FICTION
AHARON APPELFELD
A Visit to His Married Daughter
On December twentieth Rabbi Hoch sat in his office and prepared the
annual accounts. He kept two files for that purpose, an expense file, an
income file, and a balance sheet. Always a difficult time, this year it was
especially onerous, because debts had accrued. The creditors came every
evening and harassed him. Now the cold numbers rose and slapped him
in the face.
He stood up and walked to the window, a movement he made sev–
eral times a day, in fact, whenever some perplexity or anger pressed him.
From the window he could see the main street, the stores, and the mer–
chants standing in their doorways. The merchants had always been his
enemies. He hated them, and he repressed his hatred every day. Now he
would be forced to meet them again. They would examine his accounts,
ask hard questions, and finally make injurious remarks. At one time he
used to argue with them and fight back, but in recent years negotiations
with those sly foxes had become difficult for him. Their narrowed eyes
expressed everything that was embodied in them: cunning and greed. Af–
ter the meetings he felt weak. He would sip a few glasses of cognac and
fall asleep in the armchair.
"Hirzl," he called.
"Yes, Rabbi?"
"Please come here."
"Right away, sir."
"Tomorrow is the board meeting."
"I remember, Rabbi."
Hirzl was sixty-three years old, and the housework was a strain for
her now. Often during the past year she had wanted to leave her job,
but every time she was about to step forward and tell the Rabbi, her
mouth had been blocked. She loved the house, the furnishings, and the
soft movement that rustled there, and she especially enjoyed serving the
Editor's Note:
1994 by Aharon Appelfeld, printed with the pemtission of Wylie, Aitken
&
Stone,
Inc.
