“Principessa.” Judah says loudly, causing me to cringe and chuckle.
“Priscilla or Priss is fine. Only my uncles, nonno and grumpy nonna use that nickname.”
Judah’s steps falter. “You are Italian?” He smiles, cocking his head to the side to look at my features more closely.
“Not by birth.” I answer, hearing the other men laugh. I give Judah a brief hug and move back to Garrett’s side. “Nice to see you again.”
“And you.” He waves the guys over and I notice that while several are large, muscular, and tan, a few are skinny, average height and pale. “These are our brothers; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Benjamin.”
“Those are all road names?” I ask looking at Dan in confusion.
“Yes, we take our names from the original tribes of Israel.” Dan answers. “Apparently, they decided to entrust a tribe to a dashing fellow named Dan. Not everyone can be exotic like Zebulun or Naphtali.” He laments. I immediately like the lanky nerdy guy.
Gad steps to the side, “We have lunch in one of the conference rooms if you are hungry.”
“That’s a dumb question.” I snort, like a proper lady. “I hope you brought enough to actually feed the tribes not just their leaders.”
Ephraim 10.
“How…where…do you have a tapeworm?” Asher, our Sergeant at Arms, questions in a hushed tone, staring at my girl like she grew a second head. To be fair, we all just watched her consume enough food to feed a small nation and not hesitate to inquire about dessert.
“Nope.” She pats her tummy, belching quietly into her closed fist. “Some people eat to survive; I survive to eat.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Simeon, or Sim, our tech guy, can’t seem to blink, his eyes are so wide.
“This is nothing, you should see me on a holiday.” She laughs, it’s an infectious, throaty, happy sound.
She claps her hands, garnering our attention, though, to be honest, we haven’t really paid attention to anything but her and her bottomless stomach since we sat down. “Tell me about Golem Guerillas. Why does it exist, what do you guys do, how did you get this awesome building, and does it have a clean, functional pool?”
Her excitement and childlike curiosity are adorable. I hook my arm around her shoulders and bring her closer so I can kiss her temple. I am becoming addicted to the feel of her.
“Golem Guerillas was established in 2019. We were all around the same age, in high school, when there was a shooting at a local synagogue in 2018. Well, except for Benji, he was still nursing at his mother’s teat.” Benji ducks his head. “It was a devastating blow to our community and a reminder of the continued burden we bear for our faith. For months we talked about the need for more protection, and the limited assistance we could receive from officials. Not because they were ignorant or bad at their jobs, they were just unable to do more sometimes.” I began.
“Ephraim and Manasseh’s father, Joseph, would sit with all of us and discuss our concerns and the impotence we felt. He told us that often in our people’s history, dire circumstances bore brave necessity. If we felt impotent in the face of such atrocities, we should do something about it. Golem Guerillas was born. With his help and our families, we went to college, trade schools, took over family businesses while helping our community. We opened Maimonides Mitzvot as a shelter for those in need. Right now, we all live here in the hotel, and some of the staff for the shelter reside here as well.” As Judah finishes, I notice Priscilla is silent, hanging on our every word.
“Like the Golem of Jewish folklore, we were created to defend those less fortunate than ourselves, to do what others cannot or will not for the sake of what is right.”
It takes a few moments for Priscilla to absorb all we have explained, and I am sure she will have more questions once she thinks it through. I will gladly answer what I can. “So, let me see if I have this right…you all are like the real-life Jewish biker version of Angel seasons 2 through 4 and you are vigilante bikers by night and…vigilante bankers by day?”
“Oy vey!” I shout out before laughing my ass off. The guys join me, I don’t think any of that ever occurred to us before, I know it didn’t occur to me.
“Dan is totally Wesley!” Reuben yells out.
“Does that mean that Simeon is Winnifred Burkle?” Issachar asks between peels of laughter.
“I’m obviously that girl…Cordelia, cuz I’m the prettiest.” Reuben, the vice president says, shifting his long black hair behind his shoulder.
After wiping the tears from my eyes, I turn to Priscilla to see she has stolen food from my plate and I think Levi’s, smiling like a kid in a candy store.
I nudge her shoulder, “Just so you know, Dan and Gad are the only ‘vigilante bankers’ as you put it.”
“Cool. Cool.” She says, leaning back into my shoulder. Then, in a stage-whisper which garnishes everyone’s attention, “No one answered me about the pool.”
Priscilla 11.
“This place is amazing.” I am walking around Garrett’s suite of rooms, trying not to be obvious about my nibbiness. He has three connecting rooms, but the only occupant on the floor. The middle room is used as the main entrance, opening to a living room, dining room, kitchen. One room is used as his bedroom, which we seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement to skip over in the tour.
“This room is for Elead.” He smiles proudly, opening the door to reveal another room, with a full bathroom, that was adorably decorated as a nursery. At least, I think it was decorated,
