A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [15]
It is no dream
It’s a sad song with a sad tune. Even if another lad wants to be her son she’s still going to miss the son who died. And even if her son died for our land he’s still dead.
Herzl is the man who said if you will it friends it is no dream. Daddy likes to say those words.
One day I’ll have to go to the army too. In other countries women don’t go to the army but here we’re equal. I’ll try to be brave but I don’t know if I’ll succeed. Sometimes I’m brave and sometimes I’m not. When we went to the infirmary to get shots, Dafna the nurse asked who wants to go first? We all said we weren’t afraid but no one wanted to go first. Finally I said I’ll be first and I lay down on the table. Everyone was watching me and feeling scared but I didn’t make a sound. I said it doesn’t hurt at all and after that no one was scared. But that was only partly because I was brave and partly because I like Dafna. I felt that shot the whole rest of the day.
Actually we’re not completely equal in the army. Women don’t go to the front line. The truth is that I’m glad I won’t have to go to the front line. If the Enemy starts shooting I’ll be in the back row. It’s not fair for the men to get killed instead of me but I can’t help being glad. It’s wrong but that’s the way I feel. I don’t want to die. Even for our land.
Thy Neck with Chains of Gold
MICHAEL enters from porch. A knapsack hangs over his shoulders. His dress is picturesquely careless. Whistling, he knocks on RITA’s door and opens it. Goes straight to RITA, then slowly turns around, sees his wife, laughs self-consciously and moves towards her.
MICHAEL
Ah, here you are, sweetheart.
MARINA
You were looking for me, Michael?
MICHAEL
Yeah, you weren’t in the room, so I figured you’re here.
MARINA
(nods skeptically) Sure …
MICHAEL
Yeah, sure. (kisses her cheek, puts the knapsack on the
table, slaps RICKY’s back in comradely fashion. During
his speech he puts his rifle on RICKY’s book.) Did I have a
day. You wouldn’t believe it.
MARINA
No, I wouldn’t.
MICHAEL
On the way to town, just as I’m taking one of those
beautiful curves, I see something black on the road. I
jam on the brakes and nearly fly off into the valley. And
right there in front of me—a flock of goats—and the
poor Arab kid is having a hell of a time getting them off
the road. To make a long story short, when Eli finds out
how many eggs were smashed, he’ll have a fit. Anyhow,
I’m almost in Tel Aviv and wham—a flat. But no tra-
gedy. Kibbutz Atar came to the rescue. They check my
spare but it’s no damn good so they give me a tire. I
ask how much we owe them and the secretary says they
don’t expect our kibbutz to pay for anything. We still
owe them twenty-one work-days from the time they
helped us install our electricity. So—I get to Tel Aviv
with broken eggs and I bump into Ramona. (to RICKY)
She’s as cute as ever—and she says she’s lonesome for
the kibbutz.
MARINA
I bet.
MICHAEL
So I tell her to come back and she says she visited once
(to MARINA) and got the cold shoulder. So I bought her
a sundae to cheer her up … on the way back I drop in to
see my friend the Mukhtar. We have some roast lamb
and a drink. It’s very important to keep on cordial rela-
tions with our Arab neighbours—so I had another
drink. But just as I was leaving, the lousy truck stalls.
I check the tires and I find the one Atar gave me is no
good. The bastards! Just because we owe them twenty-
one work days. So a tow truck takes me to the garage.
They fix me up, and that’s why I was late. And how was
your day, Marina?
Dori
Daddy has to work in the Kitchen all day today so I can’t see him until bedtime. Mummy is in the Room but she’s busy with my sister Sara. I lie on the floor and look at the black book of paintings. I love that book. I simply love it.
My favourite painting is the one of the woman falling out of the tiger’s mouth. There are bones and snakes spilling out too. I asked Daddy what the painting