“I had a very erotic dream last night involving Alex. It took me entirely by surprise.”
“Wel , Volvo, that would be great. Any change would be good for you. I have to go, though. Rafi’s coming to pick me up.”
“Does his wife know?”
“Why don’t you cal and ask her?”
I went to my at to get my camera ready. Ra knocked on my door a few minutes before twelve. “I’m looking for Dana,” he said when I answered.
“I think I have everything.”
“You don’t have to bring water, I have a whole crate in my van. Dana, you look as if I’ve come to arrest you.”
“I shouldn’t be going down with you. I should be going with Odelia.”
“Wel .”
“Yes, wel .”
“I’m real y happy you’re coming down with me,” he said.
“We’re just friends.”
“Friends! Don’t exaggerate … Aren’t you going to lock your door?”
“Oh …yes,” I said vaguely, and looked for my house key in my knapsack. I often left my door unlocked. “I can’t find the key. Hold on.”
I went back inside, took a spare key from a glass bowl in the kitchen, and locked my door.
I fol owed Ra to his van, climbed up to the passenger seat. “I spoke to Coby yesterday,” I told him as we set out. “I’ve seen him around, but we never talked before. But there was a mouse under Jacky’s sink, ve mice actual y, and Coby sent the guard, Marik, to get the mice.
Marik once saw me naked by accident, ages ago, and he’s stil embarrassed every time he sees me. After he got rid of the mice I had dinner Marik once saw me naked by accident, ages ago, and he’s stil embarrassed every time he sees me. After he got rid of the mice I had dinner with Coby and he said he has a cousin in Intel igence, he’s going to ask him about Daniel.”
“How did the guard see you naked? Through the window?”
“No, on the street. The air from the sidewalk grate blew my dress up. As luck would have it, that was the one time in my life I wasn’t wearing underwear.”
Rafi burst out laughing. “You’re ful of surprises, Dana.”
“Maybe Coby’s cousin is the one.”
“That would be great, Dana. Seat belt, please.”
“But Coby said he isn’t optimistic.”
“Why?”
“He says if the army has a reason for not tel ing me where Daniel is, his cousin wil have the same reason. He thinks Daniel is a spy. What a laugh.”
“That real y does seem unlikely. Who could he spy on? He doesn’t speak a word of Arabic, and instead of blending in, he stands out.
Besides, I don’t think we have a lot of spies these days. Espionage is mostly technological now.”
“I feel I’m get ing closer. I feel I’m real y get ing close, after al these years. I just have to find the right person … Where are we meeting, by the way?”
“The gas station. We’re going in through the southern end of Lifna.”
“Too bad we’re going on Friday instead of Saturday. Al the fanatic set lers wil be out.”
“The rabbis real y wanted to come. There’s supposed to be a joint prayer session. So we’re compromising by starting late, to accommodate people who work Friday morning.”
“I’d like to photograph that, the praying. I have some very good photos of the cave-dwel ers from the summer.”
“I’d like to see your photographs. Where do you keep them?”
“In shoe boxes, under the bed.”
“Are they mostly color or black-and-white?”
“Depends. I’m not real y that good.”
“I think you are.”
“How would you know?”
“I have your book.”
He was referring to Seaside, the book of photographs Beatrice had produced. She had chosen my beach photos for the col ection: our families on the beach, Palestinian families on the Coastal Strip beach, back in the days when there were fewer curfews and it seemed there might even be peace. She’d chosen her favorite photograph for the cover: a father with two girls, one in each arm, walking into the sea, the water already up to his knees. The faces of the two girls were turned toward the camera, tiny faces just above their father’s shoulders, one
