T he next morning Papa declares that if he is well enough to walk down to the harbor he is well enough to pray Shacharit in the beit knesset.
Aster turns to Clara. Clara’s head moves back and forth and she gestures to Aster that the situation should be weighed.
Aster nods. Clara is right. Everything nowadays is a balance: one side of the copper scales for a daughter’s devotion the other a father’s irritation. It swings back and forth back and forth until one of them spits words then apologies; all is bathed in a love truce and then it starts over again.
Now Aster merely kisses Papa’s hands and bids him to take care.
