it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”
Book of Joshua, 28:15
“Tell me about an interesting relationship you’ve had,” Ro’el said to Tammi, “I mean before Adam, of course.”
She thought for a while as he studied her.
“I once went out with a British guy, a Ph.D. in philosophy, who came here to research Israeli society’s attitude towards the Holocaust survivors.”
“And…?”
“It didn’t work out. He kept asking me when will we return the land we stole from the Arabs.”
“So you broke up with him?”
“Not at all, he broke up with me after I finally answered him one day that we would do that the moment the British Museum returns all the mummies they stole from the Arabs.”
“Okay… and who is Adam? That is, only if you want to share.”
She didn’t seem to mind the question. “We met in the army,” she replied, “he was a Major at the base where I arrived after basic training. When he first introduced himself to me, oozing with charm, I thought to myself that he possessed precisely the two things that I was looking for in a partner: a promising, secure future and a sense of humor that could dissipate all my fears. He was a handsome, intelligent and successful man.”
“So why did you break up?”
“Because at times it just didn’t seem to be enough… and what about you, Ro’el? Why did you and Tamara split up? That is, only if you want to share.”
“She had an affair with a young man she met at work.” Tammi didn’t expect such a direct answer, but she knew she had only herself to blame—she had asked and he had answered. She listened to his story, surprised, wondering how Ro’el could have fallen in love with someone who could hurt him so deeply. “You know how it is… Tamara is one of those people who will tell you what you want to hear, just so you’ll like them. We met when we were at the university. I felt very flattered that such a ‘cool’ girl like her was interested in a boring guy like me.”
“You were boring?”
“I don’t know if that’s the right word. It seemed to me that I was just another bloke. I always felt that I belonged to the transparent, silent majority. In high school, for instance, I was just one of a group of ‘regular’ boys. You know, the kind of guys who are admitted to a party, but no one actually cares about them; the kind that fantasize to end the night in their car with the prettiest girl in the class, but always end up with their best buddy in an all-night diner; the kind who hold a glass of beer at a party and move their head to the rhythm of the music but don’t really ever dance; the kind that aren’t ‘cool,’ that don’t draw attention, not like the ‘jocks.’”
“And what was it like when you met Tamara?”
“At first, everything was fine and I was in seventh heaven, I was living a dream. After we married, I became a partner in the law firm. I’d leave for work early in the morning and return home late at night. That’s probably when she started the affair.”
“I’m sorry to hear that… I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say. Tamara hurt me very much, and it will probably take me some time to work through it and continue on.Meanwhile, the fact that you are listening to my story eases the pain a bit and is making my day much more pleasant.”
“Great. In that case, let’s continue to ease your pain. Where were we?”
“The moment when Melody arrives for dinner.”
***
In the early morning hours, preparations for dinner were well under way. Chava cleaned all the windows until they sparkled, Yiftach washed the tile floors thoroughly and Max cleared the dry leaves from the yard with a bellows that was mainly effective in producing a disturbing noise. After Yiftach finished washing the floors throughout the house, he went out to the yard to help his father.
“What time is she arriving?” Max asked his son.
“Seven-thirty.”
“And when do you think she’ll want to eat?”
“I don’t know. We’ll see.”
“Didn’t you ask her?”
“No, people don’t do that anymore. I figure we’ll eat around eight o’clock. You’ll see, everything will be fine.”
