Chapter 13

                                    

                                              
Copyright (c) 2015 Phyllis Zimbler Miller


                          
All rights reserved.
                          


                          
The U.S. is taking a tentative approach to rebuilding Haiti . -- Spring 1995
                          


                          
1995
                          
     This living history isn't as easy as it sounds. Too many memories. Memories I'm not proud of. Maybe it's a good thing my granddaughter won't be allowed to see this video. If she could, perhaps I'd leave some things out. Like my illegal abortion.
                          
     It wasn't until 1973 that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion in Roe v. Wade. My love child would have been five years old then, younger than Sylvia when her father came home from the war.
                          


                          
Judith's Story
                          
Chicago, May 1918
                          
     Judith brushed the dirt off her hands and leaned back on her heels. All over Maxwell Street posters slapped against building walls asked for help with the war effort. Little Sylvia loved the one of a woman wrapped in a flag and holding a jar of preserved food below the slogan "Women of America Work for Victory." Inspired by the poster, Judith and Sylvia had planted a victory garden.
                          
     Judith didn't have much time for weeding the garden but she wanted to do her part. Most of the time she worked beside Chaim in the deli now that Jacob was away.
                          
          Jacob. There had been no letter in such a long time. He was somewhere in Europe, crowded in rain-soaked trenches with other disease-wracked soldiers until it was their time to go "over the top." Oh, yes, she knew what "going over the top" meant. She just never said it to anyone.
                          
     She did have her own cause now to distract her mind from the imagined battle terrain. Chaim had encouraged her to attend meetings to help women get the vote. Although she didn't think of herself as a suffragist, she believed women should have the right to vote.
                          
     She had even written in her immigrant English to President Wilson, urging him to support the federal amendment. In January the House of Representatives had voted to give women this right. Now in May the Senate had just called off its scheduled vote. No one knew when the vote would be held.
                          
         Footsteps behind her -- Chaim. Since Jacob had been away she and Chaim had been careful to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing.  At meals the children were there. At night he slept at the back of the deli.
                          
     "You must be strong," he said.
                          
     She spun on her knees towards him.
                          
     "What?
                          
     "A telegram has come."    
                          
     The screams ripped her throat. "No, no!"
                          
     Chaim leaned down and his arms encircled her as he pulled her to her feet. "No, no, my dear. He is alive."
                          
         "He's wounded!"
                          
         "Yes, no. He was gassed."
                          
         "Gassed!"
                          
     Chaim held her, speaking into her hair.  "Enemy poison gas.  Perhaps he did not have on his gas mask."
                          
         "What does it mean?"
                          
         Chaim tilted her face upwards. "The truth?"
                          
         She nodded.    
                          
     "He probably will never completely recover. He may not even be well enough to work."
                          
     She collapsed against Chaim's chest.
                          
     "Hush, meine kinderlach. I will always take care of you."
                          
__
                          
If you would also like to read women's fiction that takes place in the future rather than the past, check out THE MOTHER SIEGE here on Wattpad at http://budurl.com/MSintro