The Little Russian

by Susan Sherman

  “What if I find two tricks, Mameh?”

  “What if you do?”

  “Could I get both?”

  Sura, who had no interest in magic, was cranky and complaining about the walk even though they had only gone a few blocks. She wanted to go back and get the motor. As a compromise Berta agreed to wait on the corner for the next tram.

  Among the passengers waiting at the tram stop was a well-dressed woman in a large hat making a list in a little book with a pencil. There was a gentleman reading a paper with a headline proclaiming STRIKE! in large black letters. There were several girls in plain skirts and white blouses, servants most likely on their day off, and several young men, also servants, who eyed the girls and whispered among themselves.

  Samuil stood on the curb and when the tram appeared up the hill he shouted, “Mameh, it ’s coming!” The gentleman glanced over from behind his paper.

  “Not so loud, darling. I can see.”

  The horse-drawn tram came to a stop in front of the passengers. The metal wheels screeched in their tracks and sparks flew out from under the carriage. Samuil tried to rush up the steps, but Berta put a hand firmly on his shoulder to hold him back. “Let the lady go first,” she whispered.

  “Do we have to go at all?” Sura whined.

  “Of course we have to go. Why did you bring her, Mameh?”

  Berta took Sura’s hand. “Don’t you want to go to the magic shop?”

  “No,” she pouted.

  They started up the steps. “You’ll see lots of interesting things.”

  “It’s scary in there. There are dead animals and it smells like old people.” She was referring to a stuffed fox in the window with a frozen snarl on its face.

  “We’ll have a wonderful tea afterward. With cake and everything. Wouldn’t you like that?”

  “S’ppose.”

  At the top of the steps Berta handed the change to the conductor and was given three tickets. She led the children to the back of the tram, where they found seats by a window so Sura could feel the breeze on her face and not throw up.

  Samuil said, “So, what about it, Mameh? Can I have two tricks? Two would be much better than one. You know how quickly I master them. Two would last longer and we wouldn’t have to go back right away.”

  “We’ll see.”

  While the driver was still waiting for the new passengers to take their seats, an artel worker, wearing a black leather jacket and knee-high boots, ran over from across the street and climbed aboard. He reached into his pocket, handed over a coin, and took his ticket. The tram lurched forward and bumped over the cobblestones. Using the top of the seats to steady himself, he made his way to the back, and slid into a seat directly across the aisle from Berta.

  Soon they were picking up more passengers and the carriage became crowded. Every seat was taken and people were standing in the aisles holding on to the leather straps. Samuil was explaining to Berta how a card trick worked. It was an old one that he didn’t care about anymore, so he didn’t mind parting with its secret. She knew he liked playing the role of expert, so she let him go on while she pretended to listen, her gaze traveling from her son’s eager face to the artel worker’s reflection in her window.

  For a moment she thought she recognized the man. She may have seen him in the neighborhood, possibly out of the corner of her eye or in a quick glance on the street. His appearance wasn’t distinctive. His hair was closely cropped and thinning, so it was possible to see his pink scalp through the stubble at the back of his head. He had a wide forehead; small, deeply set eyes; and no beard. He wore a black visor cap and kept wiping his nose with the back of his hand. It may have been that he worked in the area or maybe she saw him once or twice down at the shops. What caught her attention was that he was watching her too.

  Berta stood and rang the bell. “We’re getting off here.”

  “But this isn’t our stop,” Samuil said.

  “It’s all right. We can walk from here.”

  “Why, Mameh?” Sura asked. “I don’t want to walk.”

  “It’s a beautiful day. It’ll be good for you.”

  The tram stopped in its tracks and Berta herded the children down the steps. “Why do we have to walk?” she whined. “I hate walking.”

  Berta stood on the curb, with her hands on Sura’s shoulders, watching the tram move on down the street. She wanted to see if the man got off and was relieved when he didn’t. This reassured her but not enough to keep her from glancing nervously at an unemployed factory worker slouched in a doorway, at the butcher’s boy unloading a cart in a nearby alley, and at a cabman smoking a cigarette by his carriage. She didn’t notice any of the women on the street. They were an inconsequential blur.

  “What are we waiting for, Mameh?” Samuil asked, impatiently. He wanted his magic tricks.

  They walked on and turned in at the nunnery. After a few blocks more they reached Bessarabka Square. There was an accordionist in the little park playing “Song of the Boatman.” A woman sat on a bench nearby and started to cry. At the other end a young man was eating pirozhki from a greasy newspaper. He looked over and considered the crying woman for a moment and then returned to his food.

  Berta and the children crossed the square and turned into a dark lane lined with second-rate shops. She kept glancing behind her. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, perhaps a man like the one on the tram. She had been seeing men like that from time to time, or at least she thought she had, watching her from the other side of a street, through a shop window, or following her with their eyes from a doorway.

  “What are you looking for, Mameh?” asked Samuil impatiently.

  “Nothing, darling.”

  “You keep turning around.”

  “I was just wondering if this was the right lane. They all look alike, that’s all.”

  “Of course it’s the right lane. Look, here’s the shop.”

  The magic shop was located between a tobacconist and a junk store in the middle of the lane. It sat back from the street and was half hidden by an elm, whose sickly branches struggled upward toward the light. In the display window was a round table covered with a white tablecloth. On a shelf above it sat the stuffed fox with yellow glass eyes snarling down at the passersby. Spread out on the table was a deck of cards and next to it a magic wand and a crystal ball. They had been coming to this shop for well over a year now and the display had never changed.

  Instead of a bell, the door groaned when Samuil pushed it open. Sura hated the groan and groped for her mother’s hand. The shop was long and narrow with a counter on one side and shelves behind it. There were many strange objects on the counter and on the shelves: a dismembered hand in a bottle that looked almost real, a stuffed raven on a perch, a two-headed snake in a jar, and boxes and boxes of magic tricks.

  “Master Alshonsky. Your Excellency . . .” Reb Rubenstein bowed with a flourish for Samuil’s benefit and gave him a hard candy that miraculously appeared out of thin air. Then he found another one behind Sura’s ear and gave it to her. “And what can I do for His Honor today?”

  He was an older man with a wide, jowly face, drooping eyelids, and a prominent belly. But he hadn’t always been like that. There was a poster of him as a young man hanging on the wall by the door. It showed a well-built man dressed in a cutaway tuxedo with a black cloak hanging over his shoulders. He held a black wand over a scantily dressed woman who was floating above a coffin. The caption read NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE!

  Samuil told Reb Rubenstein that he was interested in card tricks today and Reb Rubenstein agreed that it was an excellent choice. While they looked through boxes marked THE HINGE COLOR CHANGE, THE FINNISH CONUNDRUM, AND THE RISING FAN, Sura examined the curios in the bottles, all of which she had seen a dozen times. Berta kept glancing out the window, watching the few shoppers hurry by with sacks of vegetables from the green grocer down the street.

  “And how is Monsieur Alshonsky?” Reb Rubenstein asked as he wrapped up the two t
ricks that Samuil had chosen.

  Berta hesitated. “He’s fine. Just fine,” she said with a thin smile.

  Monsieur Rubenstein looked up at her and held her gaze. “I am glad to hear it.” He went back to the string that he had been tying around the package. He tied it into a firm bow and used a pair of rusty scissors to clip it free from the ball on the counter. Then he handed the package to Samuil. “Do not rush them. Take the time to do them right. You’ll be happy that you did.” Samuil nodded with childish solemnity and took the package as if he were taking a Torah scroll.

  Berta handed Reb Rubenstein the few rubles that he had asked for and he reached into his cash box for the change. When he gave it to her he said, “Take care.”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  She turned to go, but before she could, he put a hand on her arm. She looked back at him.

  “He is very resourceful, you know. I wouldn’t worry.”

  She stared at him for a moment longer. She didn’t like this sudden familiarity, his hand on her arm, the sympathetic tone. She murmured something about an appointment and hurried the children out of the shop.

  All the way up the street Samuil chattered on about his new tricks and how he would first try them out on Vera and Galya because they were so easily taken in. Berta wasn’t listening. Her mind on was Reb Rubenstein. She was trying to remember how they came to patronize his shop. Then she remembered an afternoon that Hershel had spent with Samuil, just the two of them. They had come back after the outing with a sack full of magic tricks. She and Hershel were happy to encourage Samuil’s sudden interest in magic. They thought it would distract him from spying on the servants and their friends.

  After that they stopped at the glove shop, where Sura got a new pair of white gloves embroidered with violets. “I want a long pair like yours, Mameh. Like the ones you wear when you go out.”

  “Those are for ladies, darling. When you’re older you can have a pair like that. For now you’re going to wear these.”

  Their last stop was the English Room, a small but popular lunchroom just off Davidkovo Square. They sat in a little alcove by the bay window with a good view of the street. At that hour it was crowded with commodities traders from the exchange on the corner, who sat in the back drinking colored vodka, eating smoked fish, and arguing about the best way to maintain the protective tariffs. Up in the front sat older ladies with their daughters and granddaughters sipping tea and peeling off the fingers of their gloves so they could pick up the tea sandwiches. Tartar waiters with white aprons tied around their waists threaded their way between the tables, refilling teapots and delivering three-tiered silver servers of tea sandwiches, scones, and tarts to the center of the tables.

  Samuil sat with his back to the window and unboxed a magic trick. He spread out the instruction sheet on the table and took the cards out of the box. With the cards in his hand and his eyes on the instructions, he attempted to mimic the diagrams that illustrated each step of the trick. Periodically he stopped to take a bite of a sandwich or a tart and then went right back to work.

  Berta watched him master the trick. He was like that with learning. He pounced on the unknown with energy and enthusiasm, tearing it apart, examining each piece, until he knew just how it worked. Her gaze shifted to her daughter, who was sitting quietly in her seat looking mournfully at the sandwiches on her plate. Even though there was smoked salmon on white bread, her favorite, she didn’t take a bite. Berta knew she had been missing her father. She kept asking about him: When was he coming home, where did he go? She wrote letters to him that Berta pretended to mail but really hid in the back of a drawer in her nightstand.

  “Don’t you want a sandwich?”

  “No.”

  “Aren’t you hungry?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why don’t you have one?”

  “I don’t want to get my new gloves dirty.”

  “Then take them off.”

  “I want to wear them.”

  “Then use your knife and fork.”

  “To eat a sandwich?”

  “Why not?”

  There were two men sitting nearby talking over a tiny table, leaning in over their teacups with a quiet intensity that seemed out of place among the ladies at tea. One of them was a big man, dressed in workingman’s clothes, a gray tunic, wide black belt, and loose trousers. He held his cup by the bowl instead of using the handle and finished his tea in two gulps, his prominent Adam’s apple working as he swallowed. His companion was a student, a Jew most likely, with a thick moustache that he kept smoothing with two fingers. Berta couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the attentiveness of the worker and the avidity of the student, the way he kept making little jabs in the air with a stiff hand to make a point, caught her attention.

  A moment later the door opened and two men dressed in leather coats and visor caps sauntered in. When the student looked up and saw them coming, he lowered his eyes and hunched down in his seat. He picked up his cup, murmured something to his companion, and took a sip. His companion stiffened too but didn’t turn around. They sat there quietly, pretending to drink their tea, as the men passed them without a glance.

  Berta watched the reflection of the men in the window as they strolled to the long banquet table in the back where platters of zak uski were set out on display. As she watched them move up the table, picking up an olive or a pickle, she was aware that the student was also following their progress in the glass. He got up, threw down some money, and grabbed his satchel and books. His companion got up as well and followed him to the door, where they took their coats off the rack and left without bothering to put them on.

  Outside, before they had a chance to walk on, another man in a peacoat came up behind them and grabbed the student’s arm. They were standing right outside the restaurant, directly in front of Berta’s window. The student tried to pull away; he was arguing with the man but getting nowhere. The other two men came out of the restaurant and joined them. One of them put a pickle in his mouth to free up his hand as he reached for the student’s other arm, which he held in a tight grip, high up, directly below his shoulder. It was then that the man in the leather jacket turned in Berta’s direction and she saw his face for the first time. With a shock of surprise she recognized the artel worker from the tram.

  The entire altercation lasted less than a minute. Several ladies turned around in their seats to see what was going on outside. A waiter stopped by Berta’s table because it had the best view in the house. As the men led the student off, he dropped his satchel and books on the sidewalk and tried to go back for them but was pulled away. The worker was left standing there in front of the window, watching them go. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. His features were bland and expressionless. He stood there for a moment longer and then stooped to pick up the satchel and books. After that, he walked off in the other direction. The patrons in the restaurant soon returned to their conversation. It was a testament to the frequency of this sort of thing that in a few minutes no one was talking about it.

  “Come, we’re leaving,” Berta said, gathering up her gloves.

  The children looked over at her in surprise. “But we’re not finished yet,” Samuil said.

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to leave.” Berta reached into her bag, pulled out several rubles, and put them down under her plate.

  “I haven’t had my tart yet,” Sura complained.

  “You’ll have one at home. Come along. We have to go . . . now.” She stood, took Sura’s hand, and pulled her up. Samuil started to gather up his cards. “I don’t see what all this fuss is about.” He sounded like Hershel and for a moment Berta felt a pang of longing.

  “Leave them,” Berta said holding the door open for him.

  “What? My magic tricks?” He dove for the cards and shoved them into the bag. “I can’t just leave them.” He grabbed the stray ones and the instruction sheet and rushed for the door.

  Out on the street Berta searched
for a cab and found that they all had fares. “We’ll have to find a tram,” she muttered, more to herself than the children.

  Samuil looked up at his mother in annoyance. “What is wrong, Mameh?”

  “Nothing is wrong. It’s just late, that’s all.”

  She hurried up the street to the tram stop, but it was empty. It had come and gone and they would have to wait a long time for the next one. “We can always walk from here.”

  “From here?” Sura moaned miserably. “All that way?”

  “It won’t be so bad. If we hurry, maybe we can catch a tram farther on.”

  “Why can’t we just wait here?” Samuil wanted to know.

  Before Berta could answer a man leaned in and said: “I have something to show you.”

  A sudden icy chill. “What is it?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Come over here, out of the way of the crowd. You will like it.” He motioned her over to the doorway of a small hotel. She followed him reluctantly. He had a round head and ears that stuck out on either side. The glare on his glasses obliterated his eyes.

  He opened a leather case and showed her the contents. “Are they not beautiful?” The case contained rows of rings, watch chain fobs, and gold watches neatly displayed on a blue velvet mat.

  She waved him off. “Oh no, I’m not interested.”

  “Why don’t you at least take a look? A pretty lady like yourself?”

  “I said I’m not interested.” She was about to push past him when something caught her eye. It was a white gold pocket watch with an ornate face and an intricate engraving of vines and flowers on the case. She reached for it. “Where did you get this?”