Chad Gadya

I Commune With the Dead (Well, We All Do)

My first impression of Russia was that it was not the country where I'd go sunbathing. Even though it was summer, the water was cold and the slight breeze cut against my skin. I noticed that Kuni and my mother were the exact hue of as matzah balls, the cold fading some of the color from their cheeks.

The beach wasn't sandy like the one at Puget Sound. It was rocky and uneven, but I was nevertheless glad to get out of the water. Our clothes clung to us as if we were wet rats and Marzipan whimpered. I picked her up and cradled her to my chest where she rested her head against.

       We were all shivering except Alexandros who looked around and frowned. "We need to get shelter soon," they said. "You humans are fragile. You need rest and warmth and food."

     I couldn't agree more. We followed Alexandros across the rocky beach, stepping nimbly like an ibex crossing a mountain. The cold wind began to dry my clothes, making the fabric stiff and cold to touch instead of limp from moisture. Marzipan's fur was fluffed up against the cold, but she still clung to me like moss on a mountain.

     The rocky expanse of beach finally ended, replaced by a terrain of short, rough grass. Instead of leaving wet footprints, my shoes were now gathering mud. I saw no signs of any nearby cities. My legs were stiff and cramped from traveling in the whale's belly and walking had not loosened them up. I tried to focus on the softness of Marzipan's fur against my skin or the way she was breathing rhythmically as I kept placing one foot in front of the next.

     The landscape didn't seem to change. My mother pulled out her phone and discovered she had no service, so Google Maps wasn't an option. We would have been lost without Alexandros who followed the sun westward. We didn't speak and the journey became a monotonous blur. I wanted to kvetch, but that requires energy and I didn't have enough to expend.

     Iheard a cry and looked over to see Kuni looking at something with outstretched eyes and pale lips. He was pointing at a shape perhaps twelve feet in front of us. I squinted, trying to make it out.

    He was the first to approach it and we followed like sheep following a shepherd. When we got there, my eyes discerned a body sprawled out on the ground. Kuni was kneeling beside them, with forehead creased and his eyes sharp with anguish. "They're not breathing," he said.

     Marzipan stirred and I set her down, putting my arms around Kuni. "You couldn't have done anything," I said.

      Kuni still looked stricken. I myself felt that vague sort of sadness that I felt whenever I thought of other people's grief. "There's Nothing we can do to help them," Marzipan said.

     "No," Kuni said, shaking his head. "There is still something we can do: we can bury the body."

     "We have a rabbi to rescue," Marzipan replied.

      "And does this human not deserve a burial?" Kuni asked.

     "We must value the living over the dead," Marzipan said.

    Kuni shook his head and I saw his lips pressed together. "No," he said, his voice plaintive. "We can rescue Rabbi Amado, but first we must do this."

      "Kuni is right," I said. "Let's give this person a burial. It's what they deserve."

      My mother nodded in agreement and Marzipan stamped one hoof against the ground. "Alright," she conceded, "but do not blame me if something bad should befall your rabbi."

      We began preparing the body for burial, gathering water from a creek nearby and washing it. It was still fresh, so they must have not been dead for long, but the body was cold enough for us to know they'd been dead for at least an hour. The body was longer than I was tall, though shorter than Alexandros. They had mid-length brown hair and green eyes that Kuni gently closed. Once we were done preparing the body, we started digging a hole to bury it in.