Rifkele
Won't that be lovely! We'll have a house full of people. . . There'll be playing and singing. . . Yes, mamma dear?
Sarah
Yes, my darling. It's a sacred event,—a great merit in the eyes of God. . . Not everyone can have a Holy Scroll written. Only a man of dignity, a person of standing.
Rifkele
And will there be girls, too? And dancing? Really, mamma dear? (Suddenly.) I'll have to buy myself a waist, ma. And a pair of white slippers. (Sticking out her shoes.) You can't dance in shoes, can you?
Sarah
When you'll be engaged, in God's good time. Next Passover I'll make you a long dress and buy you slippers. Girls will come, fine young ladies, respectable ones. And you'll chum with them.
Rifkele, stubbornly.
You're always putting things off until Passover. I'm a grown-up girl already. (Looking into the mirror.) See, ma. I'm a big girl. (Showing her hair.) And just see how long my braids are. Why, Manke tells me. . . (Inter-
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