Chapter 11: THE PIANO TEACHER AND HER TWO DOGS

God's Little Drop of Water

Jun 28, 2024

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Two days later, Taliya and Yair were once more walking home from school when Taliya remembered that it was Thursday, Hamishi, and that meant they had their piano lesson! School had been boring and repetitive as ever, Gal remained uninspiring in her teaching efforts, and Yarden not only was still sniffly, he also had failed to notice the ever-shrinking portion of his desk.

The piano lesson was an appreciated variation.

Yair did not want to go. He had not enjoyed their first lesson last week and he was confident that he would not enjoy another lesson today.

Taliya did her best to assure her brother that he was quite talented, and that he possessed a natural gift for music, which was very rare, and not one he should take lightly or squander.

When put in such a light, Yair had no choice but to admit that his sister was correct.

♦♦♦

Taliya knocked loudly upon the door of the piano teacher’s apartment.

Yair said he could smell the odor of weird meat coming through the door.

The large, heavily-lipsticked Russian woman opened the door and welcomed them in. A wave of warm, meaty air accosted them at once. Visions of Hansel and Gretel filled Taliya’s mind.

The Russian woman closed the heavy steel door behind them. All buildings in Israel possessed such doors. Yair knew it would be nearly impossible to escape.

The children were immediately accosted by a flurry of small, yapping dogs. Yair noticed immediately that there were now only two dogs.

“Where is the third dog?” he whispered to Taliya.

The great Russian woman asked the children to follow her to the kitchen for a glass of cold chocolate milk before they began their lesson.

Once in the kitchen and seated at her table, Yair noticed a large pot on the stove. Steam seeped out of the pot. The smell of strange meat was stronger here.

As the piano teacher poured the chocolate milk, Yair whispered to Taliya. “What’s in the pot?”

“What?” Taliya whispered.

“She cooked one of her dogs!”

“Drink it while it’s cold,” said the teacher. She set two small glasses of chocolate milk before them.

Yair suspected his was poisoned. He was to be her prisoner, to be fattened up before being cooked and eaten, just like Hansel, while Taliya was forced to clean the nasty woman’s home, just as Gretel had been.

But Taliya swiftly drank her chocolate milk. So Yair did the same.

The teacher led them into her living room. The wooden piano bench creaked mightily as the woman seated herself.

Yair went first.

The teacher played a piece of music. Yair listened and then imitated it. After a few attempts, he had succeeded in playing it entirely.

Yair took a seat upon the sofa while Taliya joined the woman at the piano.

Two small dogs sat upright on the floor, staring at him. Watching him.

Yair could think of nothing other than the fate of the third dog, and the boiling, simmering, steaming contents of the pot lurking upon the woman’s stove.

He very much wanted to flee.

♦♦♦

That evening, everyone gathered in the tiny L-shaped kitchen. Taliya took her place at the short side of the table. She had quite enjoyed the piano lesson that afternoon, odd odors notwithstanding. Playing the piano had gotten her creative juices flowing and she had worked up quite an appetite.

She was thus horrified to discover that when Ima lifted the lid on the pot, it contained liver and onions. Ima announced that she needed the big pot in order to prepare the Shishi meal, so they would be finishing the liver and onions that evening.

When Ima was busy retrieving the salt and pepper from a cupboard, Yair leaned close to his sister. “It’s the dog! From the woman’s apartment!”

This thought had yet to enter Taliya’s mind. It now had.

“Flush it down the toilet,” Taliya murmured.

“Eat!” declared Ima, returning to the table.

Caught under Ima’s watchful glare, Taliya watched as Yair put a morsel of liver into his mouth. She followed. Taliya quickly cut several more pieces, put them into her mouth, and once Ima seemed satisfied, slid from her stool and strolled to the sherutim, where she spat the meat into her hand, tossed it into the toilet, and flushed it away. She quickly washed her hands and returned to the table.

Yair passed her on the way, his cheeks bulging with meat.

The toilet flushed, the water ran, and Yair returned to the table, this time passing little Yaroni. Taliya distinctly heard Yaroni spitting the meat loudly into the toilet. When Yaroni flushed the toilet, Ima took notice, demanding to know why everyone was suddenly going the bathroom.

Yaroni climbed atop his stool, wiping his hands on the front of his shirt.

Ima promptly declared that there would be no additional bathroom visits until they had cleaned their plates.

Slowly, and with great reluctance, Yair put a piece of liver into his mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed it.

Taliya was not about to do the same. She put several pieces of liver into her mouth and pretended to chew it up. Once no one was watching, she slid from her stool, and promptly hid the meat beneath the soil of a nearby potted plant. She then took a moment to apologize to the plant.

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