Trafika Europe 12 - French Bon-Bons

A Souvenir from New York

Harvard. “Big deal!” said a neighbor. “What difference does it make, where a person takes some classes? The main thing is whether he can make good money from it.” Those were not easy years for us. We had debts up to our ears, and we worked seven days a week. My Galya was silent, she is not a complainer, but I’m a bit different, sometimes I have to talk. She was right, of course - words don’t help. And yet when I talk, I feel better. But we’ve endured it all-- and Shimon, thank G-d, graduated from Harvard and became a surgeon. At first, he worked in a small hospital near New York. But as Mother wrote, “Ne hvalyuytsesya, slanechnik and praz rapeynika galavu vytsyagne.” Shimon was promoted. He moved to New York, and now we are buying a house. His surgeries are scheduled a year ahead. He became an adult, yet in his soul he is the same little Shimon who consults with his dad on every problem. It’s a trait he inherited from me, this indecisiveness. I give advice to the surgeon, who commands the whole hospital! Yesterday he came to me and said, “Dad, my hospital received a letter from Belarus, from Gomel. The parents of a seven-year girl write that we are their only hope. They heard that the kind of surgery their daughter needs can be done only at our hospital.” “And?” I asked.

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