Chapter 58
Black Nights
We drove toward Jaffa. Lily asked if we could drive by the sea. She said that the stretch by the Dan Hotel, going from north to south, reminded her of the shorelines she had seen in films, of cities she had never actually visited. That’s how we ended up at Younes for lunch with the gang. It was four in the afternoon, and the restaurant was almost empty. For a moment, I thought they wouldn’t serve us.
Only at the entrance did I remember the last Arab restaurant we had been to together... It felt as though dozens, maybe hundreds of years had passed since then.
“It was nice,” she said when we returned to the apartment.
“The whole gang was there, and David was so funny. Max was wild as usual, unstoppable. Did you see how he went into the kitchen and brought out a tray of food?”
“It really was fun,” I agreed.
“I’m exhausted. I’m going to rest.”
“And I want to take another look at your political work.”
I went into the workroom, which was relatively tidy. The piece was still on the easel, some of the paint not yet dry.
“I love it!” I shouted toward the bedroom.
No answer.
“I love it!” I slipped into the warm bed beside her.
“What?”
“Your political work.”
“And me?”
I looked at her without answering, wrapped my arm around her back, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Toward evening, we were each busy with our own matters. Iwas preparing for the programming course the army had agreed to send me to, so that I – a doctor – would understand what computing was. Lily was busy with the final touches on her work. I didn’t want us to go out, since the next morning she was scheduled for dialysis at Pioneer Hospital. Around eleven, we went to bed. Before we fell asleep, she asked that we make love.
“When we finish, we won’t smoke or drink coffee,” she said.
“What’s with you suddenly talking about that?” I was defensive. I’m sure I blushed.
“Because my girlfriends told me that they, or their boyfriends, always light a cigarette or drink coffee afterward.”
“And we stay cuddled up and talking – is there something wrong with that?”
“No, just a thought.”
“About what?”
“About a conversation we had about four years ago, when you moved in with me in Ramat Aviv, that Friday.”
“What did we talk about?”
“I told you there are things they don’t know.”
“Who doesn’t know?” I didn’t understand what she meant.
“The doctors. Back then, they gave me two years, remember?” For the first time in a long while, Lily brought up the matter of her limited time.
I pressed my head into her shoulder and kissed her. Hardly a day had gone by without that sentence echoing in my mind.
