Grandma Rachel's Ghosts

By Jonathan Dunsky

Can the dead speak to us? And if they can, will we listen?

Jacob was five the first time he saw them, the two strange women in Grandma Rachel's kitchen. They appeared suddenly, from thin air.

It was summer and scorching hot, but the two women wore old-fashioned heavy winter dresses. They spoke with an accent like Grandma, from a land far away.

They had stories to tell. Nice stories that Jacob loved hearing, and awful, painful stories that made him cover his ears.

Now, years have passed and Grandma Rachel is dying. Will Jacob finally be able to listen to what the ghosts have to tell him before it's too late?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lion Cub Publishing
• Release date: Oct 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9789657795378

Book preview

Grandma Rachel’s Ghosts

GRANDMA RACHEL’S GHOSTS

A JEWISH FANTASY STORY

JONATHAN DUNSKY

CONTENTS

1. Now

2. Then

3. Now

4. Then

5. Now

6. Then

7. Now

8. Then

9. Now

10. Then

11. Now

12. Then

13. Now

14. Then

15. Now

About the Author

For Grandma Rachel. Thank you for the rugelach, and for everything else

1

NOW

Mother is waiting in the hall, and I can see she has been crying. She sees me approach and rises from the plastic chair by the door. She's acting crazy again, Mother says. Shouting about Esther and Tova and Yitzhak. Saying dreadful things. Telling me I'm blind.

The lines around her eyes are more pronounced, as if being in this home of the elderly is aging her.

What am I going to do about her? she asks.

I take her hands, the hands that have bathed me, changed me, dressed me, gave me food and warmth and education. These hands are now smaller than mine. My palms easily engulf hers.

It will be all right, I say, and the lie flows so easily that I'm scared by it.

"She's been asking