Chapter 42, After School Clubs

“Mom, Can I have six Liras please?”

“What do you need it for?”

“I want to join a club; it costs six liras per month.”

“We don’t have that kind of money to spend,” said mom, “But I will talk to Dad and we’ll see what we can do. If it is that important to you.”

This was a nice club to join. Almost everyone in the fifth grade joined. For the first time I actually joined a dance class, Israeli folk dance. Those days, Israeli folk dance was very simple. The repertoire was not elaborated or complicated, so in no time we learned a few dances. 

Circle dances, line dances and yes, partner dances.

“Alright everyone, partner up!” Yelled the dance teacher over the loud music. He was a tall guy with curly blondish hair, and he was very loud. Everyone found a partner almost at once. Being the shortest boy in my class didn’t help getting a partner. No girl wanted to dance with a shorter boy, and a dark skin one on top of it, no matter how cute or smart he was.

“Will you be my partner?” I heard a shy, soft voice behind me. It was a light brown wavy hair girl, actually shorten than me. “My name is Zehavah, she said.” 

 “Ehhh, shsh sure,” I said. “m m my nnname is Ha Ha Haim.” 
With a sweet smile Zehavah extended her hand and we became partners. She was also the last kid who couldn’t get a partner, but I can definitely testify, it was everybody’s lost. Zehavah turned out to be a great partner, she, like me, learned the dances very quickly. She even was able to help me when I missed a step, and it didn’t look like I didn’t know what I was doing. This was indeed fun.

For the next 2 months, every Tuesday we were dancing together, and I walked her home after the club. Taking slow strides as if to extend the time together. We talked about movies and the beach, we talked about food and how I didn’t like to eat and how she could eat a cow and still be hungry. Zehavah was in the second Fifth grade and I didn’t get to see her much except for when we danced, or some times during recess. Her house was a little off from my way home, so it was difficult to get together. Two months later when I got my report card and mom didn’t like the results, they stopped giving me the money to continue dancing. (40 years later I met Zehavah at a dance session in NYC and for one evening we danced together like we never stopped).

Don’t feel too bad for me, I found another club, and this one didn’t cost money. One Sunday as I arrived at school, I saw Ariella Lanski, from my class with other two girls standing in front of the bulletin board and talking out loud.

“I am definitely joining,” I heard Ariella saying. “I was a part of that last year and we had a good time.”

“Me too,” Said Nehamah Lerner. “I love singing.”

“Singing? I jumped in. “What about singing? I love singing too.”

 “It isn’t for you tzutzik!” Said the third girl who was in the 6^th grade. “I have never seen a boy in the choral.” Tzutzik wasn’t a nice name to call someone. In Yiddish it meant “very small.” Often big boys would bully me and call me tzutzik, for being small for my age. But a girl calling me that was unacceptable. 

“Let me see that!” I said and approached the bulletin board. 

“Wanted!” It said: Singers, of all ages, who want to join the choral. Auditions on Wednesday, right after school.

Pnina the music teacher was short and had short brown hair. If you didn’t know here to be our teacher, you might think she was one of the older kids. She played the accordion (like most of the music teachers in Israel) She also played the guitar and had a very nice voice. We loved her classes; we didn’t have to do anything but sing. Sometimes we would get out of hand and really misbehave. She would stop and wait for us to relax before she continued with her class.

Everyone was already there when I walked in. All the girls were seated, and Ariella Lanski was hovering over the teacher next to her desk being a little too close. They all turned and looked at me.

“Are you sure you are in the right place?” Asked Pnina and whispered to Ariella, “he is so cute!” I think I saw Ariella making a dissatisfied face. 

“This is the choral auditions, right?” I asked.

Pnina nodded.

“Then I am in the right place.”

“Hmm, let’s see, stand in front of me please. Ariella, please take a seat with everyone.” Now I knew she made an ugly face. “Can you sing this?” and she sounded an Aaaa. 

“Aaaa” I repeated.

“Aa aa aaa”

“Aa aa aaa”

“Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, See.” (This is how they sing it in Israel and Europe)

“Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, See”

“Nice! And you don’t have a problem being the only boy in the choral?”

“It is better than being with all the bullies at soccer.”

“Fag!” I heard a whisper from one of the girls, and a giggle from another.

“Hmm, all right, take a sit in the front row, right next to Nehamah. Nehamah please make some room next to you for Haim. That is your name? Right?” I nodded and sat next to Nehamah.

This was not what I expect it to be. It wasn’t just singing songs. We had to do some voice exercise. The songs were not the popular songs we hear and sing every day. They were picked by our teacher. And the thig that threw me off was: Forget the melody you already know. We had to learn to sing in different “voices”, harmony. Because I was the only boy, I had to learn the melody that was set just for me, and to Ariella’s dismay I had many solos. Please, don’t get me wrong, I had nothing against Ariella. She was a very pretty girl, taller than me with long black hair, big blue eyes, and was very popular. She even befriended me at first, at the beginning of the year. But once she realized it was affecting her popularity, she avoided me. Now I was becoming the “popular”. For the first time in the school’s history, we had a boy in the choral. For the first time we had a 5^th grader singing the blessing for the candles of Hanukah. I even had a new friend who walked with me home every day after school.

Her name was Shlomit Bar-Menachem. She was the daughter of Netanya’s Mayor. She had two brow long braids on the sides of her had. She was a very smart girl. She Always got an “A” on her exams. I got a “C” and below. She lived across the street from us. Her side of the street was for the middle-class people. It had some of the oldest villas where most of the “Ashkenazi” people lived.  We loved talking about so many subjects, sometimes we even sat on a stone fence and I would forget to go home for lunch. Mom was very upset with me for missing lunch. 

“But, mom,” I said, “she is very smart, and we talk about a lot of things we share.” 

“If she is that smart, maybe she should help you with your homework.”

The next day on our way home I asked Shlomit if she could help me with my homework. She was happy to do so, and we agreed that after the nap and the 4:00PM snack I would come over. 

I had to wait a while, I knocked three times. Their house was a big villa, and I could see the fancy Saab of her dad was parked in the shaded and gated driveway. When the door opened, I almost fell to the ground. In front of me stood our mayor wearing only his underpants. I took a long breath and asked if Shlomit was in. 

“Are you Haim?” he asked. Our mayor knew my name, I couldn’t believe it.

“Yes, I am”

“Come in, Shlomit is in her room.”

On the sofa in the living room sat a teenage boy leaning over a board with all kinds of bulbs and electronic parts.

“This is my second son,” said the mayor. He is playing with his radio kit he put together. Still can’t make it work.” My older son is in the army. So be nice to my youngest child.” He said with a smile when he knocked on Shlomit’s door.

 

***

 

Red Lentil Soup

Mulligatawny is an Indian lentil soup. I have tasted many different versions, some with apples, some with bananas and some are hot and spicy. This is my version.

 

Ingredients:

 1 Cup Red Lentils

 1 Potato

 1 Carrot

 1 Celery Stalk 

 1 Onion 

 2 TBSP Olive Oil

 3 Garlic Cloves

 1 tsp Crushed Ginger 

 1 tsp Salt 

 ¼ Cup Rice

 3 Stalks Parsley

 

Sauté the onion with the salt in olive oil, add garlic and ginger when the onion turns soft and continue until it all turns golden brown. Add the potato, celery and carrot continue cooking on low heat for 5 minutes. Add the red lentils with 2 cups of water and simmer for 30 minutes. Cook the rice in ½ cup water until all the water disappear, put it aside. Chop the parsley and put aside. 

Blend the hot soup until it is smooth and silky. Serve in a deep bawl throw in a TBSP the cooked rice and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

-----