Posted As Missing

42. A Cut So Cruel

A few minutes later, David stood when Bethia rejoined them in the parlour. She was quiet and appeared to be deep in thought as she sat. After a minute, she looked up. "Pardon my distraction. I'm forgetting I have guests – no, not guests – family. I have family to welcome and enfold, and here I am, off somewhere in my mind doing business."

"Tante, business is important," Rachel said.

"Never more important than family."

"I was concerned, Tante," Maria said. "I peeked through the curtains to check on you. Who was that elegant couple?"

"They want to buy the Schlachthof, the slaughterhouse. This was their third visit. I've tried to convince them to also take the Metzgerei, but they say they know nothing of this end of the business."

"So where do the negotiations sit?" David asked.

"Their lawyer is coming on Wednesday. I need to find out who our lawyer is. Aaron always handled such things – unimportant things, to my mind. People are so much more important. Will you stay?"

"Of course, we'll stay, Tante." Maria nodded. "How can we not support family? David was studying business and accounting before the war. He's wonderfully inventive and creative with everything I've seen. He's wise far beyond his age, so I'm sure he can poke holes in any strange offer and give their lawyer good reason to be reasonable. How could we not stay?"

"I've locked and shuttered the front, and tomorrow is our closed day. Now we can relax and enjoy each other without interruption. I'm excited by your adventure getting here. Please, Maria, continue the story. More tea?"

Maria continued to unfold their adventure, often pausing in amazement that it had happened, or pausing at memories so deeply intense in her nethers and in her soul. She led the story to the door of Tante's Delicatessen.

She looked up into her great aunt's eyes and said, "And that's how we've arrived here, ragged, exposed and vulnerable. Far out on a limb whose strength we're unsure of, but wrapped in the confidence that the power we share will pull us through."

"I'm in awe. What strong people you are. I'm honoured and privileged to have you under my roof."

They sat and caught up on family since Edom had moved Rachel and the children to the Kaiserstühl in 1905. Bethia told stories of people Rachel had long since forgotten, but she kept going back to the relationship among the three of them. She sensed there was more at work among the three of them than simple sheltering or gratitude.

Seeing this, Rachel finally said, "Tante, this may seem strange, but bear with me. I'm not sure where this is going, but there's a strong force inside me pushing. Please don't be taken aback by this question. Have you ever experienced an uncircumcised penis?"

Bethia looked her in the eyes and paused only a second or two before she said, "The only ones I've seen were a week old or less — before their circumcisions. They were the size of the tip of my little finger, and it was impossible to see any detail. I have no idea what a grown one looks like."

"Tante, they are so completely different. The rabbis have been cheating us, robbing us of God's design. I discovered what the design is during the past week and a half. We must stop the horrid mutilation of our boys."

"Mutilation?"

"Circumcision is a cut so cruel, Tante. It's as if saying God's design is wrong."

Bethia looked back and forth between David and Rachel. "Am I correct in assuming David isn't circumcised?"

"Yes, you are. That tiny skin snip the books and the rabbis talk about is actually a major mutilation. I don't think many are aware of how much is destroyed. Tradition doesn't allow us to venture outside the faith to experience."