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Tears filled her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better if …”
    Her voice trailed off as we watched a group of men file into the Jew church. Morris and Sam walked hand in hand behind their father. Four Jew beggars followed them all into the building. I waved at Morris, but he didn't wave back.
    I told Esther Pa's news about the butcher the Jews were hiring, but I could see she wasn't listening.
    “I really have to go, Julie,” she said. “The mistress will be mad if I don't get back quickly and Kohlmayer's is so far away.”
    Two old women at the fountain barred her path.
    “I couldn't help overhearing that you're going to Kohlmayer's, dear,” said Mrs. Lanczi, one of Mrs. Huri's neighbors. She patted Esther on the shoulder and pressed some money into Esther's hand. “Could you bring back a block of soap for me?”
    “And bring me a few nails,” added Mrs. Csordas. “I must fix the sole of my boots.” She handed Esther a coin and stuck her hairy chin into her face. “Now be careful with my money!”
    “I will,” answered Esther. “I have to go, Julie!”
    She broke into a run but then turned around and came back and hugged me.
    “Good-bye, Julie! You're a good friend. The only friend I have.”
    Then with a final wave, she was gone. I never saw her again.
    Ma was in a heavy sleep and I had just put Clara down for her nap. Pa was at the Rosenbergs' farm, and I was peeling potatoes in the kitchen for our evening meal. I tried to pare the skin so it would come off in one piece. I would take thepotato skins with me the next time I went to see Sophie and Esther. We liked to throw the skins to the ground to see if they would fall in the shape of a letter. Mrs. Rosenberg had taught Sophie how to read, so she could tell us what letters the potato peels formed. If the letter matched the initial of a boy we knew, it meant we were fated to marry.
    Suddenly, there was loud knocking on the door. I hastened to open it because I didn't want Clara to wake up.
    Esther's mother stood in the yard. I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
    “Good day, Mrs. Solymosi! What brings you here?”
    She was pale and on the verge of tears.
    “Is my Esther here?” she asked in a shaky voice.
    “I haven't seen her since this morning.”
    “Mrs. Huri told me you were at her house to buy milk. I was hoping Esther had come to visit you.”
    “I saw Esther at the well before she left for Kohlmayer's, but I haven't seen her since.”
    I sat down on the back steps and motioned for Mrs. Solymosi to join me, but she remained on her feet.
    “Esther should have been back hours ago. Sophie and Rosie Rosenberg met her when she was heading back to Mrs. Huri's around one o'clock this afternoon, but she never arrived there. Mrs. Huri came to me looking for her. I've just been to Kohlmayer's, but he told me she had left his shop before noon. Where could she be?” She finally sank down onto the step beside me, her fingers working the tassels on her shawl. “It's not like Esther to go somewherewithout telling her mistress. Esther is a good girl. A hard worker. If she didn't go back to Mrs. Huri's, something must have happened to her!”
    She began to weep. I put my arms around her shoulders.
    “My Esther must be hurt! I can feel it in my bones,” she cried.
    I didn't know what to say.
    She struggled to her feet. “I'll go down to the riverbank. Esther might have gone there.”
    I remembered the depth of Esther's unhappiness the last time I saw her. I wondered what she had been about to tell me when the sight of the Jews distracted her. Surely she wouldn't … I pushed the thought out of my mind and told myself not to be stupid. I stood up.
    “I'll come with you,” I said.
    Mrs. Huri was on her way home when we met her.
    “I was at the Tisza,” she said. “I remembered how much Esther loved the river so I thought she may have gone for a walk beside it.” The hardness of her eyes was at war with the syrupy sweetness of