Chapter 89, Twenty-Four Makes Twenty-Seven
Twenty-four girls, just out of boot camp. The first all females designated Airforce technicians’ course. The new soldiers were very excited both for being the first and for the new subjects they were about to learn. a week later another group of girls were planned to arrive to start at the bombers department. Both groups were going to spend the first two months learning general preparation toward their technical track, like math, physics, electrical and general mechanics. Once they are finished with this prep courses they would get a week vacation and each go to their designated training.
“Welcome soldiers” I said remembering my first day at the academy “I will be your instructor, your mom and dad, I will be your best friend or psychologist or your enemy if you mess-up.” I am not sure what they were thinking, but they were quiet, so I continued. “You will have a daily morning inspection by me or one of the other instructors, and every Friday by the head of the department. Your first task is to choose your cadet on duty, let me show you your quarters.”
At first, I would see the girls every morning, at lunch time and at the end of the day before dinner. One day a week I would have an overnight duty to make sure they go to bed on time. I was lucky to have Aviva back home. I didn’t fall for any of the girls. Please don’t get me wrong, most of the girls were attractive some even very attractive. One of them – Ettie, (short for Ester) for example, was after me, maybe after any man. She had short almost black hair and almost purple eyes. Her figure, as much as you can see through the uniform, was sexy and she had a habit of wearing her skirt a little shorter than regulations allowed, showing her sexy long legs. Whenever she needed something, she’s come a little too close to your personal space, put a soft hand on your shoulder and caress it as she would whisper something like “Tibi Sir, can I have the afternoon off? I need to visit my grandma…” There was another Ettie too. She looked totally different. She was the tallest of the class, in fact the tallest of our department, taller than the boys. She was strong and if I didn’t know better, I would think she was a man. But she was sweet and helpful and eager to learn. We had two Ruties, and an Aviva. Rachel who was voted to be the Cadet on Duty. Michal and Margalit the inseparable best friends who did everything together, yes everything including dating men. Rina the shortest girl in our school with the biggest black eyes I have ever seen. She was also the smartest of all the girls, she didn’t have to do her homework, she did it for fun and passed every test at 100%. A few other girls who simply blended in the group without standing out of the crowd.
“Hey, girls,” I said, walking in for the morning inspection. “We don’t need any decoration on your beds, yes, that includes bras or undies. As cute as they are, please put them away before the inspection.”
“But” someone started to say.
“No buts” I said as I was turning to the door. “Very funny! A sand filled condom? Where did you get the sand? OK,” I turned back facing the girls “a few things we must make sure. I can promise you; this will not work on Friday when Captain Mordechai will come for inspection. If there will be one little mishap, I will volunteer to stay the weekend and supervise your kitchen duty for the weekend.”
The soft snickers have stopped,
“Oh,” I continued, “and the tampons in the sink or the napkins in the toilet must come out. You are going to be technicians, use your skills to clear it up.”
I guess my past of being a trouble making student in my childhood contributed to my “understanding”. The girls tried a few other tricks but slowly became a nice group to work with. Slowly they started to trust me and feel comfortable talking to me about their problems. Even the most private medical, personal or family subjects were shared with me.
“Can I have a word with you?” said one of the Ruties.
“Sure, anytime.”
“I was wondering, a few years ago I went out with someone once or twice. I am wondering if it was you.”
“Me?” I looked at her again. She didn’t look familiar. Why don’t I remember.
“We even corresponded a little.” She continued. That Tibi signed his letter with a drawing of a fly.”
“NO way!” I know there are other Tibi people either as a first or a last name but with a fly signature?”
“I changed my hair” she said, “and grew a little.” I looked again and remembered, the pretty girl from Bitan Aharon.
“Now I remember! Wow, I can’t believe I forgot you.”
“I hope you are not going to hold it against me.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No, I need your advice. I am engaged to be married. And wondered if this is a waste of my time, since I will be dismissed from the service once I am married.”
“I am happy for you.” I said, there are two ways you can handle it. Any of them will just promise you a good future. One; continue and learn a profession here, two; you can always volunteer and stay in the Airforce after you marry. I would hate to see you go; you are a good student.”
“Thanks! You gave me something to think about, I wonder what would have happened if we stayed in touch…” she said as she left back to her class.
That following weekend I was going to stay at the camp with the girls. I invited my Aviva to join me at my make-shift room in my classroom. It was going to be my week off after that since the girls had a whole week of Kitchen Duty. She got to know the girls and they got to know her. It helped on both sides, she didn’t get jealous, and they learned to keep their distance.
On the way back, as we were driving home, Aviva realized the camp was close to a Dog Rescue site. “Let’s stop there.” She asked, “I think I saw a nice-looking pup.” It was a young (or that’s what we thought) female brown Doberman Pincher. “I want to call her Lady” said Aviva when we paid the 50 Lira for the dog. Lady was short for a Doberman, that is why we thought she was a puppy. Dr. Zacks the vet told us she was about 4 years old and already delivered pups before. She was abused by her previous owner and was afraid of humans but hated anything else that moved. Imre built a large Kennel for her next to the new workshop shed he built. He even created a dog-run for her fenced around the kennel. Not that it helped much; Lady was a very good jumper. She would catch birds in flight and eat them. Leaving a few feathers. She would jump over the fence every time she’d seen a cat. Chase it away and jump back to her kennel. She even once chased a horse and buggy halfway the neighborhood, scarring the horse to a run, almost causing an accident. It took me many hours and days to teach her not to be afraid of people, but I couldn’t atop her from hating animals.
By the time the girls were ready to move up to their specialty training, they had one more week of vacation before coming to my classroom. In most groups at our academy at this time the students are either dropping off or moving to another program. Most of the times, at least a third leave. My girls did not, all of them stayed and all of them had good passing grades. They were all committed to their track. In fact, three other girls from the bombers department who got shortly involved with their instructors decided to leave that track, skip their vacation and joined my class. There was only one unhappy incident one month before graduation. For some reason Michal and Margalit decided to take a chance and steal the exam on Thursday night. I have no idea why; they were good and would have aced the exam anyway. Maybe they felt adventurous. They knew exactly when we get the exam from the main office and where we hide it. One thing they didn’t expect was the fact that I slept behind the closet. They even made sure to leave one of the windows unlocked so they could come in at night.
As soon as I heard the noise from the far end of the room, I picked up the phone and called the military police of our academy. The girls didn’t even think to keep quiet or sneak toward the closet. They had flashlights and took their time. As soon as they opened the closet door, I appeared in front of them and the main door behind them was opened by the MPs. They had nowhere to go. The Police took them to their office, and I went back to sleep. Or at least tried to sleep. The first thing next morning Captain Mordechai called me to his office.
“Can we leave it to me to handle?” I asked before he had the chance to say anything.
“Tibi, you are the best teacher we had here in a long time, I need to get to the bottom of this.”
“I will handle it with them.” I will take all responsibility. They are very good girls, I have no idea what made them do it, but I will take care of it, with your permission.”
“Let me see what I can do, I need to deal with the MPs”
“Thanks!” I said and went to give the exam to the rest of the class. When the exam was over Michal and Margalit walked in with the MPs behind them.
“Your soldiers!” One of the MPs said and left the room with his friend.
“Have a seat!” I ordered. Everyone else was quiet. Do you have an idea, how serious this is? You two could end up in at least 30 days in Pen 4 and this class could be all canceled. All of your friends would be wasting their time and the military money because we wouldn’t know if you have been passing the class in such great grades in the honest way.”
Everyone was still quiet.
“It is my fault,” I continued, I put my trust in you from the first day we met. I was sure that if I was friendly the way I was, to you I will get the best group of our school.” I could see tears starting to appear on some of the girls faces. “I took all responsibility for what happened, I will deal with it. But I need to know what happened here.”
“It was a dare.” Margalit said
“Here is what’s going to happen, all of you, I assume passed the exam will go home for the weekend. Michal and Margalit will be staying here for the weekend at Kitchen Duties and will take the test early Sunday morning. And we will put this all behind us.” At that moment everyone was crying.
Four weeks later the girls were ready to graduate, and they presented me with a small gift; a book, The Diving Guide to the Red Sea.
“We asked your girlfriend what you liked, and she told us about your obsession with SCUBA diving,” said Rachel, “We will never forget you and we all love you and thank you for all you did for us.”
The following Sunday I was sent to tell some more jokes to a new misfits’ class.
“Tibi,” I heard the voice of Captain Mordechai, when I came for my lunch break. “My office please.”
“What did I do now?”
“I am afraid it is not what you did, this came from the top headquarters in Tel-Aviv.”
I looked at him questioning, without saying a word.
“You must report tomorrow at the military airport in Lod to board on a flight to Eilat.”
“Eilat? The Moon Valley?”
“Yes, you have been transferred.”
“How come? Not that I don’t like Eilat, but I love it here. For the first time in my service, I feel like I do something important.”
“You have,” he whispered, exhausted. “I have talked all morning with the powers at be. The only way they will let you stay is if you will sign up for ten more years.”
“There’s no way I am doing that, not after the way I was treated before.”
“I know, I read your file, but you have been our best teacher/instructor in years. I told them that.”
“Thanks!”
“Someone has it in for your, I have no idea who or why. I am sorry to see you go, but I wish you all the luck. For your last six months of your military service.”
***
Roasted Red Snapper
Ingredients:
Red Snapper
Lemon
Dill
Garlic
Salt
Olive Oil
Preparation:
Smear olive oil on scaled and cleaned fish, put slices of lemon inside the fish cavities with crushed garlic, salt and dill. Smear crushed garlic salt and dill on top of the fish. Put lemon slices on top. Cover in aluminum foil and roast for 15 minutes.
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