The Last Rain (12 page)
Authors: Edeet Ravel
Dori
I tell Daddy about Elan. I lie on the floor of the Room and I put my arms out to show him.
Daddy doesn’t say anything. I don’t understand. If he believes me why doesn’t he do something? And if he doesn’t believe me why doesn’t he believe me?
I did cheat once in War. Daddy knew I was cheating. I gave myself all the good cards. Daddy asked
did you take all the good cards for yourself
? and I said
no
and then a few cards later he asked again and I said
no
again but he knew I was lying because it’s too much of a coincidence for one person to get all the kings and queens and jacks. But it was only a game.
And he doesn’t know about the time I pinched Sara’s foot.
By the way, it isn’t fun playing War if you give yourself all the good cards. You know you’re going to win and then you win.
Age of Innocence
Dori
I am really in love with Tarzan.
Transcript of Education Committee Meeting May 1961
Chair: | Coco |
Present: | Shoshana, Doreet, Edna, Varda, Amos, Martin |
Coco: | Since the problem with Muki’s bedwetting solved |
| | itself, Varda would like to bring up the subject of read- |
| | ing to children at bedtime. |
Varda: | Yes, thank you. I noticed that some Minders don’t read |
| | to the younger children at all. At every teachers’ con- |
| | ference I’ve been to there’s been a huge emphasis on |
| | reading out loud. And the children absolutely love it. |
Amos: | I have “Reading to Children” in my index, if anyone |
| | wants to look up articles. |
Coco: | Your wonderful index! Thank you for keeping that |
| | up, Amos. |
Varda: | Yes, thank you, Amos. I know when I was a Minder I |
| | used to read to the children at least an hour a day, usu- |
| | ally more. That doesn’t include songs and poetry. And |
| | now that I’m teaching it hasn’t changed. If anything, |
| | I read to them even more. Storytime is the children’s |
| | favourite activity, they always beg for more. We’ve |
| | almost finished |
Edna: | Don’t forget that parents also read to their children |
| | during Visits. |
Varda: | Not all parents have the time, the energy, the inclina- |
| | tion or even the Hebrew reading skills. |
Martin: | Yes, Schopenhauer in Hebrew is quite a challenge. |
Varda: | What do you think, Doreet? |
Doreet: | We just had a shipment of new books for little ones—it |
| | arrived on Sunday. Some lovely treasures there. |
Amos: | Yes, though they all dispersed quite fast into the |
| | Diaspora of the Rooms. I think I have a vague notion |
| | of who has what … |
Coco: | Let’s bring it to a vote. Should we require all Minders to |
| | read to children, if possible, starting with the toddlers? |
Vote | For = 7 Against = 0 |
Shoshana: | I would like to bring up the subject of some children |
| | getting tucked in by parents while others are not. |
Varda: | We already discussed this and agreed to make excep- |
| | tions in the case of illness or special situations. |
Shoshana: | I’m wondering whether parents alone decide on the |
| | special situations or whether the committee decides? |
Amos: | We can’t call a meeting every time a child has a fever. |
Shoshana: | I’m thinking of the special cases that are ongoing. |
Martin: | I’m sure no one here would take advantage. We have |
| | extraordinary moral fibre in this kibbutz. |
Coco: | If there is a specific problem, we can discuss it. |
Shoshana: | Everyone knows I’m referring to Dori. It’s been five |
| | months now, I’m sure she’s adjusted. |
Coco: | Varda, any comments? |
Varda: | Dori spent a year and a half in Canada. She’s still hav- |
| | ing a hard time separating in the evenings. |
Amos: | We have to consider how it makes the other children |
| | feel. What message it sends out. |
Coco: | I don’t want to rush things, but the yawns in this room |
| | are starting to remind me of “The Lotus Eaters.” |
Martin: | “There is sweet music here …” |
Varda: | “That softer falls than petals …” |
Coco: | Sorry to move from the sublime to the mundane, |
| | but let’s vote: Should Varda be allowed to give Dori a |
| | goodnight kiss? |
Vote | For = 1 Against = 2 Abstentions = 4 |
Dori
It’s Independence Day. We join a big parade of everyone in Eldar. We hold little Israeli flags that we made and we sit in a gigantic circle and sing songs. Hundreds of songs.
The older children play hide-and-go-seek. I hide behind the barn but no one finds me and when I come back the game is over. Did I win because no one found me or did I lose because I didn’t run back without being caught?
The older children go to the clubhouse to dance. We run after them. There’s a record of Let’s Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer
39
and everyone dances the twist. My brother David is very good at twisting. I love that song. They play it a hundred times. The bigger children don’t like the little children getting in the way but we don’t care. They keep complaining and we keep getting in their way. They’re happy when it’s time for us to go back to the Children’s House.
I can’t wait to be bigger.
Our First Year
14 February 1949.
Thirty of us have arrived from the interim kibbutz. It’s a cold, rainy, misty drive around the Kinneret, through Safed; the poppies are beautiful, but it was a lousy trip. One has to be in a certain heroic mood to appreciate the transient, vagrant beauties of this country from the back of a truck, in the rain, with inadequate clothing on one’s back.
Five of us are housed in a high-ceilinged, stone wall, unplastered room; it leaks, it’s damp and oppressive; no windows; a dim lantern provides meagre light; and it’s so crowded we’ll have to demand that one person move out; there are also a few mice in my corner, but otherwise it’s quite comfortable.
In the evening two young Arabs from Jish dropped by and wanted to discuss the political program of the United Workers Party with us. Just like that. They look like intelligent chaps, but it’s been very difficult for us to be genuinely interested in politics these past few days.
Dori
My brother David is teaching me how to embroider. The cloth is in a metal circle with a picture in light blue that you follow. Mine is a bird.
David showed me how to do three different stitches. He’s very good at embroidering.
In Camp Bilu’im I went to the arts and crafts room every day. The counsellor in that room was very nice. She gave me popsicle sticks and glue and paint and pieces of coloured paper and scissors.
Most scissors don’t cut very well it seems. Some don’t cut at all. My grandfather in Canada had scissors that were very good at cutting. Why doesn’t everyone get that kind?
My grandfather also had a glue bottle with a red rubber top and a crack for the glue to come out. If you squeeze the crack it looks like a mouth opening.
I liked that glue bottle so much that Daddy brought it with him from Canada. Or maybe he found one like it in the city.
At Camp Bilu’im at first I ate with everyone else in the Dining Hall. But then my mother said we had to eat in the kitchen because the campers didn’t want little children around.
I didn’t want to eat in the kitchen with Sara in her high chair. There wasn’t even a table for me. Only a stool and a counter covered with pots and dirty dishes.
I got into a bad mood. I could hear all the campers singing a song about two sisters
she won’t do it but her sister will
and having fun. They never even noticed me when I ate with them and if they noticed me they were very nice. I think Mummy made up that story but I don’t know why.
Marsha from Arts and Crafts
Dori
By the way I never talked once in that kindergarten Mummy forced me to go to in Canada and I never did anything. I just stood in the corner or sat on a chair and ignored everyone.
The only time I joined in was when they gave us see-through paper to glue behind shapes that you cut out of a black piece of paper. Then on the back it looks messy but in front all you see is the see-through paper shining inside the shapes. That see-through paper was really and truly beautiful. Especially if you held it up to the window. It came in red and blue and yellow and green. I wish we had some here on Eldar.