Chapter 53, Woodstock

“There is a new movie, everybody’s talking about,” I told Sarah Garon. “Would you like to go with me to see it?”

It took me a while to brave and otter those words without stumbling or stuttering. Yaakov her twin brother helped me. “You can’t worry about her that much, she is just like me,” he said. “You hear us arguing and fighting all the time. She is my sister; we have our moments. But she does like you, I know.”

“She likes me?”

“Yes, she said so.”

“She said so? You asked her?”

“Of course, I asked her, you asked me to!”

“Oh yes, I did. What did she say?”

“She said you should ask her yourself. By the way we had fun at school yesterday with your invention.”

“How do you know it was me?”

“What are you talking about? We slid together sitting on the back of the chairs down the stairs. You won twice. And I am sure everyone else loved the stairs bob sled you made out of the desks. Lucky for us no one got hurt and no broken tables and chairs.”

“Oh that, yes, that was furn. But when Moshe Kotler came up the stairs, he found a 6 mm bullet stuck in the 5^thgrade’s door.

“You’re kidding!” said Yaakov, “How the hell did a bullet got to school. Who brings a gun to school?”

“Do you remember the antenna tube I was walking around with yesterday?”

“The one Sha’ul Mizrachi stall from you and broke it? What about it?

“Well,” I said slowly, “My Uncle Rony brought me some used bullets from the war, He also gave me Uzi bullet shells – the ones I used for making the Hanukkiah. Anyway the 6 mm bullets fit perfectly inside the TV antenna tubes. I put one in and blew in one end of the pipe. The bullet flew and got stuck in the door. Lucky no one was there, and no one got hurt.”

“I always knew you are crazy…”

Sarah was so pretty, shorter than me, and so very cute. I don’t remember many girls being shorter than me, being the shortest kid in my class. Yes, it is given, Sarah was a year younger than me, but her brother is taller than me and even Avi who is two years younger is growing taller. 

I saved enough money of my allowance for two movie tickets and a little snack. The movie was in the biggest and most famous theatre in the area. The “Sharon” theatre was named after the Sharon County where Netanya is its capital. It was a modern design with special lighting and a big balcony. A nice size stage and comfortable seats. 

Netanya had a few other movie theatres; The first one “Ester Theatre”, was built before the state of Israel was formed. We had two movie theatres with no roof and a small one under the ground. But the Sharon theatre was the big one where we had the most important shows and the most expensive.

I was ready for Sarah1/2 hour before and now was waiting for her to get ready. It took her much longer than I expected. The “Who” were singing “love me, heal me …” or something like that when we finally walked in the theatre. Don’t forget, we lived about half hour walk from the theatre and walking with a pretty dolled up girl slowed me down. I wasn’t sure whether to walk behind her, next to her or in front of her. Meanwhile she was teasing me all the way to the theatre about my conversation with her brother.

After disturbing everyone we finally found a place to sit in the middle of the theatre. All movies in Israel have subtitles. They don’t dub the film except for cartoons. I think it helped my dyslexia and helped me a little bit to learn English. It was the first Documentary film I have ever seen. I must say, I kind of liked it. I was never introduced to that new hippy movement before. The colorful cloths, the long hair and the music. I was not permitted to listen to much music at home. “It will interfere with your homework,” mom used to say. So, most of the songs were new for me. I didn’t connect with “The Who” but I loved Santana and his percussion section. What is still engraved in my memory is Joe Coker. The way he was all deformed in his appearance as if he was in pain. It was a long 3 hours film but what made it too short for me was our holding hands through the whole time. Yet, I think Sarah fell asleep during some of it.

“I didn’t understand anything,” said Sarah as we walked out.

“There was nothing to understand,” I said, “it is a documentary. But I had a good time with you,” I continued as I offered her a cone of ice cream.

 

 

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White Beans Spread

 

Everyone knows about the popular middle eastern Humus, but white bean spread could be just as good if prepared correctly. I was introduced to it at an Italian restaurant, but I felt it needed some help.

 

Ingredients:

1 Canned White Beans

3 Roasted Garlic Cloves (roast unpeeled until they are soft)

½ Cup Lemon Juice

2 TBSP Olive Oil

½ Onion 

1 tsp Salt

2 TBSP Techina

4 Green Olives

Preparation:

Sauté the onion to caramelize. Mash the beans mix with the rest of the ingredients in a blender and serve.

 

 

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