A Late Divorce (30 page)

—Yes. Yes. In the end I realized that it was no home for the elderly.

—From a Jerusalem family. Third generation.

—Exactly. A thoroughbred Sephardi, you might say.

—She is? You don't say. You don't say.

—Half of one? On her mother's side? How didn't I sense it? I always do. I never would have thought ... she doesn't look it in the least ... you don't say!

—Come again?

—Abrabanel. Of course. It's a well-known family.

—From Safed? But there was a branch of them in Jerusalem too. How curious. Tsvi never said a word about it. That explains to me something about myself. So Tsvi is also part ... very interesting! Most agreeable.

—Begging your pardon? No, I just...

—The way I talk? In what way?

—I never noticed.

—That's odd. My girls also tell me that I sometimes talk strangely.

—Hebrew too. But not exclusively. I had one grandmother who spoke only Ladino.

—Just Hebrew. There are two girls.

—They're grown up already. I don't know why I keep calling them girls.

—Going on twenty-three. They're twins. Beautiful, fair-skinned girls, you'd never know that they came from a Middle Eastern family. Almost blond...

—I'm sorry to say that I was never blessed with a son...

—Begging your pardon?

—A Sephardi expression? I didn't know there was such a thing. I thought we all spoke the same Hebrew.

—In what way? I never noticed.

—Yes. We were always careful with our diction.

—A mixture? You may be right.

—I've never paid it much attention. Whatever comes to mind. One takes one's words where one finds them. You're right. Everything today is all mixed up. We live in a mixed-up age...

—Now that you mention it. I never thought of it before.

—Mostly newspapers. I have no time for books. Tsvi told me that your field is Hebrew language and style. That explains your ear for it.

—In the investment department of Barclay's Bank. It's an affiliate of the Israel Discount Bank. But I'm truly sorry for keeping you up. Very truly. Tsvi told me how tired out you were by the flight from America. I remember how he called his sister in Haifa several times on Sunday and kept being told that you were still asleep.

—Are you sure?

—For me it's a lost night anyway. I couldn't get any sleep. The later it gets, the more awake I become. But why should you have to stay up because of me...

—Yes. It's a hot night. It's suddenly gotten very hot, almost summery. To think that it rained just last night!

—Tea? Surely. I'll put up some water.

—Yes, yes. I know my way around this kitchen. I already said to Tsvi tonight, you Russians like your tea in the middle of the night. We only drink it when we're down with the flu. Black coffee is our brew.

—No, it's no trouble. I'll make it. I know where everything is. There are some chocolate cookies too that I bought yesterday. But perhaps you'd like to drink your tea alone. I'll be on my way then ... it's a shame for you to lose sleep...

—Not at all. It's my pleasure to sit here with you.

—Thank you very much. I believe you've been here for nearly a week, haven't you?

—Yes. I remember. Saturday night. I'm curious to know how you find this country now ... what you think of it...

—In what way?

—That's very interesting. You may be right. When one lives here, one doesn't notice the change.

—Really?

—Yes. All the filth ... of course...

—That too. But don't forget that it's only half a peace. People don't put much credence in it. I myself know nothing about politics. Generally I support the government, whatever it is. I get annoyed when people try obstructing it...

—Yes, the one we have now too ... although I must say...

—Yes. A sense of gloom.

—Yes. But it's mostly just talk. Believe me, people are rolling in money. I know them by what they have to invest, not by what they have to say. If it weren't confidential, I could show you now with a pocket calculator what sums are in circulation in this country and who is doing the circulating. Some of them are listed as welfare cases. I get felafel vendors coming to me with wads of five-hundred-pound notes, still smelling of cooking oil. That's why I'm not so critical...

—Yes. That's so. There is a group that suffers.

—I hope not.

—We true, old-time Sephardim aren't your troublemakers from North Africa. They really have a wild streak in them ... and sometimes we're confused with them on TV ... but we're actually a well-established middle class. You'll find us mainly in the banks, the courts and the police—not at the very top, but in responsible positions. Wherever there's still a semblance of law and order. It goes back to British and even Turkish times, when we were sought out for administrative posts. For desk jobs. That's where we feel best. I once said to Tsvi, this business of a Jewish state, all of Zionism in fact, is really a little too much for us. It's all too fast, too high-powered. We were used to the Turkish pace, to the British sense of decorum...

—Yes. I know I'm really talking nonsense. Every country is like that today. Even Turkey is coming apart at the seams—I've read about it in the newspapers. All the lights in Istanbul go out every evening. I suppose that only the English...

—The English too? You don't say. Well, well, then there's really no cause to complain...

—For about half a year. We met in the bank.

—Yes. It's a sort of investment company.

—His boss's name is Gilat. Have you ever met him?

—Yes, of course, you haven't been in the country. I forgot. I've run into him once or twice. A young, energetic fellow who knows how to play the market. I just hope he doesn't do anything foolish. For Tsvi's sake. All these little firms take lots of risks, but sometimes they grow very nicely. Maybe this one will too, who knows? It's just that the market itself is so volatile these days...

—I think Tsvi has a good head for it. He's ready to learn. He's always asking me questions. He has imagination too, and that's important. But one needs a great deal of experience and patience. One has to develop a sixth sense.

—Of course. There's that too.

—No. It's not a science. There's probably nothing that's less scientific. One needs to have a sixth sense. A feeling of what to hold on to and what to let go of, of where to step in and where to lay back. The Israeli market is a small one. Everyone has a finger in it. All kinds of amateurs have gone into it lately too, and that's an extra headache. Inflation makes the profits seem large but in fact they're on the small side. It's not a big ball game. I don't know how much you know about these things...

—In America it's a different story. There you have real gamblers. Not the Jews. They're all over, but strictly in a service capacity. But you'll find some tough, cold-blooded Gentiles who'll risk everything they have on one throw of the dice and calmly step out for a drink while they're rolling. The market's wide open there. A stock can hit bottom ... practically go below zero ... or take off all at once like a rocket. Here we're more cautious. And the government interferes a lot too. It can suddenly feel sorry for some company because it has a plant in a depressed area or directors who are friends of a minister. And we're a nervous people in general, we don't know how to hold on to a stock. We're afraid to go for the big gain, because we don't really believe in it. All that will come, though ... things are just beginning to warm up ... Is the tea too strong for you?

—The sugar cubes? They're here in the closet. Tsvi likes to suck on them too. Here, is this what you mean?

—No. But I've been here often ... and I've seen him drink tea like that, with a cube of sugar in his mouth. I suppose he learned from you.

—Yes. Yes. All in all he's just like you. I've already told him that. I too came to look more and more like my father, rest his soul. All of a sudden the resemblance breaks out.

—Right.

—Exactly.

—Begging your pardon?

—Yes. Tsvi told me. It's really a nice apartment. It must be worth quite a few million. The location is excellent, and there are people with money today who are coming back to the city and looking for places to renovate. How far can the ocean be from here? A hundred meters? It does need some work. When there's no woman around, the little things go untended...

—How's that?

—Yes. That isn't Tsvi's strong point. What can you expect from a young man these days...?

—Still...

—Still. Don't exaggerate. He hasn't seen thirty yet.

—To sell? What for?

—Ah.

—I understand.

—I understand. I see. In principle let me tell you right away that I don't recommend it. I don't recommend it one bit. Not at all, if you're asking me.

—Yes yes. I know. I hear about it every day ... the most astonishing stories, both kinds of them, about those who made a mint and about those who lost their shirts...

—Yes. So I've heard. But here I'm a wee bit conservative. A house isn't just money. It's a home.

—That may be so ... but I'd still think twice about it...

—A car is something else. Don't misunderstand me. A car is something else. When I've seen some opening for a good investment I've advised lots of clients to sell a car, or jewelry, or even the family silver without a moment's thought. But a house...

—Yes. But in spite of all that it's a house. You never know.

—But why?

—Ah.

—Ah.

—And Tsvi?

—Ah.

—You think she'll be released someday?

—Aha.

—Begging your pardon?

—In what way?

—I ... uh...

—Begging your pardon?

—No ... come again?

—Yes ... something of the sort ... I mean ... I didn't know whether you knew or not ... I didn't dare...

—Begging your pardon?

—Yes. I was a bit frightened. I wasn't sure what you knew and what you didn't. And suddenly...

—I understand.

—I didn't know.

—I didn't know at all.

—I thought as much.

—I understand.

—Now I understand...

—I see. Thank you...

—I didn't know. I was suddenly afraid ... for Tsvi...

—Since adolescence? I understand. I suppose that...

—Your wife too? How interesting!

—The whole family ... I understand ... I'd so like to hear more about it. It fascinates me. Are the others happily married?

—No. I meant are they normal.

—Yes. He told me about him. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him, but I've been told that he's very gifted. He teaches at the university in Jerusalem...

—No.

—Yes.

—No.

—Yes. Naturally I thought that you must know something. I didn't know how you felt about it, though ... so that when suddenly you came down the hallway in the dark ... I was frightened...

—I'm glad to hear that.

—That's a very sensible way of looking at it. Very refined. No, that isn't the word. What I mean is considerate. So terribly human...

—Yes. I'm glad to hear that. Thank you so much.

—I know. That's easy to say. But if I were in your place, Mr. Kaminka ... I ... well, never mind. I myself am a novice at this. Until recently I hardly knew that it existed. I never ... it was Tsvi who introduced me to it. It's all so new to me ... and at my age ... that's why I must seem so nervous and distraught to you. This whole last period of my life has been one flood of emotion ... it's all so new to me...

—Just a few months ago ... after the autumn holidays ... until then I was perfectly normal. I didn't even know that ... how can I put it?...that it was in me all along. That it was even a possibility. It's only now that it's surfaced that I can look back and see signs of it since I was a boy. Still, it's been a great upheaval...

—In the bank. He used to come by my office, because his firm does business with us. He saw through me just from how I talked.

—Just a few days ago...

—No. Only my wife.

—It's been very difficult. A real tragedy. You understand that. Very difficult. A terrible tragedy. So distressing.

—No. Absolutely not. It would be the end of both her and me. I can't even imagine it. I could never leave her. Her whole family would murder me.

—Begging your pardon?

—I don't know. Deep down I keep hoping that I'll get over it. That I'm just going through a phase.

—I'm going on fifty-six. I was born in 1923. I'm not much younger than you.

—Yes. You can imagine how this has jolted me. Maybe in America such things are taken more for granted ... I'm reading an article about it now ... even among Jews...

—Exactly. I've heard about that synagogue in New York. God is truly all-suffering if He can put up with that too.

—You don't say! It's entertaining to read in the evening papers about all the oddballs in this world, but when it suddenly turns up in you ... when I think of everything I believed in ... you know, I'm from a religious family myself, I still keep up the traditions. Of course, religion with us isn't as serious a matter as with you...

—Yes, I know. But I was thinking of those of you who are. We don't get so ideological about things. You won't ever find us making martyrs of ourselves or of others for some idea. In politics, if you've noticed, we're the first to cross party lines or change sides ... but when it comes to family affairs, we're terribly uptight. And I'm very much a family man. The family is everything to us. That's the Middle East in us, the family and its honor. We're very uptight about honor. Power doesn't interest us, but honor does, because there was never enough of it in this part of the world. For that we'd go out and kill ... in theory, I mean ... I'm not sure you follow me...