A Curable Romantic (10 page)

Father said.
I’m in distress
(Lamentations 1:20). He pointed to his belly.
There is an evil sickness I’ve seen under the sun
(Ecclesiastes 5:12).

“And your bowels?” the doctor asked, palpating him, “how are they?”

my father said:
They’ve shriveled up
(Job 6:17).

“Any problems with flatulence?”

Father shrugged.
Is there no end to these words of wind?
(ibid. 16:3).

Dr. Kirshbaum handed him a curative powder in a paper sleeve and played along.
This will be a cure for your navel
(Proverbs 3:8).

Another time, when Father had ordered manure to be laid upon the orchards, he’d noticed the gardener boy idling about.
he muttered.
There he stands behind our wall, peering through the lattice
(Song of Songs 2:9). He called to the lad.
Incline your ear to me and help
(Psalm 71:2)
for now the winter is past and the rains are gone
(Song of Songs 2:11)
the flowers have appeared on the land and the time for pruning has come
(ibid. 2:12). Steering his charge towards the fertilizer, he commanded him:
You shall spread it out powerfully westward, eastward, northward and southward
(Genesis 29:14) that it may
blow upon my garden and its perfume spread
(Song of Songs 4:16). But he cautioned him:
My boy, let your mind retain my orders
(Proverbs 3:1), for
why should the work be halted when I leave?
(Nehemiah 6:3).