Read Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet for Free Online

wait for me to say come in?” the rabbi asked peevishly.
    “Oh, I knew you were alone.” said Brooks airily. “I listened at the door before I knocked.” He perched familiarly on the corner of the rabbi’s desk and lit a cigarette.
    Inasmuch as they were of an age and Brooks was actually the elder, it was hard for the rabbi to put him in his place, especially when he was not sure what his place was, although it was generally understood that the rabbi had overall supervision of the education of the congregation in Judaism, the operation of the religious school was the responsibility of the principal, who answered not to the rabbi but to the school board, which was elected annually. Even in the matter of salary, the rabbi was not sure who was senior, since his own was voted openly by the temple’s board of directors while the principal’s and teachers’ salaries were negotiated confidentially by the school board.
    Morton Brooks blew smoke toward the ceiling and said, “You haven’t forgotten about Sunday, have you, David?”
    “What about Sunday?”
    “It’s Parents Visiting Day.”
    “Oh that? What about it?”
    “Well, I wondered if we couldn’t make some changes in our procedure.”
    “Like what?” the rabbi asked cautiously.
    “Well, you remember when the school board set up Visiting Day a couple of years ago, the parent was supposed to discuss his kid with the teacher, then if he wasn’t satisfied, he could talk to one of us.”
    “What’s wrong with that?”
    Brooks’s voice took on a complaining tone. “Well, it didn’t work out that way, they’d see the teacher, then they’d see me and then they’d insist on talking to you, and sometimes you’d say things to them that didn’t exactly jibe with what I said.”
    “I had no way of knowing what you’d told them.”
    “Of course not. But the school board’s original idea was that we were to share the work. Instead, they go from me to you like going to a higher authority.”
    “I can hardly refuse to talk to them,” the rabbi pointed out.
    “Yeah, but suppose you weren’t available.” He leaned forward. “Now there’s a board of directors meeting at the same time and you normally attend. Suppose when they say they want to talk to you, I were to tell them that you had to attend the board meeting because it so happens that it’s a particularly important meeting.”
    “Then all afternoon they’d be calling me at my house.” The rabbi shook his head. “Nothing doing. Besides, many of them would be wives of board members and they’d know that nothing much was going to happen at the meeting.”
    “Don’t be so sure, David,” Brooks said loftily. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, you’ll admit I know a lot more about what’s going on around here than you do.”
    “Do you?”
    “Of course I do. David. I see the kids every day and sometimes they talk about what they’ve heard at home, then a lot of them are delivered by their mothers or picked up by them, the mothers stand around in the corridor waiting for the classes to end, and plenty of times I hear them talking among themselves.”
    “And what did you hear about Sunday’s meeting?” asked the rabbi with a smile.
    Brooks temporized. “Nothing definite, you understand, but I got the idea that something is in the wind. I got the impression that some business is planned for this Sunday just because they know you’re not going to be there.”
    “Any idea what?”
    “Nothing definite. But if they are planning something, and I’m sure they are, this gives you a wonderful opportunity to turn the tables on them.” He got off the desk and circled to the visitor’s chair which he pulled forward so he could be closer to the rabbi. His voice became conspiratorial. “Right after the minyan Sunday, the board holds their meeting. Right? So instead of going to the boardroom, you say nonchalantlike, ‘Well, I guess I got to listen to parents’ complaints this morning,’ like