A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Call the Dybbuk
Pick a coin. Egg in top hat. Vanishing toothpick.
If your parents go to Brazilian Zouk on a Saturday night and stick you with Arthur and he invites three girls over for original Ghostbusters, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re stranded on the island of Nintendo Switch.
Find something behind the ear of Girl #1. (“Is that a quarter?”) Now it’s behind the ear of Girl #2. Bend a spoon, unspool ribbons from pockets.
“Your little brother is so cute,” Girl #1 exclaims. Her blindingly shiny hair dances. “Magic this back into the bowl,” Arthur hisses, tossing popcorn.
Haul out salt trick and missing thumb. Volcanic girl laughter.
Then, smash! Arthur’s Hanukkah drone veers, broken glass flying from grandma’s blue depression vase. Chunks on the floor. Chunks on the windowsill. Chunk in Girl #1’s arm!
Girl #2 is crying on her phone. Girl #3 runs out to an emerald minivan. An ambulance comes for Girl #1, whose arm is spurting (you might even say splashing) blood.
Front door opens. There they are, all Zouk sweat and surprise. The parents stare at all the blood and broken stuff. Original Ghostbusters is turned off. Everyone picks up blue glass.
When your parents go into the kitchen, Arthur whispers, “I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”
But you know he won’t because he wants to go to college on that rugby scholarship.
Plus, he knows: you have the magic, and you haven’t even brought out levitation, mind reading, or the dybbuk.
Elizabeth Cohen
Elizabeth Cohen is the author of the memoir, The House on Beartown Road (Random House, 2003); the short story collection, The Hypothetical Girl (Other Press, 2013); and poetry collections Bird Light (Saint Julian Press, 2016), The Patron Saint of Cauliflower (Saint Julian Press, 2018), and forthcoming, Mermaids of Albuquerque, among other works.
