My Guardian Angel Read Online Free

isn’t it, Uncle?”
    â€œYes, my son, it is.”
    The boys have caught sight of Elvina. Immediately they see the bundle she is trying to hide under her arm. They nudge each other, and Yom Tov cries, “You’ve broken your eggs again! I knew you would!”
    â€œThey are not
my
eggs. I’m not a hen! And I’d like to see you and Samuel try it. You’d break them even sooner!”
    â€œWe have more important things to do than sit and hatch eggs,” they reply in unison.
    â€œSo do I!” Elvina retorts, though not very sure of herself as she feels her father’s gaze turning toward her.
    His harsh voice cracks like a whip. “What kind of girl are you? You know very well that in winter the henhouse is so cold that the eggs freeze, and we lose them.”
    â€œYes, Father, I know.”
    Elvina wishes she could disappear underground. Anywhere to escape from the disdainful look on her father’s face. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she adds in a small voice.
    Miriam and Rachel remain silent. Miriam looks upset, as she does whenever her husband gets angry for any reason. Elvina wonders whether, as she grows up, she will find herself adopting that meek smile she so hates to see on her mother’s face.
    Rachel stares at the birdcage swinging in the window. She has opened the shutter, and the birds have begun to sing. Elvina thinks they have no reason to seem so happy. The day, which has just begun, does not bode well.
    No one takes any more notice of her. Judah and the boys leave the table. Miriam waits until they have gone before turning to Elvina.
    â€œHaven’t you noticed how tired and worried your father looks? Haven’t you noticed he is fasting?”
    â€œWell, that didn’t stop the boys from stuffing themselves, did it?”
    â€œThey are still a long way from their Bar Mitzvah. Your father doesn’t want you children to fast.”
    â€œDoes he mean
me,
too?”
    â€œOf course he does; what do you think?”
    â€œWhat did he say exactly?”
    â€œHe said, ‘I don’t want to force Elvina or the boys to fast. They are still children and need all their strength.’ Then he said, ‘Why make them suffer more than necessary, when we know that hard times are on the way?’”
    Rachel steps toward Elvina and strokes her hair, pressing a piece of warm bread into her hand. “Eat; you’ll feel better. I always used to break the eggs, too. Don’t you remember, Miriam?”
    Elvina’s mother starts to laugh. “Yes. And each time you would cry, ‘Poor little chicks! Poor little chicks. . . .’”
    â€œWhereas you, Miriam, our admirable elder sister . . .”
    Rachel turns back to Elvina. “Your mother never broke a single egg. I’m witness to that. She would go and see to milking the cows, she would sew, go down to draw the wine in the cellar, she would play with us all day long on the Sabbath, and those eggs never broke. Nobody knew how to keep them as safe and warm as she did. She used to wind a length of cloth around her waist to keep them secure against her body, didn’t you, Miriam?”
    Then Elvina starts to sob. She sobs in kind, sweet Rachel’s arms. Elvina is drowning in her tears. How she wishes she could stay in Aunt Rachel’s tender, comforting embrace forever, being consoled and caressed. At last she forces back her tears, raises her head slightly, and sniffs, “I hate chickens!”
    Suddenly she remembers her friend. “What about Tova?”
    â€œTova had a little girl,” says her mother. “An ugly little girl who will give her nothing but trouble!”
    Miriam is grinning from ear to ear as she says this. It doesn’t do to attract the attention of
mazzikim,
those demons that are always lying in wait to attack defenseless newborn babies.
    â€œPoor Tova,” says Elvina. “Her husband