Chapter 30: CAPS
God's Little Drop of Water
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Very soon, Purim arrived. Taliya adored Purim. It was a celebration of the Jewish people being saved from a mean man named Haman. Everyone dressed up in costumes, which Taliya had learned from Gabby and Debby was similar to Halloween in the USA and in other parts of the world, with costumes worn to scare away evil spirits. Purim also meant the baking of special cookies known as oznei Haman ("Haman's ears"). They were typically filled with a sweet poppy seed mixture or with chocolate. Ima baked a large batch of each and stored them in big plastic jugs to keep them fresh.
Ima also prepared elaborate costumes for Taliya and her brothers to be worn to school. This year, Ima sewed a lovely Little Red Riding Hood costume for Taliya. It consisted of a red-and-white dress and matching bonnet, and was accompanied by white tights, red shoes, and a lovely red flower basket for Taliya to carry on her arm. The dress had a great deal of red satin and Taliya adored its red sheen.
Yair decided to be a cowboy, so Ima helped him put together a very convincing costume with brown pants replete with fringe on the legs, a vest, a hat, and even a holster and a six-gun.
By this point in the costume creating process, Ima was tired. She wanted Yaroni to be a cowboy also, because she already had the materials left over from Yair’s costume.
But Yaroni did not want to be a cowboy. He wanted to be an American Indian, wearing moccasins and a great feathered headdress.
When Ima insisted that Yaroni be a cowboy, he ran around the coffee table in protest, screaming and whooping loudly, not unlike an Indian brave on a hunt.
Ima laughed and acquiesced to her son’s demands. She got to work and in a short while Yaroni had an excellent costume complete with moccasins and a headdress to go along with the white paint Ima put on his cheeks before school.
A few days later, Taliya travelled with her parents and brothers to Sabba and Savta’s house for a Purim celebration. Taliya wore her Little Red Riding Hood costume and Yair and Yaroni donned their cowboy and Indian costumes.
Sabba and Savta’s house soon became crowded and noisy and teeming with food and excitement. Taliya and her cousins investigated everyone’s costumes (Taliya liked very much to investigate things).
After lunch, Yair was outside in the yard, playing with his cousin Ezra, who had also come dressed as a cowboy. Ezra was the same age as Yair and he was interested in similar subjects at school, such as math and science. Yair and Ezra were playing with long strips of red paper caps used in their cap guns. One of the caps created a spark. The spark landed on Ezra’s sleeve, igniting the brown fringe on his cowboy outfit.
Taliya was inside, sitting with Savta, when people began shouting.
“Ezra’s on fire! Ezra’s on fire!”
A stampede ensued as everyone in the room ran to help, aunts, uncles, cousins, adults and children alike, all rushed through the door and out into the back yard.
The men patted Ezra with their hands, quickly extinguishing the flames. His cowboy costume was blackened and had many holes on one side, but Ezra was unharmed.
Taliya saw the look on Yair’s face, for Yair was white as snow.
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