“Let’s be selfish tonight.”
“Good idea.”
“Tonight nothing else and no one else wil exist.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow we’l go back to real life.”
“How about we begin with a bath?” Rafi suggested.
“Yes, I’d like that,” I said.
He fil ed the clawfoot tub and we lay down in the hot water. I felt my body relaxing. “Very stressful day,” I said.
“Why not take a break for a while?”
“I can’t. I always think about the shots I’l be missing. I never took a bath with Daniel. He didn’t like baths.”
“People aren’t used to baths in this country. I only got into taking baths when I moved in with Graciela, because she could a ord it … I real y think you should consider taking a short vacation from the activities, Dana.”
“One time I almost didn’t go to this activity. There was going to be a demonstration against the Wal , and I had my period, and a sore throat—I was coming down with something. I real y didn’t think I could make it but at the last minute I decided to go. And I got one of my best photographs ever on that day. A photograph I would never have had a chance to take anywhere else, because it was such a fluke.”
“What of?”
“Blue ribbons. There was this barbed wire coming out of the ground—this was in Palestine. And it couldn’t be pul ed out, it was stuck, so someone had tied a blue ribbon to it, so that cars and pedestrians would see it and be warned. Wel , I focused my camera on it, and right at that second this man from one of the refugee camps, who had come for the demo, stepped into my eld of vision, and he had the same blue ribbon wrapped around his shoe. The shoe was fal ing apart and he couldn’t buy new shoes so he’d wrapped the shoe up in blue ribbon to keep it together. I have a shot of that, of the shoe next to the barbed wire. It’s a real y important photograph for me, it just sums up everything. Anyhow, I’m not usual y a ected the way I was today. It wasn’t just Hroush, it was everything. I didn’t know I felt so guilty about Daniel.”
“Amazing, the obvious things we can’t see.”
“What are you hiding from yourself?”
“What is the logical flaw in that question?”
“I mean, was there something you hid from yourself and then figured out and then wondered how you could have not realized?”
“Sure. Lots of things to do with Graciela, for example. When she began seeing me as dirty, I thought that was because I real y was dirty, because of everything I’d done. That’s ridiculous. It’s entirely her problem; in fact, I have very good hygiene.”
“You’re in a good mood, I see.”
“Yes, I am. I’m in a good mood, thanks to you. I may even have another sip of that wine your suitor brought you.”
“Poor Benny!”
“He’l survive.”
“I didn’t only refuse to marry him, I also refused to have sex with him.”
“Now I’m real y shocked.”
“Wel , it hurt his feelings.”
“Hurt his bal s, more like.”
“Hurt his bal s, more like.”
“He has sex with Miriam al the time. She sneaks in here almost every second day.”
“Dana, how could you refuse such a tempting of er?”
“Don’t make fun of him, he’s okay.”
“Can’t you tel how jealous I am?”
“Jealous of Benny!”
“Yes, I always wanted hairy arms.”
“You’re so mean.”
“True.”
“Do your after-school kids real y like that game?”
“Yes, it makes them laugh, they have hysterics. They like to think of scarier and scarier things, they go wild. It’s a good outlet for them.”
A knock on the door startled us. “Expecting anyone?” Rafi asked.
“Could be Alex, he sometimes comes on Fridays. Or even Benny! Let’s not answer.”
