Tobias
Chapter 6
November was coming to an end and Tobias's Bar Mitzvah had come at last. He had studied hard with the Rabbi, but was still nervous. He actually looked forward to the occasion, and dreaded it at the same time.
His parents had dragged him to the mall to shop for a new suit to wear. His mother kept showing him different items from off the racks, but they were all the same grays and blacks. Yuck, he thought. Tobias wanted something that would stand out. He finally noticed a suit with dark blue pants and a lighter blue jacket. He also found a red bow tie that he could just die for. His mother was aghast at the sight of it, but his father didn't think it was so bad.
"It's HIS Bar Mitzvah, let him pick out his own suit!" his father said. "There's nothing wrong with a little color, it's not like it's purple with polka dots!"
Tobias didn't want to tell his parents why he liked what he picked out. In fact, Astro had worn a suit with exactly that color combination in one of the stories he'd read.
Then they went to look for shoes. Once again, his parents looked at everything in black or browns. But Tobias found a pair of red Florsheims in his size. He insisted on them, and picked out a pair of red stockings to go along with them. The look on his mom's face was priceless. But his dad gave in.
"They go fine with the pants! Let him have them!"
Finally the big day had arrived. Tobias sat on a chair up on the Bema, in the synagogue sanctuary. He wore the new Tallit that his father had bought him for the occasion. On his head he had the embroidered felt yamaka his grandmother had bought him, held in place between the two spikes of hair by bobby pins. He also had to wear the dreaded tefillin, with the leather strap wrapped around his bare arm and hand. The morning prayer service was under way, and his big moment would start when the Ark was opened to read the Torah. He looked down and saw that Sakiko had accepted his invitation, she sat with her mother in the row behind his mom. The men sat on the opposite site of the sanctuary from the women, as this was an Orthodox temple.
The Rabbi called for the congregation to rise for the opening of the Ark. He motioned for Tobias to approach the Ark with his father. After the prayer for removing the Torah from the Ark had been read, Tobias opened the Ark and reached in to remove one of the holy scrolls. The back of the Ark was a mirror that allowed the congregation to see both sides of the four Torahs that it contained. Tobias removed the designated scroll, and handed it to his father, who carried off of the Bema. Mr. Levine then marched slowly up and down the isles of the sanctuary carrying the sacred text so that the worshipers in the isle could show their respect for the Torah by touching it with the corners of their Tallit, or a prayer book; and then bringing the Tallit or prayer book to their lips to kiss it. Finally, his father carried the Torah back to the Bema. He held it upright so the Rabbi could remove the cloth covering from it, and then after the covering was put aside, the Rabbi took the scroll from him and placed it on the podium. The Rabbi rolled the Torah open to the correct location, and then nodded to Tobias at the Ark to close it. As he stood in front of the Ark with his hands reached up to grab hold of the doors to close them, he saw his reflection in the mirror at the Ark's back. His image morphed into that of Astro, who was also wearing a suit, yamaka, and Tallit. Astro winked at Tobias and gave him a thumbs up encouragement. The reflection in the mirror faded back to that of Tobias, and the boy slid the doors of the Ark closed.
Tobias joined his father and the Rabbi at the podium and his father handed him a small box. Tobias opened the box, and saw that it contained a Yad. The Yad is an ornamental pointer used to hold one's place while reading the Torah. It is prohibited to use one's finger to touch the Torah for this purpose, by reason of respect, and to prevent the oils of the hand from causing damage to the ink and leather of the holy document itself. Yads are usually made of silver or silver plate, and are a wand ending with a pointer in the shape of a hand with on outstretched finger. Tobias nervously opened the box and removed the Yad from it. He blinked as he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. On the end of the wand was a little sculpture of Astro in a flying pose with his left arm extended. The index finger on his left hand was the Yad's pointer. Where did his parents get this? It was perfect! The other end of the Yad had a long silver chain attached to it, which Tobias put over his head. If the Yad was dropped, it would not fall to the floor.
The Rabbi guided Tobias's hand holding the Yad, to point at the portion of the Torah text that he was to read. Tobias, had been practicing for several months now, so he actually knew the entire portion by heart, and only needed to pace himself with the written text. With Astro's hand guiding the way, he sung the Torah portion perfectly, in a loud clear voice. His father was beaming with pride. Tobias finished his reading and stepped aside. The Rabbi rolled the scroll shut and held it aloft so Tobias could replace the cloth cover over it. Once again, his father took the Torah and walked it around the sanctuary before going up to the Ark and placing the holy scroll back into its place. Tobias walked up to the Ark and prepared to close the doors at the Rabbi's command. He again saw Astro in the mirror. Astro spoke to him in a voice that only Tobias heard. "Good luck Tobio-san. Now you are a man. You won't be needing me anymore. Good luck!" Astro flew off and Tobias saw only his own reflection in the mirror. After closing the Ark, he removed the box that the Yad had come in from his pocket and after lifting the chain from around his neck he started to put the pointer back into the box. He noticed then that the pointer end of the Yad had only the image of a hand, the small sculpture of Astro was gone! Maybe it had never actually been there, and it was all in his imagination? With some disappointment, he put the Yad back into the box and pocketed it.
A few weeks later Tobias returned to the hairdresser. Mary called him over to her station.
"The usual wash, dye and style?"
"No, not this time. Can you bleach the remaining color from my hair? I'd like to go back to my natural color. And then just a normal hair cut. I'm tired of the spikes," Tobias told her.
"Sure, no problem. Guess it was getting old hat eh? Well change is good."
The next month he saw the eye doctor again.
"So how are the contacts doing, son?" the doctor asked him.
"Oh, I can see very well with them. But I'd like some plain ones. I'd like to go back to my normal eye color."
"Sure, I'll order you new ones. They'll be a bit easier to wear since we can order them in the soft lens variety."
Years later, Tobias was helping his mother clean out the house. His parents were moving to Florida to retire. He had moved on a few years ago, having graduated from college and was now engaged to marry. He and his bride to be would be moving to an apartment on the other side of town. He came across a box of old photographs. In one of the photos, he was getting off the bus from that school trip to the Anime and Manga convention back in middle school. He smiled at seeing himself again, dressed up in that Astro Boy cosplay that he had worn for several months. Silently, to himself, he thanked Astro for his help. He hoped that the Mighty Atom would continue to render assistance to other kids like himself, where ever they were.