Читать книгу A Threefold Cord - Howard Goldenberg - Страница 11

Chapter Six

The three never forgot the old lady and her tears. They made sure of it by peeling and eating the Onions of Weeping.

The first Sunday after the old lady was taken away by Jim’s Funerals, the friends met in the house of Nystagmus’ grandparents. No-one planned it, no-one said, “Let’s meet on Sunday”. They all knew they should go. And they did.

Nystagmus spoke first: “Grown-ups shouldn’t cry. Crying is okay for children. When I see a grown-up crying I’m scared. It feels like, maybe the world is broken.”

Jennifer agreed. “I saw that old lady crying and I felt scared. Something was so wrong it frightened me. I knew I had to do something.”

Snoth listened to his friends quietly. His mind was full of ideas. It would be hard to say them in words: “Tears are like rain. If there is no rain, nothing grows. But if there is too much rain it can just drown everyone and everything. Like Noah’s flood, in the Bible.

“Same with tears. If people had no tears we wouldn’t know their sadness. Tears are a message: someone needs help. Or a friend …”

That was a long speech by Snoth. He did not know if his friends would understand what he meant. Suddenly he felt shy. He looked up. Jennifer and Nystagmus were nodding. Then Jennifer did something he didn’t expect. She stood up and put out her right hand. She took Snoth’s hand and shook it solemnly. Snoth felt good. From his fingers to his shoulder to his head Snoth felt good. A friend understood.

Then Nystagmus did something unexpected. He walked over to Snoth and kissed his right cheek. Then he kissed Snoth’s left cheek. Snoth’s hand wandered to his face. Nystagmus said: “Papou and all his men friends from Cyprus kiss like that. It means ‘brother’”; you and I are brothers.”

That day the three started to make their Secret Rules. And they gave each other nicknames. Nystagmus became “Stagger” because he used to be wobbly on his feet when he first started school. Nystagmus and Snoth called Jennifer “Jenie” – short for “jenius” – because she knew things no other child ever thought of. They couldn’t think of a nickname for Snoth; his name already sounded like it was short for something. Snoth explained: “Snoth was the Icelandic King of Fire and Ice. It’s an old family name.”

That night Snoth asked his Saba – that’s what he called his grandfather – “Saba, does the Bible say it’s not good for a person to be alone? Or anything like that?”

Saba took down a great big heavy brown book. The great book had no pictures, but Snoth loved the stories Saba read from this book when he was a baby, too young for school. He loved them still, even now he was ten, practically grown up.

Now Saba read to Snoth from the book he called Ecclesiastes. It wasn’t a story but as Snoth listened he could feel the words were strong and true. Saba said: “I’ll write those verses down for you, Snoth.”

Saba closed the big heavy book. Before he put it back on the shelf he kissed it. Snoth wondered: So Saba is a kisser too. I didn’t know he came from Cyprus.

(Sleep well children. I won’t tell you tonight about the fierce person behind the mirror sunglasses: I don’t want you to have bad dreams.)