Chapter 86, Girlfriend

     Oren and his paratrooper friends were showing me how to jump from our watch tower. The swimming pool was built by the British military for its officers many years before the establishment of Israel. The filtering system was huge tanks of sand where the water would filter through and come out to two waterfalls on each side of our tower overlooking the deep water. They were actually cooling the water from the filtering system. Jumping in between the two waterfalls made us feel in nature. The water was always so clean that you could see even a small coin at the bottom.

 “Ok,” said Oren, Bend your knees, yes, squat. Now both arms to the side and bend your elbows and bring your hands up facing forward. This position you need to get to, to get some air resistance. If you extend one arm or leg it effects the way you will move in the air.”

 “Like that?” I asked.

 “Yes, perfect! Just remember you are not jumping of a plane now. You don’t have much time; this tower is only three meter over the water. You can’t stay that way for long. So, jump as high as you can, form the position and then straighten and fall headfirst to the water.”

 “Here we go.” I jumped and as soon as I tried the position I fell on my belly. “Ouch!” 

Two minutes later, I tried it again and again until I figured it out. I learned to dive and flip over the water and just have fun. Not to brag much, but I did look good. It was Friday morning, and it was just before my long week vacation. And I was very pleased with myself. I packed my gear and my guitar, said goodbye to Oren and left.

 

    A long week on the beach, it has been a while, I wondered which one of my friends is home. I knew Efri, Buch and Doron were staying at the base, but Nuri and Dubi as well as Udi the talking machine were going to be home and I planned to go out with them to have some coke and fries, no more beer for me. 

 

    The sounds of the families having Shabat dinner was all along my way to the restaurant. Every Friday whenever you walk around dinner time you could hear the clinking of the forks or spoons and ceramic dishes. The aromas of the different dishes will let you know exactly from where this family came from. As soon as dinner was over all the young people would go out to the street and simply walk along the main street (Hertzel street in Netanya and in other cities too). So many people were gathering in Netanya which was growing, and more people were moving in either tourists or locals, walking up and down the street that finally the mayor decided to close the street for cars every weekend and eventually turned half of the street, the closest to the shore, into a permanent walking street. No more cars permanently. 

 

    Nor Dubi, Nuri or Udi were musicians, so I left my guitar at home that evening and we met at our favorite caffe, ordered our coke with lemon and a plate of fries. Udi ordered Maccabi beer, so I sat far from him. I still couldn’t stand the smell. 

 “Hey Tibi!” the voice called me from behind.

 “Naftali! Nice to see you! Are you out of the military yet?

 “Yes! I am a flight attendant with El-Al. I miss playing with you, Bring the guitar tomorrow to the beach, I have one now too.”

 “Sure”

 “See you tomorrow, 10:00ish.”  He said and continued his walk along the street with the rest of the crowd.

 

    Naftali didn’t show up, but I did, with the guitar. It felt a little weird being alone on the beach with the guitar. I usually bring the guitar when I have friends at the beach next to my house. But this time I walked all the way to the recently finished new expanded beach, downtown Netanya. It took a few years, Netanya followed Tel Aviv by building a stone “T” in the water all the way to the deep. Once finished, slowly they took down the leg of the “T” and nature did the rest. Slowly sand accumulated and created a sand arch all the way to the stone wave braker. Creating a larger place for the people to sunbathe and a better controlled swimming area for the lifeguards. Closer to the cliff they built a cement structure for restaurants and walking area above them. Nuri and I took some nice pictures there last winter. Nuri was a great photographer, I loved how he played with lights taking black and white photos. I promised myself, I would hire him as my wedding photographer. (Which really happened many years later.)

   I walked a little away from where the crowd was settling and pulled my guitar. I was practicing Santana’s Black Magic Woman when a few people started to gather and sit next to me. I still needed to work on it, Yahalomi showed me the cords just the last week. I switched to some songs I did know just before the group around me grew. The new band “Kaveret” was the most popular band in Israel at that time. I remembered the time they started to develop their music during the Yom Kippur war when they would travel along with the military entertainment crews. Yahalomi showed me a few cords of their music and I picked it up better than the American or European songs. I was singing “Hey Yoya” when I saw a curly head with very big brown eyes staring at me and singing along. Her skin was light brown and soft and her smile was very contagious. She sang with me the whole time. Finally, she got up, approached me and handed to me a piece of paper. “Write to me,” she said, “My name is Aviva.” She left together with another heavy-set girl who looked back at me as they were leaving and waved goodbye. I kept playing for a while and finally walked back home.

 

    The next morning, I decided to walk back to the same spot and play some more. The first to show up was the heavy-set girl.

 “Did you write to her? She asked with a teasing smile.

 “Come on, I didn’t even look at the address yet.” I said, “Where is she?”

 “She’s at Kibbutz HaBonim. she is there for the rest of the summer and next school year, before she goes to the army.”

 “I will write to her,” I said and continued playing. Slowly more people showed up and sat next to me. this time I had some friends there too, so it felt ok to leave the guitar for them to watch over it while I go for a swim. No matter how long I worked with water as a lifeguard, I still could never get enough. I went in and swam toward the waves. I waited for the first big wave and body surfed to the shore. I almost bumped with a girl right next to me. Short brown hair with green eyes and a body of a swimsuit model.

 “Go again?” she asked.

 “Sure!” and we turned back to face the waves again.

 “I like the way you sing.” She said when we reached the deep water behind the waves.

 “Thanks! Here comes a big one, go, go, go!” we caught the next wave almost all the way to the shore and bumped into one another again. I am not sure if we did it on purpose or by accident, but it felt good. 

 “I didn’t see you sitting with me.”

 “I was sited to your right next to you, today and yesterday.”

 “My name is Tibi,” I said as the wave hit my face.

 “I know,” she was about to laugh. “Aviva.”

 “You too?” 

She nodded and we walked back to our circle to do some more music.

 

 “You chew your nails?” I asked as I was walking her toward the bus station. Aviva lived with her father outside of Netanya in a small village called Even Yehuda.

 “Yes, I’m afraid so.”

 “Ever seen the statue of Venus?”

 “Without the arms?”

 “Yes, she used to chew her nails…”

 “Funny!”

 “See you tomorrow?” 

 “I will not be able to come in the morning, I have to help my dad in the morning. But I will be free in the afternoon.”

 “Hmm,” I thought, then said, “want to come over? My parents are away with my baby brother, my second brother is in the military trying to be a pilot. We will have the house for ourselves.” To my surprise and delight she agreed. 

 “Let’s meet at the corner of Shmuel HaNatziv and Hertzel, she offered, I will be done with Dad around 1:00”

 “I will be walking back from the beach. Wait a moment, don’t you have school tomorrow?” 

 “I do, I’ll tell you all tomorrow.” She kissed me on my cheek and boarded the bus.

    “Where is your guitar?” Asked the heavy-set girl.

 “Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

 “I skipped.”

 “What’s your name?”

 “Aviva.”

 “You’re kidding, three Avivas?

 “Oh yes, I forgot about that one. You walked her home. Don’t forget to write my friend Aviva.”

 “I did, last night. Dropped it in the mailbox on the way here.”

 “She really liked you, you know, too bad she has to be at her boarding school.”

 “I was wondering about that,” I said, “I was in a boarding school too. Two of them, in fact, does she like it there?”

“I guess so, I never heard her complain. She will be joining the military soon after she is graduates next month.”

 “I am glad I wrote her. Let’s hope she keeps in touch.”

I spent a few more hours catching waves and started my walk toward my appointment with the other Aviva. 

 

    “I lost my mom a few years ago to cancer.” Aviva said as we were walking toward my house. Dad is almost 70 years old. Both of them were holocaust survivors. I skip school almost every day to make sure he’s ok. Today I had to go with him to the lawyer to renew the rental agreement. We live in a rented small house, but soon we’ll be moving.”

 “Where will you be moving to?”

 “We just found a townhouse for rent in the south side of Netanya, not too far from our village. This is why I skipped school today.”

 “Let me know if I can help in anything. As long as it is when I am here. I get a leave every other week.”

 

    We spent the afternoon together and a few others until I went back to camp. I promised her to stop by at her place first when I get back a week later. 

 

Lili my best friend at the base came to visit me at the pool the next day. I told her all about the three Avivas.

 “You like her?” She asked.

 “Very much so.”

 “How about we put it to a test?”

 “What do you have in mind?”

 “See that girl across? What do you think of her?”

Across, on the other side of the pool sat a girl with a green bikini. She was sitting on a lounging chair facing the afternoon sun. Her dark blond hair was cut short above her ears. She got up and dove in. she started swimming with perfect free style and then changed to the butterfly style. It is my favorite swimming style.

 “Can you imagine her doing that in bed?” I asked Lili.

 “Hold on,” she said, “Osnat!” she called when the girl reached the edge.

The girl looked up at us.

 “Hey Lili, what are you doing up there?” 

 “Come up, I want you to meet my friend.”

Osnat came out of the water and walked toward my tower and climbed up. 

 “Meet Tibi,” Said Lili. “Tibi, meet Osnat.”

 

    She was prettier up close than what I thought. I took a deep breath. Her skin was evenly tan and was covered with what you would call peach fuzz. I think her legs never saw a razor blade. The whole body was covered with the softest very short fuzz. Instantly, I was imagining her skin against mine. 

 “Nice to meet you!” we both said in unison, yet I could feel that I wasn’t her type, so I didn’t even think of making any move. “You can always look at the menu, but you always pick your favorite dish” I thought to myself. And right now, Aviva, the one with the green eyes was my favorite dish.

 

    “So? What do you think? Asked Lili.

 “Oh, she is gorgeous, but we aren’t going anywhere, I am not a pilot…”

 “What do you mean?”

 “Come on, you know all the pretty girls here are looking to hook up with a pilot; they have wings on their …”

 “I heard it was a star,” said Lili with a smile. “How about that pretty red head paratrooper on the far right of the pool?”

 “She is fine,” I smiled I leave her for Oren, he’s got his eyes on her, the little blond next to her is after him but he loved the red one,” I said like a know it all. “Do you see what she’s holding?”

 “Yes, a crate of strawberries, is she going to eat it all?”

 “Hmmhmm, I just spoke with her before you came. She is highly allergic to strawberries, but she loves them very much. Every year at the height of the season she would binge on it in one day. Before you know it, she will be all red. Blondie has a special cream for her in her bag.”

 “That’s crazy!”

 “Yup!”

 “Ok, How about the other two girls on the other side? 

I looked at Lili and though a little.

 “These two are not looking for pilots. The one with the light blue bathing suit is the older one, the other with the black and white bikini is the younger sister – I mean rally younger - 15 years old. Rachel and Leah are the daughters of the logistic officer. I don’t want to get in trouble with Dad.”

 “Smart!”

 “That little girl is after me, every day she comes with another hot bathing suit and makes sure I see her and only after that she would come and try to start a conversation. Her older sister, I can see, cracking up every time.”

 “Hmm”

 “And don’t worry, this weekend my girlfriend will be coming to visit. This way they will all know to back off.”

 “You win,” said Lili. “I hope I get to meet her before I leave the military.”

 “You will, she will be here this Friday afternoon.”

 

***

 

Caponata

 

   Italian condiment salad. I like to use it simply as a spread or mixed in with scrambled egg. It is a little time consuming but worth every moment.

 

Ingredients:

1 Small Eggplant

6 Olives 

½ Cup Tomato Sauce

½ Onion 

1 Celery Stock

1 Carrots

3 Garlic Cloves

1 tsp Salt

2 TBSP Olive Oil

1 TBSP Capers

 

Preparation:

 Cut the Eggplant to 1” cubes. Chop the onion, Carrots, olives and garlic.

Deep fry the eggplant. Sautee the onion, garlic, and carrots. Mix all the ingredients and add the tomato sauce olives and capers and cook until the water dries up. Refrigerate and serve cold.

 

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