The Last Rain (6 page)
Authors: Edeet Ravel
Edna: | I feel that if someone talks to him and explains that he |
| | can’t enter the Kitchen or Dining Hall unless he’s spic |
| | and span, he’ll stay away. |
Varda: | That flea-bitten coat of his makes me nervous. |
Isaac: | Last time I came across him, he told me he was Thane |
| | of Eldar. |
Martin: | “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” |
Isaac: | Where’s that from, |
All: | Macbeth! |
Naftali: | The reality is that we operate on a principle of member- |
| | ship and contribution. If he were a member, of course |
| | we’d make every allowance and try to help him. But he |
| | was sent here as a work volunteer and he’s not working. |
| | How can we survive if we take on every vagrant who |
| | wanders in, regardless of what they contribute? We’re |
| | not a hobo camp. |
Ora: | I agree with Naftali. It’s down to economics. We’re |
| | struggling to feed ourselves—we simply can’t afford to |
| | be a charity for the mentally ill at this point. As it is we’re |
| | supporting forty-two city children whose costs are only |
| | half covered. A line has to be drawn somewhere. |
Martin: | The children again! Every time we need an excuse not |
| | to do something, it’s back to the children. I’ve said it |
| | a million times and I’ll say it again: we are not doing |
| | these children a favour, they are doing |
| | allowing us to raise them, which is a privilege and as far |
| | as I understand, the whole point of our existence. |
Isaac: | I feel we’re getting off topic here. We have to come to |
| | some decision about Jeremiah. Is that his real name, by |
| | the way? |
Dori
We’re finished drying ourselves with our towels. Gilead comes over and says
do you know how to make children?
Of course I know. We’re free on Eldar. It’s different in Canada. People aren’t free there. It’s different in the city too. Also on airplanes and boats.
I say I know of course I know. He says do you want to do it?
I say
yes
. He touches my jinnie with his peenie. Shoshana is smiling. I’m surprised. I don’t see her smiling too often—apart from when she talks to Daddy.
Sex in the Clubhouse
20 May 2002.
Seven kibbutz boys aged nine to fourteen were discovered engaged in sodomy and other sexual acts by a concerned adult who forced the door to their clubhouse open after receiving no reply to his knocks. It appears the boys had been meeting regularly in the clubhouse for sex, usually in pairs but sometimes in groups. While kibbutzim generally prefer to handle legal matters internally, police became involved in the case when they were notified by the parents of the nine-year-old. The police are finding it difficult to lay charges as the acts seemed to have been consensual and the boys show no signs of distress.
Online comments:
Don’t believe this article, it’s all a lie. There were developments today and more victims have been identified.
That’s what comes of kibbutz upbringing. They can change its name to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Look in the prisons and tell me if you find a single kibbutz-born criminal.
I know that boy well and he would never do anything like that, he isn’t capable of it.
Don’t you have a life? It’s a great kibbutz, I have many friends there, find something else to do.
I’m in the same grade as the 14-year-old and I want to say that most of us are behind him and forgive him for his mistake in spite of all the sadness and violence. And we hope he comes back to school as soon as possible. And I ask those who know nothing about it to stop commenting.
Stop believing this article, it was non-consensual, and there weren’t seven boys, whoever believes this article is an idiot.
What is this country coming to?
We the kids of 8B support you and want you back. Maybe now you see why I left the kibbutz and returned to God.
In my yeshiva I’m only allowed to get off with other yeshiva students.
With all the television children watch is it any wonder?
I left the kibbutz years ago and the stigma of licentiousness still follows me. It’s completely unjustified.
This is all because not enough money goes to education, it’s all going to the settlements and the religious.
Today’s youth know how to enjoy themselves …
I don’t understand these jocular responses. Even if the relations were consensual it’s appalling. It’s nothing to do with these being homosexual acts. Sexual relations are not for children. This shows one thing only—serious emotional deficiency and specifically lack of parental warmth and attention starting in infancy. And to all those who are cracking jokes: there’s a time and a place.
Ah the kibbutz, the kibbutz! Now everyone’s shocked. They should just think back to what they did as kids to pass the time.
The law prohibits this for the simple reason that sexual acts cannot be consensual for minors and this includes adults who seduce boys who supposedly say ‘yes’. The result is severe emotional damage for the rest of their lives.
The damage occurs when they grow up and face the intolerance of a society that dictates what is right and what should be.
Have all the pedophiles suddenly crawled out from under a rock??
Nu, really! This is nothing new. I grew up on a kibbutz many years ago, these types of events were common. With us the afternoon shower was a laboratory for experimentation; only in our case the police weren’t involved and we had a blast and that’s the way it should be.
Dori
Shoshana says she has a surprise for us. She says because we’ve been so good we’re going to go on a Night Hike. We all begin to shout
Night Hike Night Hike!
We’re very happy. We rush to put on our pyjamas and slippers.
Finally Shoshana says we can go. It’s hot and dark outside. We walk two by two except for Simon and Elan and Skye who walk single file.
The bushes on both sides of the path have a wonderful sweet smell. You can see all the stars up in the sky and the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. Actually I’m not sure I know which stars are the Little Dipper but I can definitely see the Big Dipper. The handle points to the North Star. In case I ever get lost and I don’t have a compass I can find my way by following the North Star.
We start singing—
Me and he and you
And Yankele Kangaroo
We went out for a walk
So we could have a talk
We walked hallah hallah
Until we met Abdallah
We punched him in the eye
22
And he began to cry
There’s another ending—
We walked hallah hallah
Until we met Abdallah
We said shalom
And he began to cry
But that ending doesn’t rhyme. Some of us sing the ending with the punch and some of us sing the ending with shalom.
I know
yallah
is Arabic and I can also say it with an Arabic accent. Is
hallah
Hebrew for
yallah
? If we have a Hebrew word how come we mostly say
yallah
? Maybe
yallah
is more for telling someone to move. It’s fun to say
yallah.
Especially with the accent.
Y’allah y’allah!
Let’s get going.
Y’allah.
23
Baby Diary
July 1
She gave up her night bottle. I fed her at 11:30 and also at 4:00, so I’m giving her six feedings. From 6 to 9 p.m. she’s restless. After that feeding she moans, cries, wants to be held. She’s given water and eventually falls asleep. Maybe she doesn’t get enough food at this time or maybe her stomach hurts. During the day and after every other nursing she falls asleep easily, and sleeps very well between feedings.
Dori
Finally we reach the Dining Hall where the adults are having supper. We run to our parents. Daddy and Mummy are very happy to see me. They give me another piece of cake.
Then everyone sings In the Plains of the Negev. I don’t know all the words but it’s about a soldier who falls in the desert. His mother is crying but a tall lad comes over. He calls her Mother and tells her not to cry because her son was brave and fought the Enemy. And without brave soldiers like her son, the Enemy would break us. The song ends—
If you will it friends
It is no dream
It’s a sad song with a sad tune. Even if another lad wants to be her son she’s still going to miss the son who died. And even if her son died for our land he’s still dead.
Herzl is the man who said
if you will it friends it is no dream.
Daddy likes to say those words.
One day I’ll have to go to the army too. In other countries women don’t go to the army but here we’re equal. I’ll try to be brave but I don’t know if I’ll succeed. Sometimes I’m brave and sometimes I’m not. When we went to the infirmary to get shots, Dafna the nurse asked
who wants to go first?
We all said we weren’t afraid but no one wanted to go first. Finally I said
I’ll be first
and I lay down on the table. Everyone was watching me and feeling scared but I didn’t make a sound. I said
it doesn’t hurt at all
and after that no one was scared. But that was only partly because I was brave and partly because I like Dafna. I felt that shot the whole rest of the day.
Actually we’re not completely equal in the army. Women don’t go to the front line. The truth is that I’m glad I won’t have to go to the front line. If the Enemy starts shooting I’ll be in the back row. It’s not fair for the men to get killed instead of me but I can’t help being glad. It’s wrong but that’s the way I feel. I don’t want to die. Even for our land.
Thy Neck with Chains of Gold
MICHAEL
enters from porch. A knapsack hangs over his shoulders. His dress is picturesquely careless. Whistling, he knocks on
RITA
’s door and opens it. Goes straight to
RITA
,
then slowly turns around, sees his wife, laughs self-consciously and moves towards her.
