Slowly, the confidence inside him collapsed. He felt shattered. “Maybe we should take her out of the school, before the girls start a campaign against her,” he suggested. “I could send her to my brother in Baltimore.”

“But it’s only a few months until the end of the school year. She’ll be graduating!”

He paced, more and more agitated. “Yes. She deserves to graduate, after all she’s been through. It will hurt her so much to leave now. It’s not right!” he fumed, changing his mind again and again.

“And also, she’s in the middle of therapy. She has to continue. We can’t just stop.”

He hadn’t thought of that. “Yes, we need to find her someone new, someone she—and we—can trust.”

“I’ll call my friend Dr. Glaser. She’ll know. But you’re right. Maybe we should keep her home, at least for a few days?”

“We shouldn’t have to give in to this kind of rishus. We shouldn’t bow to it, obey it. It’s like bowing to idols. There is a God, and He will protect us.”

“But, Yaakov, be practical.”

“All right. What if we pick her up from school and keep her from going out on her own for a little while until we figure this out?”

“Yes, all right. I can do that, pick her up with the car.” Unless they slash my tires, she thought, wondering with a cold chill what would be next.

The doorbell rang, and the sound sent a frisson of fear through them both. They were under siege, she realized, and the benevolent place she had so lovingly embraced and wanted to call home had become a jungle of dark forces, wild, uncontrolled, and unpredictable.

Fruma Esther bustled in, her hands full of heavy plastic boxes holding various delicacies. “I made so much for Shabbos, I thought you could use—” She stopped, caught by their stricken faces. She put the food down on the dining room table instead of immediately unpacking it in the kitchen. “So tell me, I’m listening,” she said, hanging up her coat and settling into a chair.

Yaakov and Leah exchanged glances. Neither one of them wanted to hurt the old woman by telling her any of this, which reflected so badly on the world of which she was so proud to be such a prominent member. And truthfully, neither did they relish the idea of being subject to a long list of recriminations. After all, they were hardly blameless in all of this. Perhaps involving her wasn’t such a good idea, after all?

“Nu? I’m waiting!”

Yaakov moved a chair opposite hers. “We have a problem.”

“With Shaindele and this Grub. I know all about it. So what else is new?”

“They want to throw her out of school.”

“Who? That Halpern? But his own son started it! A yeshiva bum from the pizza parlor, nuch!”