A Loan
FROM THE YIDDISH OF A. RAISIN
The “Ulas” fair is the largest of its kind. The townspeople of Klemenke are impatiently awaiting the enterprise, expecting to realize their hopes of prosperity. “Ulas,” say the shopkeepers and merchants, “is a godsend; if not for this stroke of good fortune the inhabitants of Klemenke would have been forced to leave their native town and go to seek a subsistence in the New World.”
At this time ready money is a necessity. The shopkeepers must provide themselves with goods and the traders with cash; without goods or money the fair does not amount to anything!
Chaim, the wheat-merchant, is at his wit's end. Only three days remain before the great event and he has not a government coin on hand.
The other dealers are busily preparing for and talking about the coming fair.
"In about three days from this time!" joyfully exclaimed one of them.
“Hey, hey!” enthusiastically cried another, “in three days’ time things will be booming!”
These expressions worry Chaim all the more. He wishes that he were able to prevent the fair from taking place; or, that a disturbance of the atmosphere, on that day, would render it impossible even for a mad dog to be on the market place; but he knows that "Ulas" fears nothing, that it will be held irrespective of tempests.
And Chaim is growing more anxious to obtain a loan, even as small as twenty-five roubles, so as to be ready for the fair.
He entreats his neighbors to oblige him, but they reply with scornful laughter.
"Have you lost your senses? Who can advance you money before the fair?" And it appears to him that he is losing his mind.
* * *
"You ask Lieb Beres," his wife advises him, showing her deep interest in his affairs.
“I meant to do so,” thoughtfully replied Chaim.
“And why didn’t you?” queried his helpmate.
Chaim wanted to tell her that he lacked sufficient courage; but his pride, blended with the fear that his beloved one might be ashamed of him, prompted him to say:
"Let him go to the —! He will not loan me money."
"But you might try," intimated his wife.
Finally, Chaim concluded that he had no alternative. Leib Beres was the only rich man who does not need his money for the fair. He deals in forests and its lumber, and lives but a little ways off, that is, he and Chaim are neighbors.
“Give me my best top-coat,” said Chaim, in a decided voice, turning to his wife.