A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [25]
As she munched on her french fries in the murky basement, she began to shower them with questions. What sort of work do they do? What are their roles apart from their regular workday? How many are they? How far are they from the border?
Nat tried to stifle his suspicious nature. His answers were measured, but Rubin, who had already managed to drink a few glasses of whiskey, and who was also drunk on Joy’s stunning beauty, spoke freely. In any case, he always jokingly claimed that any information extracted from them was completely useless to anyone. Maybe he was right. From the minute that she learned he was in charge of “security”, that he was a former Air Force Pilot who’d received a Silver Star, her eyes and ears were tuned only to him.
Rubin and Nat worriedly split the bill. When they emerged from the basement bar to the street, which glowed with neon lights, a few army officers greeted her. She left her companions for a few seconds, and had a quiet exchange with her military acquaintances. Rubin and Nat, themselves former soldiers, mused again on the attractions that beautiful girls exert on high-ranking military men.
She sat between them at a movie, laughed out loud, and licked a popsicle with her scarlet tongue. She thanked them from the bottom of her heart and refused to let them accompany her home.
The two disappointed friends took the bus back to their paltry room.
A few months later, two policemen arrived at the kibbutz and asked whether anyone there had seen a girl named Joy. Nat happened to be at the office at that moment. “I know her,” he said.
“So where is she?” asked the police officer.
“I don’t know.”
“How do you know her?”
Nat told him and then asked, “Why are you looking for her?”
They explained that she’d been under surveillance for quite some time, on suspicion of espionage. They had lost her, though, they said. She was last seen boarding a bus and had probably crossed the border by now, or escaped on a ship from Acre.
Dori
Daddy bought me a book about Tarzan! He found it in the city!
The book doesn’t have a lot of pictures but it’s full of stories about Tarzan King of the Apes. Daddy’s going to read me the stories. I love Tarzan so much.
Tarzan in the Middle East
Eleven Tarzan books were translated into Hebrew in the 1930s;
Tarzan became a national obsession in the 1950s;
by 1961, ten Tarzan series were being published without copyright in Israel;
a total of over 900 issues were printed;
in some stories Tarzan helped illegal Jewish immigration to Mandated Palestine, for which he was imprisoned by the British;
in others he singlehandedly broke the Egyptian blockade at Suez, killing many Egyptian soldiers along the way;
in one series Tarzan is dead but an Israeli named Dan-Tarzan crashes in the jungle and is reared by a descendent of Kala the ape;
Dan-Tarzan becomes a Mossad agent;
captures former Nazis;
finds lost city of ancient Hebrew warriors.
In parallel developments in Syria and Lebanon, Tarzan successfully battled Jews.
Dori
Today is Gilead’s birthday. He’s turning six. I don’t know if Gilead has any parents here on Eldar. He wasn’t born here but he calls someone here Mummy and someone else Daddy so I don’t know what the story is.
For his birthday there’s a movie in one of the Rooms. The wall is the screen. It’s so crowded there’s hardly any room to sit. A lot of children from different Groups want to see the movie. It’s Hansel and Gretel.
I’m a bit scared when the witch puts Hansel in a cage. Gilead holds my hand. It’s the first time I’m holding a child’s hand to be less scared. That means something but I’m not sure what.
Our First Year
5 February 1949. Another day without bread. Some time in the future, when we have a chance to relax, and these days are no more than fond, rugged memories, perhaps someone will sit down and write the story of what we will call the Saga of Bread.