“Who told you that?”
“David told Max, and he told me. You know how it is,” Rachel replied. She was friends with Max –
“So, is something going on between you two?”
“The truth?”
“Nu…” She dragged out the word endlessly.
“I’m asking … do you want the truth?”
“What truth?” my mother interrupted from the kitchen.
“Let him talk,” my little sister scolded her.
“Michael, what do you want to eat? Chopped liver orgefiltefish?” my mother cut right into the middle of our conversation with the thing that mattered most to her – food.
“Mom, please, I asked her a question, and I want an answer. Please, just a moment of quiet.”
“First answer me, and then you can talk all you want. Fish or chopped liver?” my mother insisted.
My sister knew that when it came to food, no one stood a chance against my mother. My father stayed silent, watching the silly power struggle. He only stepped in when things had truly gone too far.
“First fish, with lots of horseradish, and then the chopped liver,” I answered.
My mother’s face lit up with joy. As she left, my sister sighed with impatience. My father didn’t like that sigh. Even without words, it was clear he was offended on my mother’s behalf.
After dinner, Rachel continued interrogating me while my father pretended not to listen – as if the words were floating over him – but I knew he wasn’t missing a thing. That was him: quiet, but alert.
“So what’s her name?”
“Lily.”
“Where’s she from?”
“Originally from Ashkelon.”
“Then there’s no chance I know her.”
“What’s her last name?”
“Tamir.”
“Does she have a brother?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Because in flight school, there was a cadet named Tamir fromAshkelon, as far as I remember.” Rachel had served at the one of the cadet’s airbase.
“I have no idea,” I admitted. I didn’t know Lily well enough to know if she had a brother, much less where he might have served in the army.
“How’s work?” my father diverted the conversation back to Rachel, who was both a student and an El Al flight attendant. The rest of the evening passed without Lily’s name being mentioned again – neither as subject, nor as object. Even though she was all I could think about, I had no intention of bringing her up, not with my parents hovering about. I got through that dinner unscathed, but it was only the first. For now, it seemed that not all beginnings had to be difficult.
Chapter 12
Abstract
Later that night, Rachel drove us back to the apartment. The moment I walked in, I felt as if it had always been my home. I couldn’t explain it even to myself, what made me feel that way. The place? The atmosphere? The paintings? Lily? The energy flowing between us? Just a few days earlier, someone else had lived here, and suddenly it was me. Not just me, but me with Lily, who had turned my life upside down.
