.J
30
PARTISAN REVIEW
up with the whole kit and kaboodle. I didn't need her meals or her
lodging anymore . The cops were after me and it wasn't good for me
to have a steady address. I moved to Poczejow and there I got myself
younger and prettier women . Later on the misfortune with my eye
befell me. All I did was make a joke with some denk and the brute
pounced on me with a knife. It was nothing but bad luck ."
"Did you stop seeing Reitzele forever?" Berele Zwaniak asked .
"Not completely," Itche said . "Whenever we would meet the
fire for her was rekindled and I swore that everything would be the
way it was. But I saw her less and less . Chazkele had died and when
that happened Warsaw was no longer Warsaw. As long as he lived
we were his pupils . When he passed away we all became orphans .
Quarrels began. Gangs formed. During the strikes in 1905 when the
Reds attacked us, there was no one left to fight back. Everyone ran
his own way . After Bloody Wednesday the Reds too scattered like
mice . Many escaped to America. In the midst of it all Reitzele died."
"Got sick, huh?" Shmuel Kluska asked .
"Who knows what she had? Her time was up. She was fifty to
the day . I could sit with you three nights and tell you stories about
her and it wouldn't be enough time . Children, it's getting late . Soon
they'll come in to wake us ."
ROBERT FITZGERALD
1910-1985
AN EARLY CONTRIBUTOR
