Chapter 2

When the meal was over and all the presents opened, Ben and Jenny were playing with their little wooden dreidels on the floor. Percival and David sat in study talking while Naomi and Nellie cleaned off the table and washed the dishes.

Edna had just finished putting some of the serving pieces into the big breakfront when she called the two children over.

"Benjamin, Jenny, come, look, I have something to show the both of you." Ben looked at Jenny who shrugged her shoulders.

"Come, come," Edna called, waving her hand to come closer. Ben nodded and stood up, with Jenny tagging along in the rear.

She was twirling a little silver dreidel in her hand. She waited until the twins reached her before she started to speak.

"This is a very special dreidel, children," she said, holding it up to the light. "It has been handed down in my family from generation to generation."

Benjamin watched as the dreidel as it caught the light and sparkled. "Can I hold it, Grandma," he asked holding out his hand, "please?"

Edna Cohen nodded and placed in the boy's outstretched fingers. "Here you go," she said.

"Where did it come from," Jenny asked. "Does anyone know?"

Edna shook her head. "No one seems to know, Jenny, but there is talk that it is very old."

Benjamin twirled it around in his hand. He had never seen anything more beautiful. "Can I play with it?" he asked, but his grandmother shook her head.

"No Benjamin, not now. But it will be yours soon enough and then you may decide what you want to do with it."

She held out her hand and Ben placed it in her palm. She put it back into the breakfront and closed the door.

"Ben, Jenny," the two children turned around at the sound of their mother's voice. "I want the two of you to go upstairs and play quietly in your rooms. Your father and I will follow very soon."

Benjamin and Jenny nodded. "Come on, you two" Nellie said, as the twins found their way upstairs.

Ben tried to sleep, but found that he couldn't. He kept thinking about the silver dreidel and how it had sparkled when Edna held it up to the light. It was so beautiful that he wanted to get another look at it. So he lit the candle in the holder by his bed and crept quietly downstairs. He placed the candle holder down on the on a small table and opened up the breakfront doors. It was easy for him to grab; Grandma had placed in on the first shelf, which was about his height.

He pulled it our and twirled it on his palm, looking at the intricate metalwork. The letters really seemed to stand out as it caught and held the light.

He heard what sounded like a door closing and ran, with the dreidel still in his hand, upstairs to his room. He placed it on the bed next to him, promising to himself that he would wake up early and put it back before it was missed.

But when he woke up Monday morning. the dreidel was gone. It was as if it had vanished into thin air.

In a panic, Benjamin searched the bed, tearing away the sheets. How long was it going to be before his grandmother would find it missing?

"Benjamin," Nellie called, "come on, eat your breakfast. Your sister's down here already. You're going to be late for school."

The last thing that Ben wanted was to go to school. He wanted to stay home and look for that dreidel. He wanted to find it before someone else did. He wanted to put it back in the breakfront before Grandma noticed that it was gone.

"Benjamin?" Nellie called again, when he didn't answer.

"I'll be down in a minute, Mama," he said, as he hurried into his school clothes.

All day long, he thought about nothing else than that beautiful silver dreidel. He couldn't concentrate on his studies and he was unusually quiet all day. He could hardly wait until he got home so he could look for it again.

But the dreidel never turned up. The funny thing was that everyone had seemed to forget about it. No one even noticed that it was gone, not even Edna. It was as if it had never existed.