Free Child of the Journey by Janet Berliner, George Guthridge Page A

Now...I'm not sure."
    For a while there is silence. In the tension silence can cause, the woman's face seems to lose its look of aged innocence. She stops writing and presses the pencil hard against the page; the tip breaks.
    "Tell me, Emanuel," she says quietly, "do you believe that the gods are punishing you for leaving your village...that they have taken away your heritage, only to replace it with doubts?"
    "I cannot understand why Jehovah sits by and winks at war. Had I not left home I would not have known the meaning of war and--"
    "I, too, have doubts." The woman removes her hat and sets it down with trembling hands. She watches him eat more of the stew, jiggling the hot bread in his hand; there is a deep sadness in her eyes. "All these years of searching, Emanuel, and now that I have found you, I am no longer sure I should ever have begun the quest," she says finally.
    "Quest? Explain, please." He leans close.
    "Seventy-five years ago, a French professor named Joseph Halévy discovered the Falashas--African Jews who lacked knowledge of Hebrew and the Talmud, and who had priests rather than rabbis. The Lost Tribe, he called them. Probably descended from--"
    "Menelik the First, son of Sheba. They all say so."
    She nods. "All those centuries, living by the dictates and dreams of the Jewish people, yet unaware other Jews existed!" As if in an effort to calm herself, she selects and wraps another morsel, which she holds before Emanuel's mouth. "The finest portion, to honor the favored guest."
    He opens his mouth for it like a bird.
    "After the Italians invaded Ethiopia," she says, "we heard rumors of a tiny enclave of Jews who were not Falashas. A people who spoke Hebrew but did not follow Levite law concerning monotheism. Perhaps descended from Jews who were driven out of their colony at Elephantine, the Nile's southernmost cataract in Egypt, and never heard of again. Four hundred years," she looks at him soberly, "before the Christians' Messiah, and a century before the Hebrew language began to change." She starts to roll another bread-and-meat, then stops. "The destruction of the Jewish temple and the slaughter at Elephantine occurred," she says quietly, no longer looking at him, "when Khnum priests realized they were losing power and therefore bribed the commander of the Egyptian garrison."
    She holds out the morsel, dangling it between forefinger and thumb. He cranes his neck around in order to take it between his lips. As he eats, he eyes her steadily. "So you wish to study us and make yourself as famous as the Frenchman."
    She looks away. "I come from a country called Ireland, but I am a Jew with an African heart," she tells him. Her shoulders sag, and she runs her fingers through thinning hair. "I spent years among the Bushmen. Now I'm not sure who I am. Like you, in a way," she adds softly. "If I expose you to the world you will suffer less--but it will change you. Your people will never be the same. Having found you, I could fulfill my dream." She lifts her gaze and looks directly into his eyes; her expression is intense, searching, caring. "It would be better if that were your wish, too."
    "I am most confused," he says.
    She turns a page of the sketch pad to reveal an excellently rendered drawing of Emanuel squatted peasant-style beside the blanket. "This is real." She holds up the sketch pad. "This...you ...you are the living essence of my Jewish heritage. My needs are only a part of this. Everywhere, Jews are being forced to deny their heritage if they wish to survive."----
    "You can come out now, Sol."
    Miriam's voice pulled Sol out of the vision. He hoped it would not be one of the fragmentary ones that never returned. The people intrigued him--the woman with her sketch pad, the princely black man.
    "It's safe for a little while," Miriam said. "You remember--the customers always seem to come in waves. I left Konrad up there. He will call me the moment someone approaches the shop."
    Sol took a few seconds to