“If he really is your secret uncle, there must be some evidence,” Ezra says after the meal
“Just keep Hillel from talking about the body,” Rivi hisses to Gabe as she hands him an artfully arranged plate of gefilte fish. “The kids don’t need to hear any more of that.”
Rivi had invited Hillel and his family for Shabbos lunch as a gift to Gabe, and probably also to balance out the fact that Penina and Daniel are at the meal, too.
Gabe is hiding in the kitchen as often as possible. “I’m just trying to be helpful,” he protests. Rivi gives him a dubious look and hands him the chrein.
There is something to be said for Shabbos in Lenape Falls. Gabe is accustomed to the strange limbo of Shabbos in Manaus, where he stays indoors and davens alone. There is a Chabad and a small Moroccan-Brazilian Jewish community, but both are on the other side of the city, and Gabe had rarely gone, finding little in common with them. Instead, his Shabbosim were spent in solitude, reading and sleeping and quick meals. It’s nothing like the elaborate feast that Rivi and Ezra have put together.
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