Lu Heindenrich was an attractive, stout widow of about seventy. Good luck had befallen her, and she owned several productive oil wells in Texas. Like Bella, she was the daughter of Jewish merchants, and grew up in the house they had behind their store, just off Main Street. After her parents' death. Lu tore down the store and maintainted the house, adding extensively to it over the years. Because of her graceful personality and abundant wealth, she was well known in high circles of that area.
"Have a seat," Lu cordially greeted the guests in her beautiful sitting room. "Anna will serve us in a few minutes."
Bella sat in a large, velvet chair, and Janet and harry sat, side by side, on the sofa.
"Haven't some of our townsfolk had some bad luck lately, " Lu, attempting humor, began.
"You can say that again!" Janet said. "I wonder some time how long I'm going to stay here before I get in trouble!"
"Oh, Janet," Bella said. "You had enough trouble when you were away!"
"You must forgive my behavior at the funeral!" Janet apologized. "I always become emotional at funerals. Fifi's death was such a shock."
"Dinner is served," Anna piped in, from the dining room.
The four proceeded to the elegant dining room, and were seated. Lu sat at the head of the table, Bella, to her left, and Harry and Janet to the right.
"I'll ring if we need anything else," Lu said.
"Yes m'am," Anna replied, returning to the kitchen.
"You know," Lu said, "the funniest thing happened a few weeks ago. I was having a party, and Anna, bless her heart, offered to stay and help clean up. Well, I didn't want to keep her too late, so I asked her if her husband, Willie, would be all right. And she replied, 'Oh, yessum, he all right--he's just sittin' by the fire, drinking whiskey and reading the bible!"
After nervous laughter, the subject turned to more recent events.
"Lu, where is Jim moving" Bella asked. "Janie Engle said something about his leaving Cole."
"I'd leave here if I were him!" Harry said. "I don't believe for one minute that when Fifi and Jim fought it was entirely Fifi's fault." he took a large mouthful of potato salad.
"Well," Janet, surgaring her tea, said, "I can tell you from past experience that it takes two to tango!"
"We needn't mention that!" Bella said.
Suddenly, the conversation turned to a subject they usually avoided, but which faced them regularly: the restoration of their little house of worship, Temple Gemiluth Chassed.
"I hate to say this," Lu said, "but we are going to have to do something about the temple! It's falling down before our very eyes!"
"It will only be a few months before our new year in September. The new year will be here sooner than we think!" Harry said.
"I'd hate to have services here again," Lu said, referring to one evening when the electricity went out and the service was moved to her house where, after the service, drinks, loud talk, and laughter followed.
"The Temple," as locals referred to it, was a strangely beautiful structure, strange in that it was on the same street as most of the Christian churches in the community, with Hebrew inscriptions on its cornerstone. Ancestors of the present day Jews in Cole built the structure in 1873. Such old names as Mykoff; Hart; Katz; Back; Reiner; and Applebaum were displayed on a tapestry which hung to the right of the entrance to the worship space proper.
There had been a regular rabbi until the late 1950s. Then, Karl Katz, a highly regarded lawyer of Cole, read New Year services every autumn, drawing a crowd of about thirty, among them, their Christian friends. The Jews who attended temple regularly usually went to the synagogue in Natchez.
One hot, September night in 1959, the lights went out during the service. After several unsuccessful attempts to flip the breaker switches, the service was, at Lu's invitation, moved to her house. Every year since, it had been held there.
"We just have a a handful of members left," Bella sighed. "It would be nice to polish up the old place, though."
"Yeah," Janet replied. "Carrie might want to be married there!"
All laughed, except Janet.
"Oh," said Bella, "don't fret, dear! It's just that we don't know if any of us will still be around when that day arrives!"
"Well," said Janet, "I hope she makes out better than I did!"
"Well," Bella said, "as soon as I see Karl Katz again, I'm going to bring up the possibility of some sort of fund raiser. Among us, we shouldn't have any trouble sprucing the place up."
"There's always the cost of the cemetery, too, " Lu replied.
"Well," Janet said, "Karl's brother in law, Joe, takes good care of that."
