FROM THE "HELLO KITTY" ROOM

The beds were to be separated on nights forbidden to physical intimacy, but Chava Bayla hadn’t pushed them together for many months. She flatly refused to sleep anywhere except on her menstrual bed and was, from the start, impervious to her husband’s pleading.

Nathan Englander’s “For the Relief of Unbearable Urges”

Whether external or internal, the conflict is there: in each character’s head—we all have our faults, our desires, those absolutely-gotta-have-urges; unfortunately, when those conflicts bubble to the surface, unsuspecting victims, because of their noble intentions, are permanently scarred; let’s just call this: the boiling point. Nathan Englander’s wonderful short story (which first appeared many years ago in Story) shows us the complexities involved in these types of situations; I’ll divulge the dire consequences soon.

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“No one’s truly free,” I told a prisoner in my classroom. “We all have to answer to someone.”

You’d’ve thought I hit this youngster with an electric cattle prod, such intensity in his eyes and in his voice.

“Seeing what we go through every day,” he replied, “how could you even blow that shit outta your mouth!?!”

I decided to leave him be. No sense in ruffling another jailbird’s feathers. He hadn’t a clue regarding my predicament, nor should it have mattered. But we don’t live our lives inside vacuums; we are the accumulation of our actions and those actions inflicted upon us.
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As for Englander’s story: Dov Binyamin seeks the advice of his Rebbe, a master teacher who advises him to seek out the services of a prostitute. Somewhat taken aback, Dov decides to cruise the streets of Jerusalem in search of his “suggested answer.”

It isn’t until after the dirty deed, until Dov is in the privacy of his own bathroom that his wife calls to him:

“Dovey, please, come out of there. Come lie by me and we’ll talk. Just talk. Come Doveleh, join me in bed.”

Poor Dov. He dropped to his knees from the burning sensation in his loins while his wife asked how she had lost her husband for good?
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Today’s picture is of yours truly relegated to the “Hello Kitty” room.