GUILT JUDO
Rachel Kadish

“…A college buddy of mine—Jewish, though not a descendant of survivors—once observed that his family dynamics follow the rules of a sport: Guilt Judo. The sport requires a range of moves: arm-twists, throws, the art of the pin. Grace and style matter, and it is of course imperative to master that most fundamental skill: learning to fall without injury.

Oh. You’re home.

No, it’s just that I thought you’d be home an hour ago.

It’s okay, it’s just that the dinner got dry and ruined in the oven. And your uncle went home. He was upset not to see you, though he didn’t want to let on. So tell me, how was your drive?

To play successfully, my friend maintained, you need to understand the rules. Family obligations pin the needs of single people. The needs of the elders pin the needs of the young (except when said young are infants). Safety pins punctuality. (Q: Why were you late? A: I wanted to come earlier, but the roads were wet…I just didn’t want to take the chance.) You get the idea.

The Holocaust pins everything…”

Rachel Kadish is the author of the novel From a Sealed Room. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Story, Zoetrope, Prairie Schooner, Tin House, and Bomb, and have been anthologized in the Pushcart Prize collection and elsewhere. She has won fellowships from the NEA, the Bunting Institute, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and was the 2004 Koret Foundation Writer in Residence at Stanford University. Her new novel, titled Love, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2006. She lives outside Boston.