Ruth shrugged. She wanted to say it wasn’t true, that they just weren’t in the habit of letting each other know… but she figured that wasn’t the point. “I would be happy to see Uriel.” She wasn’t lying, but also, she would have not told that to her brother’s face. She didn’t want him to have a stroke.

Ruth smiled slightly, with just part of her mouth “What does it need? Children?” She heard that a lot. And she had been nice enough so far, she needed to behave a little like yourself. Ruth nodded, though the metaphor was lost on her, on multiple levels. She never built much in her life and all she made that she could call her own could be transported in a bag or her head.

Somehow, she felt comfortable staying silent around Kitty. Staying silent in general wasn’t something she enjoyed, so it was all the more special. It was also special that she asked “Would you mind if I hummed something?” She would normally shout her lungs out if she so pleased.

Ruth bent her head to the side and blinked “They disapprove of your age gap with Uriel, of your professional life, probably of your “Americanness” and probably a million and a half small things they won’t care to say clearly because yiddish sounds more offensive to gentile ears.” She put it plainly, since Kitty was worried. She was not going to shy away a second time. Ruth nodded and offered the glass back to Kitty.