Chapter 90, (PG 16) Moon Valley

     Boing 707 was the first airplane I ever flew on. The flight to Eilat took a little less than one hour. I packed my gear as usual in the military big duffle bag including my bathing suit. Being in the permanent paid service we were allowed to dress in civilian clothes after hours, so I brought some with me too. My favorite blue jeans, a few T-shirts, and a light brown jacket I bought when I was 15. The moment the engines turned on my eyes closed, and I fell asleep. I woke up as soon as I felt the engines changing speed. When I woke up I looked out the window and saw the desert spreading next to the red sea, rocks and sand everywhere I looked. The plane landed in a valley surrounded by rocky hills. It looked like a crater on the moon. 

 

    As soon as I walked down the stairs, I realize why I was transferred. A familiar red-haired officer was standing among the group of people waiting on the tarmac. Commander Pinkel stood there with a broad smile. I wasn’t sure if to be angry at him or be thankful.

 “I should have known it was you,” I said.

 “Find my office after you settle,” he said without confirming or denying anything. 

 

    Located on top of a large plateau the Moon Valley base was one of the prettiest military camp I ever seen. The Master Sergeant of the camp had a heart condition, he was not allowed to get angry. He decided to concentrate on beautifying the base. He brought plants and flowers from around the country. He managed the new Israeli dripping watering system; each plant and tree had its own little watering device. He painted white all the stones around the parameters of the roads and gardens. I was sharing a room with two other sergeants in a building in the middle of a small park.

 

    “So, you need a lifeguard, Commander Pinkel?” I asked with a smile.

 “Now, what gave you that idea?” He smiled back. “Listen, our pool won’t be open until next month. I will put you at the training department for now.”

 “You know, you pulled me out of a really good job this time.”

 “Yes, I am sorry, your Captain was very upset to lose you. We had bad experiences with previous lifeguards, and I remembered you and the way you took care of the pool at Tel Nof. And, anyway, you ow me one.”

 “At your service, just don’t ask me to sign for ten more years.”

 “Oh, they had to pull that trick on you. I guess they really liked you at the academy.”

 “They did.”

 “I am glad that I was right about you. Go to the education department and meat with your new boss. 

 

    My new boss was about to retire and a closet alcoholic. He no longer planed any teaching classes or training at the camp. He was just collecting material and arranging his books. After shaking my hand and offering me coffee he sent me to the warehouse to collect a few hydraulic gaskets for a demonstration he was working on. I hated going to the warehouse, remember? The people there are always unhappy and impatience. To my surprise, when I arrived at the counter there were many soldiers gathered next to the window laughing out loud.

 “Are you crazy? Do you want to start a war?” I could hear the soldier behind the counter telling.  “Listen you stupid, there are many Cohens in Israel; get up early and yell Cohen and when he answers tell him fuck you.”

I smiled, glad to hear my student having fun at his job. 

 “Tibi! Hey everybody, this is the guy who told me all those jokes.”

 “You’re good,” I said. “Not everyone remembers jokes, I had to write them down to remember all of them.” 

 “Thanks! You have changed my life, so thank you! What are you doing here? Did they fire you for all the dirty jokes?”

 “No, not at all, long story, I am at the training department here for now.” I said and gave him the order. I picked up the black rubber gaskets in different sizes for the pictures my new boss wanted to take.

 

    “What are we going to do with these?” I asked once we finished taking the pictures.

 “Garbage,” said the boss with a hiccup.

I couldn’t just throw them away, and then I came up with an idea; since soldiers aren’t allowed to ware any shiny jewelry, no one will say anything about black jewelry. I had one big gasket that fitted around my neck, two that fit my wrist, and even a small one that fitted my ring finger. Perfect! (I wore those for the next few years alternating between neck and finger, but the wrist gasket stayed with me for a long time. That fashion picked it up after I stopped.)

 

    That night I folded my pants and shirt, put them on a chair next to my bed and went to sleep. I didn’t even have the chance to meet my new roommates. I fell asleep early. Around 2:00AM I heard some footsteps in my room and some whispers I opened my eyes and saw that my new roommates were sleeping. Without thinking much, I yelled: Hey thieves! The two people turned around and reached back for the door. My roommates jumped out of their beds and chased them. I followed them and saw that one of the guys dropped something of his hands I picked it up and discovered, it was my wallet.

 

    “Nice to meet you in these odd circumstances,” Said one of my roommates. “My name is Noam, and this is Nissim. I am from the physical training. Nissim is from the Nesher Wing.”

 “Do you know who they were?” I asked.

 “I think I have an idea,” said Nissim. “The way they looked in the dark I think they are from the kitchen.” 

 “The kitchen?” Asked Noam. “What makes you think so?”

 “I recognize one of them, he walks with a limp. He was caught once trying to pickpocket someone in the dining room.”

 “I am going to the MP’s office tomorrow,” said Noam angrily. “But now I am going back to bed.”

 

    “Twice in two day,” I said to Commander Pinkel just before lunch. “You sent for me?”

 “Bring him in,” he called his secretary, and then turned to me. “Do you recognize this person?” in front of me stood a skinny short man dressed in his B uniforms.

 “Never seen him in my life.” I said.

 “Are you sure?” Commander Pinkel looked at me not smiling at all. “Didn’t someone steel your wallet last night?”

I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and showed it to him. “I saw two people trying to steel our wallets last night, but they ran away. It was dark and I couldn’t tell who they were. I just got here yesterday.”

 “I will deal with you later” he turned to the soldier. “Go back to the kitchen.”

The young man turned around and walked out of the office with a slight limp. 

 “You really didn’t see him?” Asked the commander.

 “All I saw were shadows, it was dark, as I told you. Nissim my roommate thought it was a guy from the kitchen, but he didn’t see his face either.”

 “Yes, I know, I spoke to him, dismissed.”

 

    Going back home for the weekend isn’t always easy from Eilat. Eight hours or more of driving or catching a seat on a plane isn’t always available. Sometimes I would get a ride to Eilat and try to go stand by with the Arkia flights to Tel-Aviv’ airport – Sdeh-Dov. But coming back on Sunday was much easier as long as you get to the airport on time The Boing 707 was ready for you. Since my temporary job was not so important, I was able to go home for longer weekends – leaving on Thursdays so I could spend some more time with Aviva and Lady. Aviva had a few months left before ending her military service. I was looking forward for the pool to be opened so I would have the week on week off. 

 

    The first person to visit the pool was a young woman with a light blue bikini. She sat at the far end of the pool to suntan. I was still cleaning the pool and checking the chlorine level when she approached me.

 “You’re new here.” She proclaimed.

 “Yes, and you?” 

 “Not at all, a few years in fact.”

 “Come on,” I said you can’t be here that long, only two years max unless …”

 “my dad is the man in charge?”

 “You’re the daughter of the base commander”

 “The one and only, Galit.”

 “Tibi, nice to meet you!”

“The reason I knew you were new was the fact that you started cleaning right away. No one for years kept this pool nice and clean.”

 “How do you know I would? It’s the first day.”

 “I guess we will see. Your partner Noam didn’t do such a great job last year. I would come only to suntan. The water was never clean.”

 “I guess this is why they went all the way to the central command to get me,” I thought to myself.

 “Where are you from?” she asked.

 “Netanya.”

 “I used to do my military service not far from there.”

 “Oh yeah? Where?”

 “In the Intelligent base.”

 “My girlfriend is serving there.”

 “What’s her name?”

 “Aviva”

 “Bakshitz?”

 “The one and only.”

 “You should invite her over. I would love to see her again.”

 “I will, but first I need to get acclimated to this place.”

 “Hey, do you have a ride home on Sundays?”

 “Not really, I need to wait for Noam to get off the plane and by the time we change places the plane is back on its way to Lod.”

 “Let me talk to my dad,” she said with a smile, He flies to Sdeh-Dov every Sunday. He could use the company, now that I don’t go there anymore.”

 “Wow, that would be nice, thanks!”

   Since I was the only lifeguard in this pool, I didn’t have a lunch break. My day was from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. I had to have my lunch break at the pool. The pickup truck stopped at the gate and a familiar skinny soldier jumped of the passenger seat. He had a milk crate in his arms as he was slightly limping toward me. He dropped the box in front of me and went back for another one.

 “Your lunch,” he said. One of the crates was filled with bottles of juice and Choco. The other had a trey filled with what looked like two roasted chickens with salads and rice.

 “Wow!” I said in surprised, I expected sandwiches.

 “You took care of me; I will take care of you the whole summer.”

 “But I really didn’t see you.”

 “It doesn’t matter, you got me out of trouble. I will bring you food from the pilot’s dining room. Just ask for anything and I will deliver.”

 

    “You had to see this crazy flight.” I told Avi as we were walking Lady on Smilanski street to visit his friend Dani. “He loves flying low in the canyons. He could almost chop the camels’ heads. I am lucky to get to fly with him back home on Sundays, it saves me a lot of time.” 

 “Nice! I hope we don’t get to see Arnon – Dani’s brother, he is an obnoxious person. He thinks that because he is taller and older, he has the right to treat us badly.” 

 “Yes, I remember. He wasn’t very pleasant last time I saw him, he called you stupid just because you are his brother’s friend.”

Unfortunately, as we were getting closer to Dani’s house, Arnon was walking toward us. He was holding a leash of a big Great Dane. 

 “Hold him close to you!” I said a little loudly. But he gave us that aloof smile of his, like he was sure his Great Dane can handle our little Lady. It didn’t take long. The Big dog came close to Lady and tried to smell her behind. She turned at him and with no warning bit his face. The poor dog pulled out and ran away pulling Arnon on the floor and dragging him a few feet and hitting his head on the sidewalk. I looked back at him and shrugged my shoulders.

 

    Not much after that as we were walking with Dani, we saw a beautiful black Doberman across the street.

 “Hey,” I called the guy holding his leash. “Want to bread?” 

 “Shure! I get the choice of the first puppy.”

 “Deal.”

We exchanged address and planned to meet the next time Lady’s in heat. It didn’t take long, she was in heat just a few days later. I left her with him for a week. Surprisingly enough she didn’t get angry or started a fight with the male Doberman. The following week when I got back from the pool Lady was pregnant. 

 

    Galit was right; every time I came back from my week off it took me three days to bring the pool back to shape. The first thing I would do each time was to bring the level of the chlorine back to normal and to vacuum all the sand that collected at the bottom. Once it was so bad the water was green from algae. I don’t know how no one complained or cared. Well, I did care and would make sure when I am on duty the pool would be perfect. For some reason most of the visitors to this pool besides the officers’ families, were women. And of course, they were all my friends. Again, Aviva was my backbone. I told her about each one of them: The long-haired with the big boobs - Dalia who wore a white bandana as a shirt without a bra. Barbara, the new American immigrant who loved folk dancing, or the nurse Nehamah with the perfect body. Each one of them in turn or all together were flirting with me. Not to mention the others I don’t remember. But Aviva was coming that weekend and I was ready for her. 

 

    Aviva and I shared a lot of things, including our cloths. She wore the same size pants, shirts, and even shoes. So, we bought together cloths that matched each other and many times we looked like twins. 

 “Look at you two dressed.” Said Dalia as we arrived at the dining hall for the Shabat dinner. 

 “You’re telling me you weren’t tempted by those? Whispered Aviva in my ear. 

 “Oh, I was, but I knew I have the prettiest boos in the world waiting for me.”

 

    As much as I didn’t like going shopping there were a few times I didn’t mind. Like the time we went shopping in Haifa’s Sailors shops on Independent Avenue. That was the best place to buy Wrangler’s blue jeans and corduroys. Or we would go to Neve Sha’anan to buy our favorite shoes Palladiums. But my most favorite shopping was when we went to buy her a dress. That Friday evening Aviva was going to wear the new floral country dress on our way to a party. I was driving the Sussita from my parents with a golden neckless adorned with a single diamond as part of the chain I designed. She was wearing an ID bracelet with my name on it already. Now I had a gift for her that I thought she deserved. I had Dad make it for her. 

 

    Traffic on the main roads were very busy like every Friday afternoon. I took a pretty side road with small houses lined up on each side of the street and cars parked on both sides. It made the road very narrow. I drove slowly enough but not too slowly to enjoy the view. Suddenly out of nowhere from behind a parked car, jumped a little boy, right in front of my car. He was yelling, greeting his uncle who was walking on the other side of the street. My leg pressed on the breaks before I could even think about it. But it was too late. The front of the car hit the boy who was about four or five years old. He flew about 10 yard forward in the air. The tires stopped right next to him. One more inch and I would have run over him.

 

    “Micky!” The uncle was yelling right behind me as I got out of the car to check on the kid.  “Micky!” The boy was motionless but breathing. We should have called the ambulance, but his uncle picked him up and asked me to drive them to the hospital. I did as he asked while all the way he was calling the kid’s name and telling me to drive faster. Micky woke up before we got there and started to cry softly. By the time the doctors at the emergency room saw him he was up and showed no injury at all. We called his parents and drove back to his house. 

 “Don’t you think we should call the police?” I asked.

 “No need, Micky is fine.” Said the father.

 “And it wasn’t your fault,” his uncle mentioned, “I was there, he ran to the street without looking, right in front of your car.”

 “If you don’t mind,” I asked, “I will check on him once in a while.”

 

    Driving to Aviva was difficult, my legs were shaking the whole way. I almost fell when I walked from the car to her door.

 “Are you OK?” She asked, “you look pale.” She was wearing the new dress we just bought her. She looked so pretty. I handed her the box with the neckless.

 “Do you remember the store on Hertzel Street, where we bought your Oberzon black bikini?”

 “This is beautiful,” she said, “Yes I remember. Why?”

 “I almost killed their kid,” I said, still trembling. “He jumped in front of my car.” I told her the rest of the story and we decided to skip the party and go to see a movie the next day.

 

   She didn’t like the movie. How can you not like Grease? It was a fun movie. I remembered she even like the other Travolta movie. Something was wrong.

 “See you tomorrow?” I said as I was leaving for home after dropping her at her house.

 “I don’t know,” she said. “I think we should take a break.”

 “What do you mean?”

 “I need some space; I don’t think this will work out if I don’t get that space.” 

 

    “Let’s go to the movies,” said Sara Efri’s new girlfriend. “It will make you feel better.”

 “What do you have in mind?” I just saw a movie yesterday, I even got into a fight online for the tickets, and then she didn’t like it.”

 “I want to see Grease,” said Efri.

 “That’s the one we saw. But I will see it again, if you want.”

There was no line this time for getting the tickets. It did make me feel a little better. Efri was driving his father’s Sussita back to his house on Smilanski street when I said: “Stop!”

Efri pulled to the side and stopped. 

 “Oh, look,” said Sara. I saw already, Aviva was sitting on a low stone wall together with no other than Arnon with his big Great Dane. We stayed there so she can see we saw them and drove off.

 

    That following week was my last week at the camp. After that I will have two weeks off before being dismissed from my military service. I didn’t even spend time with my friends at the pool. Only Galit came to check on me and tried to make me feel better. 

 “A new chapter,” I said, “a new life. No more army, no more girlfriend. I think I will look for a new place to live. Time to move out of my parents.”

 “Let’s keep in touch.” She said, but I knew she wouldn’t. She didn’t ask for my home number.

 “Sure.” I whispered. And got up to let the kitchen guy in with the food. “Want to join me?” I asked Galit.

 “No thanks, I had my lunch.” 

 

    I packed my gear, said goodbye to my friend Commander Pinkel, never to see him again. I left the pool clean, probably for the last time and boarded the Boing 707 on my way home. 

There was one good thing besides it being my last day in the base. When I landed in Lod I saw everyone excited and talking out loud. The military radio station Galei Tzahal was blasting everywhere: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a peace agreement.

 

***

 

Small Potatoes

Ingredients:

            About 20 Small Potatoes

            1 Large Onion

            5 garlic cloves

            1 TBSP Crushed Fresh Ginger

            1 tsp Salt

            ½ tsp Black Pepper

            ½ tsp Ginger Powder

            1 tsp Paprika

            ½ tsp Garlic Powder

            Olive Oil for frying

            1 TBSP Chopped Parsley

Preparation:

Wash the potatoes well and remove bad spots. In a large pot cook the potatoes covered with water and ½ tsp salt, bring to boil and simmer until you can stick a fork easily in the potatoes. Drain and let it cool a little. 

Chop the onion and the garlic. Sauté the Onion in olive oil until soft, I like to use about 2 – 3 TBSP of olive oil.  Throw in the chopped garlic and crushed (or chopped) fresh ginger and keep frying until all turns golden brown. Squish the potatoes lightly by hand and add them to the frying pan sprinkling the spices on top. When the skin turns brown on the bottom flip them and sprinkle more spices keep frying until the rest of the skin turns brown and crispy. Sprinkle the chopped parsley and serve warm.

 

-----