Chapter 97, New Friends at the Swimming Pool

     Up the hill, where our favorite big sand slide, they built a new hotel. Bnei Ami as it was called, and it had a swimming pool. I walked up to the reception desk and asked to talk to the manager. 

 

 “I have two years’ experience in the air force being a lifeguard.”

 “These are not soldiers, you know.” The manager said. “they are mostly spoiled rich customers who will complain to you about their food, their room and other things that don’t interest you.”

 “I understand.”

 “The pool is yours to manage, you are responsible for the cleanliness of the pool and the operation of the filters and chlorine level.” You will have the keys for the pool, that means you will have to open it and close it. I am your boss and only boss. Even if the “owner” is telling you otherwise.”

 “That is a little difficult, to disobey the owner.”

 “He isn’t the owner, just a representer and a senile old man, so, just yes him and do what is right.”

 “When do we start?

 

    The hotel was catering mostly to groups from northwestern Europe. Most of them would stay here for a day or two and go to their next destination. Groups from Scandinavia were managed by an agency with representors in Netanya. One of them was a cute blond (they were all blonds – they were Scandinavians), her name was Anne. Anne enjoyed sitting in the sun next to the pool on her breaks. Or even meet with her boss at the pool. They would order Maccabi beer from the kiosk at the entrance and sit on our reclining chairs and talk. We became good friends and also spent hours talking, me avoiding the beer during work time, about politics and life in Israel or in Sweden where she came from. Anne was married to a professional ballet dancer, but they hardly spent time together. Many times, I wondered how a husband could be kept so far from such a pretty woman. What do I know? I am not a professional dancer, not yet. 

    “Holland?” I asked Gerda (pronounced Cherda).

 “A small village called Oss. Heard about it?”

 “And you?” I asked her friend Germa.

 “Same, on the other side of the village.”

 “What do you do for living?”

 “We are both midwives.” 

 “Two midwives in one village? How do you have work?” 

 “Oh, we travel to other villages and farms,” said Gerda. “I, for example have 9 brothers and sisters. Like many catholic families at our area there are many births.”

 “Maybe one day when I come to Holland you could show me around?”

 “We would love to.”

 

    I took them to our tea house and showed them around town, the part they enjoyed most was the ride on my very old Volvo. I replaced the Ford Falcon with this car with the help of the bar tender who was also a used car dealer/broker. It was a bad mistake for so many reasons. First, he promised to get me a car better than the Ford knowing that I liked the Volvo he found one for me, but not better. It was much worse. He also said that he could wait a while for the brokerage fees but two days later he insisted that I will pay him right away. I had to borrow from my brother until I got my paycheck. Furthermore, when I met a nice woman who visited our pool, he convinced her that I was bad news and that she should stay away from me, while he (who was married with kids) spent the night with her. The first chance I had I made sure he wouldn’t work at the pool again. It seems, the manager did like my work and appreciated my input about the staff working with me. I recommended that a teen aged kid who was working cleaning the grounds should replace him. After all we didn’t serve cocktails. Only beer and soft drinks. It was a better investment for the hotel, they didn’t have to pay the high price of the bar tender and the kid got a little promotion.

    “Who was the man you were talking to?” Asked Anne when she saw a short and round man leave the pool with a little kid next to him.

 “It is Rabbi Eliezer. He wants me to call him Eli, like my Dad.”

 “I didn’t see him at the hotel.”

 “Oh, he paid for a season membership, I didn’t know we had that. He wants me to teach his son to swim.”

 “You do that? You never offered to teach me to swim.”

 “Come on, I never saw you even get in the water.”

 “I don’t like when people look at my bikini.”

 “So, what are you complaining about? By the way, want to come over for Friday night dinner at my parents?”

 “At your parents?” 

 “Yeah, we are celebrating my little brother’s middle school graduation.”

 “How many brothers do you have?”

 “Two, Avi who is two years younger and Claude who is twelve years younger than me. I asked my mother what I should get him for his graduation. She said, he needs a new school bag. When I asked Claude what he wanted he said a skateboard. So, I got him both. I hope he likes them.”

 “I am sure he will, it looks like all the kids are skateboarding now all over the streets. Tell him to be careful.”

 “So, Friday 6:30? I’ll pick you up here?”

 “Deal. What’s for dinner?”

 “What we have every Friday, Couscous.”

 

    My parents were very happy to have a guest at our table, a specially when she spoke French with them. Anne was one of those who spoke many languages She spoke Swedish, Danish, English, French, Spanish and a little Hebrew. I think the reason she didn’t learn Hebrew is because everyone speaks English here. 

 

    “Who is that woman you were sitting with this morning?”

 “Arlene, a dancer I met the other day folk dancing. She is very nice, seven years older than me. I have a feeling she is looking to get married. Unfortunately for her, I am not ready for that. She is very rich and is a great dancer. We spent a few evenings together but as usual I didn’t want to go all the way and send her the wrong message.”

 “I will never get you; you are not a typical man.”

 “I guess so, I like having friends, not people holding grudges against me. I let them know a head of time. Like you and I, you told me a head of time that you were married, and we are friends with no sexual tension. Although I would love seeing you in a bikini.”

She smacked the back of my head and smiled.

 

    A philharmonic orchestra from Denmark came to our hotel for two weeks. They practiced every morning and performed every other night around the country. During the day if they didn’t go site seeing they would spend time on the beach or at the pool. Two girls approached me. They looked very young, young teens. “Hi” said the darker blond. “May we join you?” 

 “My name is Charlotte,” said the lighter blond, “and this is Rachel, she is Jewish.”

 “Oh.”

 “I want to become Jewish.”

 “Why? This is not a fun religion.” I said, “it will take a lot of your time and then you will be a part of a religion everyone else hates.

 “I went to see a Rabbi in Copenhagen and he turned me down.” Charlotte was very serious.

 “He will repeat it three times or more to make sure you really want to take that step.”

 

    Charlotte and I spent many hours together at the side of the pool talking and sharing ideas. She played the violine and her friend played the flute. We shared addresses and I promised to keep in touch.

 “My company is invited for a tour around France,” I said, “I would love to stop visiting your town after the tour is over.”

 “I am looking forward to it, said Charlotte, “you are welcomed to stay with us.”

 

    “Good morning!” Said Rabbi Eliezer, “how is my son doing?”

 “He is getting better.”

 “He likes you, in fact he thinks I should bring you to the USA to work with the kids of my congregation. What do you think about being a youth director?”

 “Sound interesting, but I am about to leave for a tour in France. Maybe when I get back?”

 “We can talk about it next summer, I am here at least twice a year.”

 

    “This is The Voice of Peace broadcasting from somewhere int the Mediterranean Sea.” blasted the radio from the bar. Abi Nathan’s piratic radio station transmitting from a ship 20 miles of the shore of Israel. Abi Nathan a philanthropist and peace activist who flew to Egypt three times and demanded to talk with Nazeer the president of Egypt. Each time was sent back to Israel. He bought a small ship and converted it to a radio station transmitting popular music from around the world and always reminding the people of the middle east that peace is a better solution than war. The station had difficulty receiving license to transmit, so he decided to do it offshore. The radio stations and TV channel were controlled by the government. Everything had to go through the censor and therefore no one could broadcast. I guess it was a rule that trickled from the USSR where most of the governing people in Israel came from. Even Cable TV was not legal. A man (remember Shai?) in Netanya was running cables now and facing charges and fines while fighting for his right of free market. Most of the young people loved The Voice of Peace. You could hear it all over in restaurants or on the beach.

 

    Cat Stevens was singing “Wild World” when Anne walked in. 

  “Are you done playing with your little girl?” she asked.

 “She is not little, she just looks young, like me I look like I am thirteen. And she left for home yesterday. Maybe we will meet again.”

 “Anyway, I want you to meet my husband Václav, he is here for 2 weeks. I set him up with this group for a tour here and we can spend time together.”

 “Finally!” I exclaimed, “for a moment I thought he was a made-up story so I would stay away from you.”

 “It’s nice to meet you!” He extended his hand to me. 

 “Nice to meet you too!” I shook his hand and turned to Anne again, “You didn’t tell me he was a handsome guy; I would have stayed away from you for sure.”

 “OK, OK, I got the idea, I want you to meet two other friends of mine Karen Smith and her daughter Karen.”

 “Nice to meet you!” We all said in unison.

Karen was at her forties and her daughter was nineteen. Both attractive and friendly. They liked sitting with me but preferred finding a shady side; they were very pale; they didn’t want to get sunburned.

 “You are dark enough for both of us.” Said Karen the mother, “come visit us in Copenhagen, we will show you to all our friends.” 

Both took the long walk with me to the Tea House a few times and enjoyed the Mlawah with Techina.

 “I wish we had such interesting food in Denmark,” said the young Karen. “Our food is very heavy.”

 “But you have very good beer!” I said, “Can’t wait to have some.”

Like with all my new friends we exchanged information and promised to keep in touch.

 

    Tali returned from a family visit in the USA and Avi my brother returned to spending time with her. He needed the car now more than me because I spent more time at the pool than running chores for the tea house. But the Volvo was deteriorating. First the brakes were running low, we had to rub against the sidewalk to slow down. Once the hood came loose, flipped open while I was driving and folded backward covering the windshield. I couldn’t see anything, I had to pull the hand brake to come to a full stop and try to put the cover back in place jumping on it to reshape it. What broke the camel’s back was the time Avi came to pick me up at the pool. Tali was sited next to him. Leaving the parking lot Avi took the turn a little too quick and the passenger door flew open. Tali tipped over and was about to fall of the car. Instantly I lean forward over her seat and pulled her back a second before she hit the ground.

 “You saved my life!” She said out of breath.

 “You’ll remember it for the rest of your life.” I answered almost angrily, almost wishing I didn’t succeed. 

 We sold the Volvo quickly and returned to our bike and skates. 

 

***

 

Biriyanis Rice

 

A popular Indian made with chicken or lamb. I tried making it vegetarian.

 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Basmati Rice
2 Cups Water

1 Chopped Carrot

1 Chopped Celery Stalk

½ Chopped Onion 

1 Crushed Garlic Clove

1 tsp Crushed Ginger

½ Cup Precooked Green Peas

1 TBSP Almond Sliced

1 tsp Salt

¼ tsp Black Pepper

2 TBSP Olive Oil

 

  Preparation:

Sauté the onion, garlic, chopped celery and ginger to caramelize. Cook the rice with salt in 2 to 1 water ratio on low heat until all water evaporates. (when you see holes in the rice, it means the rice is ready). While still hot add all the ingredients and mix.

 

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