The Whipping Club Read Online Free

their lives suffering as nobodies in the Tsar’s Army.”
              Beva passed the salmon.
              “What did it matter? They wouldn’t let them out. Maybe because I was a girl, and I was fair, only I got out.”
              “Beva, don’t get yourself–”
              “No. She should know this. I wrote lots of letters to everyone, and to the Minister of Justice. I was desperate to get all of them visas. I was told no.” Beva lowered her voice. “My mother died. My father died over there. And still, they wouldn’t let my brothers enter Ireland. They were killed like animals during the Shoah .”
              “I’m so sorry,” Marian said, and she meant it, but she heard something accusatory in Beva’s tone.
              “My two smart brothers, in Lithuania,” she said, pointing at Marian. “From then on, no one stops my family.”
              “Mammy, nobody’s going to hurt you anymore.” Ben looked worried. No, compassionate. It was what drove him to become a journalist. It was funny, Marian loved the same things in Ben that his mother did. She wanted to say this to Beva, to create a bridge between them, but she sensed too much in the way.
              “The war’s over,” Sam broke in, potato bits in his teeth. “The Irish didn’t kill your relatives.”
              “The Irish didn’t do anything at all. Let’s face facts,” Beva retorted.
              “Listen, the Irish have been very good to the Jews. They’ve no trouble here in Dublin. Enough talk about the war,” Sam said. “If you have to talk about something, talk about the salmon. It’s divine.”
              “It is lovely,” Marian said.
              “Brain food. Lithuanian Jews have a thirst for education, am I right, Benjamin?”
              “There were two scholarships given by the Department of Education the year Marian was leaving Secondary School. Only two. Marian received one of them,” Ben bragged.
              “You must be very proud, Marian,” Beva said, passing platters.
              “She was the smartest girl in her form,” Ben continued.
              “Ben.” Marian rolled her eyes.
              “The first one in her family to graduate college. The first one to become a schoolteacher.”
              “A twist of fate,” Beva said and laughed. “God knows she hasn’t been inside a temple, has no idea what the Jews are about, and yet gets hired at the Zion School.”
              Marian felt the shrill sound of tin whistles racing through her.
              “But I’m sure she’s a good Catholic and understands the profound implications of her religion, am I right, Marian?”
              “No, not really,” Marian said, and took a sip of her wine. She made a point to meet Beva’s stare.
              “Forget religion. Did Benjamin tell you he got a raise?” Sam said.
              “Tatte, I was saving that. I was going to tell you later tonight,” Ben said, taking Marian’s hand. “We’re going to make it, Marian.”
              “Don’t tell me you two talk in the we and next year we’ll do this or that !” Beva said.               Ben dropped his fork and stood. Positioned behind Marian’s chair, he spoke.
              “I have an announcement,” he said. “Mammy and Tatte. Marian and I are in love, as you might quite rightly have figured out. We want to be married.”
              Silence from the yenta at last.
              Beva stared at her son and then at Marian. Marian stared right back at her. “Benjamin, who do you think you’re