it. All that time she’d felt a kind of warm sense of intimacy next to that man last night. His heavy accent, the way he’d emphasized each word’s first syllable, distorting and hardening the Hebrew language – the man had spoken her own language, just like she was speaking it, with an accent that was close to her heart.

  Chapter 2

  A Marriage without Love

  An affair with a married man is much like Swarovski jewelry. Such jewelry is like a dream, beautiful, shiny, pleasing to the heart of a woman, but eventually, it turns out to be unreal.

  Edith fell in love with the renowned doctor, a man filled with charisma. It was the first time she fell in love outside of marriage, but she didn’t do a single thing about it. The two became close friends and sought ways to spend time together every opportunity they had. Edith and Janusz were members of the small circle of Czechoslovakian immigrants in Israel. The opportunities they had to spend time together were diverse.

  She had met most of these people in Janusz’s clinic. After all, people visit the dentist all the time. Edith brought all her family members to him, including her husband. She had even brought her mother-in-law to get new false teeth.

  “Edith, allow me to invite you today for an exhibition held by a dear friend of mine in a Tel Aviv art gallery. I would like you to accompany me and be my young chaperone this evening.”

  She would receive invitations from him to visit exhibitions and attend social events. A deep friendship had developed between them. He had a thing for her. Janusz sought her company, a young and beautiful friend, speaking his language and always perfumed for him.

  This flattered Edith to no end. She loved being in the amusing company of a man with self confidence and of a high social stature.

  “Janusz, the phone keeps ringing for you, people are looking for you and invite you everywhere, want to spend time with you, admire you – that’s what I’m attracted to.”

  “Without the callers you wouldn’t have looked at me? Wouldn’t want me?” he tested her.

  “Bells will always ring around you. This is who you are, Janusz, a dear and charming man in our little community.”

  She was enchanted by him, but handled the forbidden love with extreme caution. She kept the appearance of a married and decent woman.

  Before Janusz showed up in her life, she had always been sad, had always felt sadness was part of her nature, and had no idea how to chase it away. In his appealing company, she found much interest, through him she was finally able to meet people and get out of the house. They laughed together, spoke a lot, and held long conversations with each other.

  “Janusz, I love you, you came to me to chase away the darkness,” she thanked him.

  “Why don’t you get out of the house, Edith, to work outside? It doesn’t suit you to sit home all day and raise your children and family. I’m telling you, I can feel you, dear. You’re not pleased with yourself and you’re a young, bright woman, you don’t have to live the way you do.”

  “You’re a hundred percent right, but I don’t have a real profession, I only have a matriculation certificate from abroad, that’s all. Where exactly would I work at? I have no money or equity to open a neighborhood kiosk or a small coffee shop. That’s what I dream about,” she confessed with childlike enthusiasm. “That’s what I’d like to do, host people, pamper them and at the same time pamper myself.”

  “I’ll help you, you’ll see, I’ll get you out of the house, my little girlfriend. Give me time and I’ll get you a small position in a large and air conditioned office. I have lots of friends, you know, most of them hold administrative positions in large companies. We have to find a way to allow you to achieve self-fulfillment; you would be a lady instead of being everyone’s servant.”

  Janusz saw it all in spite of the fact she had tried to hide from his eyes her low stature in the house next to her bossy mother-in-law. They all lived under the same roof, the elderly lady and her son’s family, and everything ran according to Amalia’s whims.

  Edith saw her mother-in-law as one of the main reasons for the failure of her marriage. Amalia was a domineering mother, and her only son had not properly developed and was unable to establish for their family a house of their own. They had two children, who from the moment they were born, received perfect care from two loving women, their mother and their grandmother. They both loved the children, but naturally, didn’t love each other.

  “Are you going for a walk with Janusz today?” asked Amalia one Tuesday afternoon, w
hen she saw her daughter-in-law dressing up in front of the mirror, polishing her nails and selecting a dress to wear.

  “You know, it’s Tuesday, and Janusz is supposed to come over.”

  The Janusz couple and Edith met for a little walk around the settlement once a week, during twilight. On Tuesdays, Janusz normally didn’t work in the afternoons in his private clinic in the city. Another doctor shared the clinic with him and worked in the mornings, and once a week he switched with Janusz and worked the evening shift.

  Janusz chose to spend what little free time he had with his beloved, Edith. Every Tuesday afternoon, she would stop everything and impatiently awaited his phone call. When it arrived, she began with a frenzy of preparations for an enchanting walk in his company. She also took little Ruthie, sat her in the stroller and together they went out to meet him, two meticulously dressed girls. Edith, as was her way, perfumed with a gentle scent of “Tosca”, one of the only perfumes that could be bought in Israel back then. Janusz always met them midway, in the empty lot between the two neighborhoods, his and hers.”

  “Beautiful ladies, how I’ve missed you, only one look at the both of you and I’m happy again.”

  There was much rejoicing every time they would meet; there were also hugs and kisses. During the walk in the neighborhood, he couldn’t take his loving gaze off his beloved, and her wide smile on her face.

  “Is this your father, Edith?” the neighbors asked and curiously stared at the handsome trio roaming the neighborhood. Edith only smiled toward them, saying nothing. How could she possibly explain to them that this was actually the case? Janusz was a little bit like her father, because of the generation gap between them, as well as her dear friend. She had chosen him to be next to her both for her ego and her soul.

  Edith didn’t have a father, had never had one, and had never met one. Her father had died before she could form any memories of him, while she was still a little child. Her mother remarried and gave birth to three more children, and Edith, from an early age, had to take care of them and help her. She worked hard at home from a young age, and as soon as she graduated from high school, emigrated to Israel by herself with the encouragement of her aunt, auntie Anna. Her late father’s sister took her under her wing because she had lost her only son, who had died in battle while bravely protecting his country.

  At the end of the walk with Janusz, Amalia would always wait for them. Janusz, a renowned gentleman, escorted them all the way home, and the old woman stood there at the gate. Much like her daughter-in-law, her appearance was very elegant this time. She was beautifully dressed, showered and carefully combed, but the “Tosca” perfume Amalia had used, emitted an entirely different scent from her skin.

  “There you are. Janusz, my dear friend, I’ve been impatiently waiting for you,” she allowed herself to say anything, even things Edith would avoid saying out loud to her dear man.

  “You simply must come inside for a cup of coffee, I’ve made a cake you’d really like. A yeast cake with nuts and raisins, just the way you like it.”

  Amalia knew exactly what their doctor liked. She had already managed to host both him and his wife Hannah, and pamper them with a festive family meal. Truly and honestly, the doctor had been very impressed with old Amalia’s tasty dishes, served to the table one after the other. Excellent food, meticulously cooked with classic long stewing.

  “It appears as if the doctor’s wife is not cooking for him,” she determined with much excitement, after Janusz had kissed her hand in appreciation of the good meal.

  Amalia always cooked meticulously. She bought the vegetables and meat for her dishes in the market, always in the same morning. Luckily for her, on the empty lot not far from her house, a small market was located. Every day, stalls were erected and filled with fresh merchandise.

  “It’s nice to take a walk and do a little shopping early in the morning in the fresh and chilly air, right before it becomes too hot. There’s nothing like the taste of a fresh vegetable that had been in the ground only last night,” she claimed in her own defense when told there was a refrigerator in the house and she doesn’t need to carry heavy bags of groceries every single day.

  She began the cooking early and with great diligence until the noon hours. The food was cooked over a low fire, under the cook’s close supervision that constantly stirred it with a wooden spoon and took small tastings straight from the pot. Fresh fine food was served each and every day to the Weiss family household members. Each of them sat to eat at noontime or at a time of their own choosing. Edith sat to dine at the table with her children after one o’clock, when Alex returned from school. Yossi ate during the evening, after washing off the dirt and perspiration of the day’s hard labor outside, in the construction sites, where he worked as a foreman.

  The Weiss family household was ruled by the dinner service sets. The kitchen cupboards and living room china cabinets were filled with elegant six-piece porcelain sets from the beginning of the century. Plates and cups marked with brand names, Rosenthal porcelain marked by the king’s stamp, porcelain dishes of every imaginable size and shape: A white porcelain soup bowl, masterfully decorated with a green painting, with a matching pattern on the appropriate cover; a wide bowl for rice and potatoes, with ears on its sides, a wide flat bowl for carving roast and pour fine red wine sauce on it, etc. etc.

  They had six-piece sets of large plates, six-piece sets of small plates and six piece sets of deep plates. Amazingly enough, none of the dishes had been broken over the years. Amalia had brought them with her from her long travels from Europe to the foreign Middle East. Cutlery service sets were stored in the living room china cabinet drawers, and no one could even count them any more. The cabinets’ display windows were decorated by six-piece sets of cups and glasses, crystal glasses, Czech of course, large glasses for wine and small glasses for expensive liquors, one legged small glasses for the pouring of crimson-colored sherry.

  The house was still run according to the doctrine of the great grandmother, Amalia’s mother, who had prepared her eight daughters for life a hundred years ago.

  “My dear, I’ve arranged an appointment for you, a job interview with the bank manager, a nice fellow named Aryeh, who’s willing to see you for an introductory talk.” A few months after they had met, during one of her visits to his home, Janusz surprised Edith with an especially cheerful bit of news.

  “That’s just fantastic, Janusz, you’re always thinking of me!” She rejoiced, hung on his neck and planted kisses on his face.

  “My Edith, tomorrow morning, you report to him at the bank branch, do you hear me?!” he ordered her. “Now’s the time. These days, I’m presenting him with the bill for a dental treatment he underwent at my clinic. In addition, he has a vacant teller position in his branch. It’s a terrific opportunity, and we must hurry up before my good friend change his mind or forget about us.”

  The following morning, Edith reported at the large bank at the corner of main street – a young thirty three-year old woman, timid and refined; a forgotten housewife with a minimal presence who had raised her small children under her roof, away from the big city.

  A handsome man in his fifties welcomed her for an interview in his office. “Janusz has a fine taste, I must say,” said Aryeh, the branch manager and looked at Edith sitting in front of him with the unrestrained lust of a future boss.

  “My young lady, tell me please, do you know how to count money?” he surprised her with a question.

  “I do,” she answered hesitantly, not really knowing where the man in front of her was heading.

  “Would you know how to smile nicely to our customers?”

  “I would,” she confirmed again, trying to get used to his arrogant manner of speech.

  “All right, you’re suitable for the job, you’re hired,” he determined laconically.

  “Tomorrow, you go to our Tel Aviv offices and fill out all the paperwork in our human resources department. I expect you to show up on the first of the
month, you’re starting to work here.”

  The tall man rose to his feet and from beyond the desk, extended his hand in farewell.

  “I thank you, sir,” she said quietly while shaking his hand and a smile of satisfaction appeared on her happy face.

  “Aryeh, call me Aryeh, please, just like everybody else does. Have a good day, Edith Weiss.”

  He ignored her captivating smile and his face turned serious, then he sat back in his place behind the desk.

  Naturally, as soon as she had begun working a job that consumed both her mornings and afternoons, she didn’t have much time for anything else. Before leaving the house, she was busy with carefully dressing up in front of the mirror, and a short while later, she was already swallowed in the banking hall, at the heart of hearts of the business world. After long hours that would stretch throughout the entire day, she barely had enough time to put the children to sleep.

  She never even had the opportunity to personally thank Janusz for his great help in finding a respectable workplace for her. A few weeks after she had been hired, Janusz suffered a deadly heart attack and passed away. Edith shed bitter tears at his funeral. She didn’t know how to explain to people why she grieved so much over the death of her dentist, who had also been a close friend of the family.

  He was sixty one at the time of his passing. She treasured the love he had given her in her heart, and took this great present with her to her new life.

  She never passed by his house any more, the place where their wonderful friendship had begun. She wasn’t at all interested in the fate of his grieving family members; neither did she keep in contact with any of the Czechoslovakian friends she had met through him. She resolved to remember only the happy days they had both spent together.

  Chapter 3

  Ten Years Later

  Edith parked her white Subaru in the parking lot behind the bank. It was two o’clock, the bank branch was closed to the public, only a few employees were inside. The cleaning workers and the two accountants, Uri and Danny, were supposed to be there. They were still not done with their daily accounting job tasks, thought Edith.