Free A Perfect Madness by Frank H. Marsh Page A

eagerly sought out the faces and monsters of
the world hidden among the moving shadows. Not every day, but some,
Julia would find the stoic face of Rabbi Loew’s golem staring back
at her before quickly fading into another strange form. But now she
saw nothing, the face of the golem having vanished along with her
childhood dreams.
    Dr. Kaufmann did not turn around when
Erich and Julia entered the study. He was lost now in the past,
wandering somewhere with his ancient fathers who, so many times,
had been cast from Prague like lepers of old. He had taken Julia
with him for a late afternoon lunch and coffee with a mixed group
of Czech writers and medical colleagues, all old friends, at the
University café. Entering the café, Dr. Kaufmann took Julia by the
arm and walked towards a large table around which sat four men and
a woman. There were no empty chairs awaiting him and Julia. Dr.
Kaufmann also noticed the absence of his two Jewish friends who
usually dined with them. No one looked at them as they neared the
silent group. Before he could speak, Dr. Polacek, a professor of
anatomy at Charles University, looked up at Dr. Kaufmann and Julia,
and in a cold rehearsed tone said, “Do not sit down with us. You
are no longer welcome here.”
    “ I don’t understand. We
are Czechs and old friends, not Germans,” Dr. Kaufmann stammered,
clearly stunned by Professor Polacek’s words. All the people seated
before him, though, stared at their plates, none daring to look at
him and Julia. He had become a leper.
    Without looking up, Professor Polacek
repeated his admonishment to Dr. Kaufmann. “Once, yes, but not now.
You must leave us alone. Go away.”
    Before Dr. Kaufmann could respond,
Julia tugged on her father’s arm, turning him away from the table
to face her.
    “ Come with me, Father,”
she said, taking him by the hand. “Believe me, no one here is
worthy of breaking bread with you.”
    Then Julia looked at her father’s old
friends, all sorely shamed by their disavowal of his presence with
them. She knew them all well, had played with their children and
dined in their homes and sat in their university classes when she
grew to womanhood; yet a lifetime of friendship had wilted and died
this day because the sun had disappeared from the broad skies over
Prague.
    “ Cowards! All of you,” she
said in a loud voice, causing those around to look at her, and then
at the table of professors whose faces were paled with fright, none
daring to watch their friend leave.
    Dr. Kaufmann meekly followed Julia to
the door, saying nothing. Nor did he speak again during their long
walk home from the coffeehouse. After entering the house, he went
straight to the study, turned his chair around to face the window
and sat down. Three hours later, when Erich arrived, Julia brought
him into the study, hoping to break through the spell that had
captured her father, who still had not spoken or moved. Urged on by
Julia, Erich tried to initiate a dialogue about nothing with Dr.
Kaufmann to have him question the silliness of his thoughts as he
always did. But nothing came. Nothing in the silence that followed.
And soon Erich quit trying. The professor, now suddenly grown old
from hurt, continued sitting in silence long after Erich left, no
longer looking at the close of day and the sights he loved, but
staring blindly into an emptiness that covered his window with a
terror heretofore unknown to him and his family.
    Mrs. Kaufmann brought a sandwich and a
glass of milk for her husband and set them down quietly on his
desk. Reaching to him, she gently touched his neck, then left the
room, leaving Julia alone with her father.
    Julia continued trying to break into
her father’s mind, speaking to him softly every few minutes at
first, then yelling in frustration, something she had never done,
not even as a child. Still he remained away from her world, staying
as silent as a fieldstone. Refusing to leave him alone, Julia
curled up in the soft