Windows on the World (OLD VERSION) [BEING REWRITTEN]

[¹⁵] ᵘˢᵉ ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵉᵃʳᵗ ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿᵒᵗ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵐⁱⁿᵈ

"Shabbat shalom," he wished to the people next to him inside the synagogue.

Rabbi Friedman had stepped down from the bimah at the end of the service and waited until Walter was done with the farewell pleasantries.

"Walter... A word?" Karl beckoned him with his hand.

He excused himself and followed the man. "What is it?"

"We're like a family, you know that."

Through the empty benches, their conversation was safe and private. However, Walter had never been feeling so observed before. Like not only Karl, but God Himself, were about to ambush him—in a caring way.

"Of course," he agreed with hesitation, unsure about his next words.

"Then allow me to be straightforward." And here it comes. "You can sometimes get in your own way. Trip yourself over."

He etched his gaze on the rabbi, closely judging his assessment. What others thought and had to say of him, he paid special attention to. It helped him figure himself out. "Are you saying I self-sabotage?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying." Karl nodded, the laugh lines at the sides of his eyes accentuated his teasing grin. "What is it you're afraid of? You can't always be in control of everything. Some things simply don't require it. I know you hate the word, but they're just 'spontaneous'. We've been friends for most of our lives and there are still things I don't know about you. You let no one past a certain threshold. No one but one person." He lifted his index finger. "And even she found a limit."

Walter stopped and gripped the back of one of the benches. Karl, who'd taken a few more steps ahead, spun back.

"You too? Are you a rabbi or a psychic?" That would've been a fair assumption if he wasn't aware that he had his own whistleblower. But Walter could tell Phoebe must've had found a way back to Sylvia and now the word was out there.

"You brought her here. I've never seen you do something like that with anyone."

"Well, she was the one who offered to do it in the first place."

"And why do you think she did that?" Rabbi Friedman raised his eyebrows at him. "Sylvia told me more about her, you know? Something in particular made her upset at first."

"It was not her fault. Her father—"

Karl smiled, he took it as a good sign that Walter was willing to jump in her defense.

"I know, I know. I heard what happened on Yom Kippur as well. I'm not judging her. None of us has the right to do so, because she rectified it and she's still trying to." He reached out to amicably squeeze Walter's shoulder. This prompted the other man to listen attentively to his own personal sermon. "When a person lives in a cage for so long, the real world can seem too wide. They finally learn the way things really are and it can be overwhelming. But from what little I know about Phoebe, I'd say she's doing a pretty decent job. It can't be easy while being weighted down by her father once more."

Walter acknowledged his discourse, so Karl let go.

However, Walter didn't feel at ease yet. "Do you think she will succumb to him again?"