Adam and Thomas

Chapter 11

That same morning, a squirrel came to visit them. Adam knelt and asked, “How are you, squirrel?” The squirrel hopped and raised its body upright. Its chatter said, You’re new in the forest, aren’t you?

Adam offered it pieces of the sandwich he was eating. The squirrel was cautious, sniffed, tasted, hopped away, and kept nibbling at the bread.

After finishing the crumbs, the squirrel moved away, bowed once to the right and once to the left, and returned to its tree.

“I noticed,” said Thomas, “that some of the squirrel’s movements are like people’s. Am I mistaken?”

“You’re not mistaken. We have more in common with animals than we have differences,” said Adam, pleased with his own words.

“Anyway, you talked to the squirrel the way one person talks to his fellow,” said Thomas.

Adam chuckled. “I’ve never heard a child say ‘the way one person talks to his fellow.’”

“My parents say ‘the way one person talks to his fellow.’ Is that incorrect?” Thomas asked.

They ate breakfast and for dessert they ate some of the cherries they had set aside for a long day full of sun.

“Isn’t it strange that we’re living in the forest without parents and without friends? What harm did we do? I have the feeling that it’s a punishment. It’s not clear to me who’s punishing us, or for what.” Thomas spoke quickly, without stopping between the words.

“We’re Jews,” said Adam, as though it were self-evident.

“What harm did the Jews do to deserve punishment?” Thomas didn’t let up.

“People don’t like Jews.”

“Are we different from other people?” Thomas was puzzled.

“Apparently.”

“I don’t see any difference between Jews and non-Jews,” Thomas insisted.

Adam got impatient, and he said, “The Jews have always suffered.”

“Why?”

“It’s a riddle,” said Adam, surprising Thomas.

“There have to be reasons.” Thomas spoke like his father, the teacher.

“We won’t solve that problem today.” Adam also spoke like his father. “Let’s take a look around the forest. I know it well. Sitting for too long gives you bad thoughts.”

“Shouldn’t I think?” Thomas jumped up.

“You don’t have to think all the time.”

“My father wouldn’t agree with that,” said Thomas.

While they were walking around, wonders appeared before their eyes. First they met a lilac bush in full bloom with its violet flowers. Adam walked up to the bush, picked a small branch, and put it to his nose. “A marvelous smell, like the bush we have in our garden.”

“I thought that lilacs only grew in gardens,” Thomas commented.

“Lilacs grow in well-lit places in the forest,” said Adam, glad to have remembered his mother’s words.

Thomas turned his face toward him. Again he was surprised by Adam’s capability.

Not far from the lilacs a wild rose bush grew.

“The forest isn’t monotonous,” said Thomas in a grown-up way.

They went in deeper and saw more wonders. Suddenly Thomas was frightened and said, “I think something happened to Mom. There’s a reason why she didn’t come on time. Can we go back to our tree now? Is it far?”

“It’s not far. We’ll be next to it in ten minutes,” Adam reassured him.

So it was. In a few minutes they were standing next to their tree, and Thomas was relieved.