Book & Cook

        “Hey, Tibi, I need you at the pool.” It was the manager of the hotel where I worked last summer. He called right on time; the company was on a summer break. Being a lifeguard in Israel pays pretty well, so that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. The crew in the hotel was changed and I didn’t see any of my old friends or the not so friendly people. I would come in the morning open the pool and close before evening. This didn’t stop me from walking down to the beach after work.       “Hey! You’re Tibi? I heard a female voice calling me. I turned and saw three girls sitting on the soft sand still dressed in t-shirts and long pants. One of them was wearing a skirt. They were orthodox girls or at least modern orthodox.  “That is how they call me” I said with a smile. One of the girls with big blue eyes waved at me.   “I am Einat” she said, we heard you were looking for dancers for your new dance company.”  “That’s correct, are you interested?”  “Yes I am.”  “We are having auditions tom

        Israel’s Independence Day was approaching, we had a few dance performances, a few parties I was invited to run and a trip to Paris with the Inbal Dance Theatre.         I had to drop off my assistant early in Ma’ale Efraim to set up, continue to Jerusalem for the performance with Inbal and drive right back to the party. From there drive south and pick up one more person who ran a party in Tel Aviv.       All went well, this time again, we drove through the west bank with no incidents. I dropped my assistant and continued to Jerusalem. I stopped at my most favorite humus place in the Mahane Yehuda Market called “Rachmu” where the humus was always warm and smooth. Immediately, with humus still in my mouth, I rushed to the stage where the short performance took place. After dancing in front of a huge crowd, I managed my drive through the crowded streets back to Ma’ale Efraim. For some reason the people at the party weren’t as excited as they were in Purim. It felt as if they were

        Dina, a very pretty girl who joined the Netanya dance company just graduated from the Wingate Academy for Physical education. Walked with me after I announced to the company that I was sadly leaving them. A while ago, against my better judgement and against Sarah’s advice, I told Dina that I joined Shalom. She actually jumped to bed with me before telling me that she was engaged to be married, just so I will give her information about the Shalom company.       “Nice!” she said, “You were invited to join Inbal, how come they didn’t ask me?”   “You know, I am a man; there is always a need for male dancers.”   “Yes, I know, I am sure if I keep working with the Shlomo company they will finally let me in.”  “Maybe, I will let you know when we need more dancers, but I think you should stick with Shalom now.” She kissed me goodbye as she boarded the bus and I walked home.        As I arrived at the top of the hill above our street, I put two fingers in my mouth, folding my tongue and

        “Here is what I need you to put together,” said Avraham and handed me the draft and the parts. “We will use it on the upcoming fashion show of Gotex, the bathing suite company. The show is in two weeks.”  “No Problems!”     I loved that kind of work. The studio was a part of a big basement. It had a recording studio in one small room with egg cartons covering the walls and a thick double glass window separating it from the mixing room. On the other side was one more room in the middle of constructions which was my task to finish, including the mixer. Big Lenco tape recorders were in the mixing room and fancy mikes in the soundproof room. Most of our daily task was to record audio books for the blinds. We had different story readers for each book, and they would go for hours with almost no interruptions. It gave me time to work on building the power amp Avraham asked me to finish before the fashion show.       Lucky for me I had experience with changing costumes on stage next to