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them, if he hears that kind of word, his fingers start running up and down as if they were playing the piano, and they count at Super Mystère speed as if they were jet-propelled and could break the sound barrier. For instance, if someone says the word “infiltrators” on the radio, right away his fingers start running automatically, and he makes a fist which means five fingers and another fist which means five fingers and another two fingers which makes twelve letters all together. Or “national league coach,” and the fingers calculate it right away, nineteen letters, or how about the magic word “uranium” which is the most important element in the atomic reactor, bzzz! One fist, two fingers, that’s seven letters altogether. And Momik’s had so much practice now that he can calculate whole sentences on his fingers, especially juicy ones like “Our forces returned safely,” four fists, three fingers; it’s really fun too, a very interesting, quiet game, and it also strengthens your hand and finger muscles, which is important because Momik’s a little on the short side, and even skinnier than he is short, but—(1) short people can be strong, look at Ernie Tyler who’s a dwarf (a midget, that is) and he saved Manchester United, and this year they traded him off again to save Sunderland, and (2) with the help of finger exercises and willpower like Raphael Halperin, Momik may soon become stronger, God willing, than the famous Jewish wrestler Over There, the one and only Zisha Breitbart, feared even by the goyim, may-their-name-be-blotted-out, which must be what they call a deterrent, one fist, four fingers, and by the way, according to the rulesof Momik’s new game, a word that ends with the middle finger is a word that brings good luck, and that’s why he sometimes adds on a “the” to a word to make it come out on the middle finger. Why not? You’re allowed to use strategy. In war you have to use strategy.

He waits in the cellar a little while longer. Maybe it’s not long enough for the Beast, but it’s still pretty hard to stay down there the way you really have to if you want to make it come out. But then he has to go so bad he wets his pants like a baby, and runs home to change. He still hasn’t found a way to keep it from happening. The raven flutters its black wings—and before you know it, his pants are wet. And his undershirt is damp too, and it stinks like sweat after two hours of gym class, and meanwhile the cat is yowling, and Momik’s eyes are half closed. The first night they could hear the cat all the way up in the house, and Papa wanted to go look for it down there and throw it to the devil, but Mama wouldn’t let him go out by himself in the dark, and they just got used to it eventually and didn’t even hear it anymore, and pretty soon the yowling got softer, as if it was coming from the cat’s stomach. Momik does feel kind of bad about that cat, and he even considered setting it free, only the trouble is, Momik is scared of opening the cage door because the cat might spring at him, so the cat stays, but Momik feels more like the cat’s prisoner than the other way around.

So he forces himself to stand there with his eyes shut, his body tense with battle alert, two fists, one finger, in case, God forbid, something happens, and the raven and the cat are watching and all of a sudden the raven opens its beak and makes a terrible croaking sound, and in less than no time Momik finds himself outside with his leg wet all the way down.

And then he runs upstairs and opens the door and locks the bottom lock too and shouts, “Grandfather, I’m here,” and changes his pants and washes the disgusting pee from his leg, and sits down to do his homework, but first he has to wait till his hands stop shaking. Okay. Now he can draw an equilateral triangle and answer the who-said-what-to-whom questions in the Bible homework, and things like that. This he finishes pretty fast, because homework is never a problem for Momik, and he also hates to put off doing homework so he does it the same day, because why should he let it burden his mind? Then he sits down and times his breathing with his watch (a real watch that used to belong to Shimmik), and he practices so that someday he’ll be able to enter acontest and sing in one breath against Lee Gaines, the Negro singer from the Delta Rhythm Boys, who are currently performing in our country bringing us their new kind of music called jazz, and just then he remembers that he forgot as usual to ask Bella for a recipe for sugar cubes to give to Blacky, the horse that belongs to his secret brother Bill, and he decides to do the homework his science teacher is going to assign three lessons from now, the questions are at the back of each chapter and he likes to be three chapters ahead, too bad he can’t do that in the other subjects, and he finishes his homework now and wanders around the house, has he forgotten anything, yes: what do you feed baby hedgehogs, because the hedgehog seems to be getting fatter so maybe it’s a female and you have to be prepared, because the Beast can come from anywhere.

He ran his fingers over the large volumes of the Hebrew Encyclopedia Papa subscribed to with the special discount offer and installment payments for employees of the National Lottery. These were the only books they bought, you can always find books to read in the library. Momik wants to save up his money to buy some books, but books are very expensive and Mama won’t allow