Cibi is hurt. ‘I thought you’d be on my side.’
‘It’s not about sides. I want Magda to be happy and if that means she has to leave, then I think she should,’ Livi says.
‘And our promise to Father?’ persists Cibi. ‘What about always staying together? Does that mean nothing to either of you?’
Magda reaches for Cibi’s hand, but Cibi snatches it away. ‘Cibi!’ says Magda, firmly. ‘If I thought for one moment my moving away would mean the end of our promise I wouldn’t do it, how can you not know that? How can you not know I would do anything for you and for Livi?’
‘Really?’ snaps Cibi. ‘Why don’t you tell me what else I should know?’
‘You should know I love you. That moving a few kilometres up the road has nothing to do with our promise to Father and Mumma.’
Magda’s eyes flash as she talks, but Cibi’s soften. She lets Magda take her hand. ‘You’re right. Of course you’re right,’ says Cibi. ‘And you are both pretty useless on the farm, anyway.’
Magda draws her into a hug. ‘Scrabble around in the dirt if you must, I’ll love you just the same,’ says Magda. ‘I’ll be half an hour away, and haven’t we been apart before? Haven’t we always found our way back to each other?’
‘Let them go, Cibi,’ says Mischka to his wife. ‘Let’s all give them a chance at making a life in Rehovot. If it doesn’t work, we’ll always be here for them.’
Cibi sighs. ‘When will you go?’ She reaches for the bottle of red wine and fills up her glass.
‘Yitzchak has friends in town who we’ll stay with until we find our own place.’
‘My sisters .?.?.’ Yitzchak says now, ‘I will always look after Magda, but we would love your blessing.’
‘I don’t like it, I can’t pretend that I do, but Livi is right, even if it means moving away, then of course you have my blessing.’ Cibi raises her glass to her lips.
The sisters share a hug that is about so much more than physical comfort. It is a bond which crosses time and space, which hurdles their pain and dulls their suffering. They each implicitly understand that mere distance will not break their bond.
Cibi thinks about the space in her heart where God used to live and wonders, for a second, if the peace she feels in her sisters’ arms is a sign that maybe He never really left.
When they draw apart, Livi turns to Magda and then to Cibi. ‘Cibi, you know I love you.’
‘Livi!’ warns Cibi.
‘Let me go with them.’
*
Three weeks later Magda, Yitzchak and Livi travel to Rehovot.
Yitzchak finds a job in a butcher’s shop and dreams of opening his own shop one day. Magda and Livi fall back into the casual work they enjoyed in Bratislava, managing the accounts of small offices, and even some volunteering work, helping new migrants to Israel settle.
The Jewish Agency has opened an office in Rehovot, to assist with work opportunities and accommodation. Magda and Livi register with it.
A month later, Yitzchak asks a friend to drive them to Kfar Ahim and the sisters are reunited.
‘We’re expanding!’ Cibi tells Yitzchak and Magda. ‘We have enough land for chickens and cows.’
‘Chickens and cows!’ marvels Magda. ‘Well, I have got some news too.’
‘Oh, dear,’ says Cibi, frowning. She imagines Magda is about to announce a move to Tel Aviv.
‘Not again,’ pouts Livi. ‘How do I not know?’
‘It’s good. Don’t look so worried, Cibi,’ says Yitzchak. ‘You’ll be happy to hear it.’
‘I’ve been offered a job.’ Magda is bright red, brimming with excitement to share her triumph with her sisters. ‘I’m going to be working in the home of President Weizmann.’
‘Are you joking?’ Livi says.
‘No,’ say Magda, with a grin.
‘The president? The president of Israel? Tell us everything immediately!’ Cibi is just relieved to hear her sisters are staying put.
‘The Jewish Agency told me there was a vacancy at the president’s house for a maid and asked if I would be interested.’
‘And what did you say?’ Livi asks.
‘Obviously, I said yes. I met Mrs Weizmann and she gave me the job. I start next week.’
‘You met Mrs Weizmann?’ Cibi is as excited as Magda now. ‘What was she like?’
‘She has the kindest eyes and she spoke to me like a friend. She asked me about you, as well.’