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She is fine—a happy, sweet, pretty and good girl.

Dori

Mummy is baking a cake in the Room. I’m helping her whip the whites.

When Carmella baked a cake she whipped the whites so hard that when she turned the bowl upside-down they didn’t fall out. Even with gravity.

So when the whites are ready I turn the bowl upside-down to show Mummy. I say look it’s standing! but suddenly the whole thing slides down to the floor in one big piece.

Mummy is very upset but not angry. She finds a way to save most of the egg whites and she puts them back in the bowl. Daddy comes in and she tells him what happened. When she gets to the part where I said it’s standing Daddy bursts out laughing and Mummy laughs too and they repeat it’s standing over and over and they laugh so hard that tears come out of Mummy’s eyes.

It’s nice when you make your parents laugh. A bad thing turned into a good thing.

Kibbutz Cake

Dori

It’s Tu B’shvat Festival of Trees today. I love Tu B’shvat. We wear white shirts and everyone plants a tree. An adult helps me dig a hole and I put the sapling in the earth and I pat the earth back in. Pat pat pat.

Everyone is happy. There are hundreds of yellow and white wildflowers around us. The beautiful wildflowers of our land. I love our land.

Dori

I don’t know where we are. All I know is that we’re in Meron and the room is very crowded. We’re supposed to get sandwiches but I don’t know where. I can’t see anyone from my Group or anyone else from Eldar.

I find a girl to talk to. An old girl—almost ten. She’s from Meron. She says I have a rabbit called Fifi. I tell her about the dog that bit Skye.

Finally Shoshana comes to get me and we all leave Meron in a bus. It’s dark outside. Shoshana says we have to go straight to the Children’s House and to bed.

I say I have to tell Daddy or Mummy we’re back. But Shoshana says it’s too late.

I feel sick. I can’t go to sleep without a goodnight kiss. So when Shoshana isn’t looking I run away as fast as I can to the Room. There’s no one there so I run to the Kitchen. But Daddy isn’t there either and no one knows where he is. Someone says Mummy might be in Coco’s Room.

So I start running back to the Rooms but Shoshana comes running down the path and catches me. She grabs my waist and carries me screaming back to the Children’s House.

I try to stop crying but I can’t. My crying is like hic-cups. No matter what I do I can’t make it stop. Shoshana laughs listen to her hiccup. She wants everyone to laugh with her.

I know Daddy or Mummy would come if they knew I was back. But they don’t know and there’s no one to tell them.

This is the saddest anyone can be. It isn’t possible to be sadder than this.

Transcript of Meeting February 1962

Topic:

Improvisational Cuisine

Chair:

Isaac Milman

Isaac:

We’re a small group today because several of our com-

rades are working extra hours setting up the new library,

and some are away at the Federation seminar. Edna is

concerned about: “Rumours that some of our meat last

week came from a wild boar caught by our comrades. I

commend the Kitchen on its valiant efforts to keep us

fed and its excellent culinary skills, but I don’t think it’s

safe to eat wild animals, especially for our children.”

Naftali:

We really took every precaution, boiling the meat for

hours. After all, humans have been hunting and cook-

ing meat for millions of years.

Tamir:

What about the fuel required to boil the meat for hours?

Does it really make economic sense in the end?

Naftali:

If you want to live on borscht it’s fine with me. If you

want omelettes, on the other hand, we may have to crack

a few eggs.

Edna:

I know our policy is children first—but in this case, I sug-

gest that with anything experimental, we stick to adults.

Tamir:

And if the adults don’t die, we can give it to the kids.

Martin:

How long should we wait to see if the adult dies?

Naftali:

We’ll go by weight. Skinny people, three days. Fat people,

a week.