On the fifth day, Esther put on royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, facing the king's palace, while the king was sitting in his royal throne room.

Part I

She was sitting at her special little table, signing books—I don't know if I am going to be able to explain this. One of the big bookstores, the chains; she had just given a reading to a rowdy roomful of New Yorkers. I had not yet eaten, though The Fast of Esther had officially ended.

When the king returned, Haman was lying prostrate on the couch on which Esther reclined. 'Does he mean,' cried the king, 'to ravish the queen in my own palace?'
Part VIII

And Haman cringed in terror before the king and the queen. The king, in his fury, left the wine feast, while Haman remained with Queen Esther to plead for his life.
Part VII

Queen Esther replied: 'If your Majesty will do me the favor, and if it pleases Your Majesty, let my life be granted me as my wish, and my people as my request: for we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, massacred, and exterminated.'
Part VI

'What troubles you, Queen Esther?' the king asked her. 'And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be done.'
Part V

“Hello, honey. How are things?”

Blah blah blah.

Haman was still being advised by his inner circle when the royal runners arrived, and hurried him off to the private feast that Esther had made.
Part IV

Broadway fucks with your mind. This I learned as a child. We had friends in the high 60's who would invite us for Shabbes lunch, a good thirty blocks downtown. My family was six, three sisters and me, and we walked as a boisterous cloud, exploding showers of Sabbath laughter.

The king extended to Esther the golden scepter he had in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

Part III

The line had mostly evolved against the wall into a purposeful organism. I found I was standing alone in a space almost empty, industrious Bookstore People scurrying around me, folding and stacking chairs.

But Esther still did not reveal her kindred or her people, for Esther obeyed Mordechai’s bidding, as she had done growing up in his home.

Part II