@@@@@"No, I just don't understand itHow can God
@@@@@"No, I just don't understand itHow can God look down on it and permit it? We're supposed to be the chosen people"Chosen! Chosen for tsoris!"
"Personally, I'm an agnostic," Roth saidFor a time Goldstein stared at his hands, and then he smiled sadlyThe lines deepened about his mouth, and he had a sarcastic indrawn look on his lips"When the time comes," he said solemnly, "they won't ask you what kind of Jew you are
"I think you worry too much about those things," Roth saidWhy was it, he asked himself, that so many Jews were filled with all kinds of old wives' tales? His parents at least were modern, but Goldstein was like an old grandfather full of mutterings and curses, certain he would die a violent death"The Jews worry too much about themselves," Roth saidHe rubbed his long sad noseGoldstein was an odd fellow, he told himself; he was enthusiastic about almost everything to the point of being a moron, and yet just start talking about politics or economics or about anything that was current affairs, and like all Jews he would turn the conversation to the same topic
"If we don't worry," Goldstein said bitterly, "no one else will
Roth was irritatedJust because he was a Jew too, they always assumed he felt the same way about thingsIt made him feel a little frustratedNo doubt some of his bad luck had come because he was one, but that was unfair; it wasn't as if he took an interest, it was just an accident of birth"Well, let's stop talking about it," he said
They sat watching the final brilliant striations of the sunsetAfter a time, Goldstein looked at his watch and squinted at the sun, which was almost entirely below the horizon"It's two minutes later than last night," he told Roth, "I like to keep track of things like that
"I had a friend once," Roth said, "who used to work at the weather bureau in New York
"Did he?" Goldstein asked"You know I always wanted to do work like that, but you need a good education for itI understand it takes a lot of calculus
"He did go to college," Roth admi