Would caring for Shimmy tear our family apart?

Had the hem of her skirt not snagged in the stair lift on her way up and sent her somersaulting backward, Yael may have made it into her parents’ apartment on time to prevent war. Instead, she could only wince as her knee throbbed and her sisters’ voices rose like smoke.

“Sweetheart, you’re feeding him like I feed my Gavi,” Toby was saying. “It’ll take him all day to finish breakfast, he’s going to miss his dayhab van.”

Toby using endearments — this was bad news. When Toby’s kids uprooted her garden 15 minutes after the gardener left, she called them “my dear adorable nachas sweetie pies.”

“Backseat driver,” Nechama retorted. “How about taking over instead of just standing there?”

Yael frowned. Forget the fight — just another in their litany of endless squabbles. Why were both of her sisters there?

This situation was insane. Ma was relying on her three daughters to manage Shimmy’s care while she sat with Ta in Cleveland for another round of treatment. Which wouldn’t have been such a big deal if Kirk hadn’t quit on them the day their parents flew off, leaving them high and dry.

She heard Toby sigh.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming over? You’re not helping me by taking the morning shift. I’m still here from the night, I could’ve done breakfast, no problem. The afternoon is what’s impossible, I need to serve my own kids supper, I can’t come again then!”

Yael heard Shimmy grunt in the background, but her brother’s voice was drowned by Nechama’s.

“Thanks a lot for appreciating my help,” Nechama snapped. “I came to try to make your day easier. Why am I always the one taking responsibility and then getting flak for it?”

“Hello, as if! Anyway, maybe Yael can come?”

“Yael’s sleeping over here tonight, remember?”

Yael hauled herself upward, using the banister for support. Big deal! She would take care of supper, even if she was doing the night shift. Reuven would understand, he was so supportive about this whole situation. If only her sisters would stop fighting, and right there, with Shimmy in the room.