In the first part, the kids Yossi and Matt were trying to find a unique bird. They had found her next to a construction site but then Yossi lost Matt.
For a little while Yossi kept his eyes on the tree but the bird did not return. There was already more shade than light and he carefully found his way outside through the cement bags and bricks.
“Matt? Matt are you here? are you hiding?” he said when he stood at the doorway. Then a loud sound of crash came from the inside — bricks falling and metal hitting metal. Yossi ran away with fear. He ran fast with all he’d got and didn’t stop until reaching home. He knocked hard on the door “Mommy, open up! open up!” and as soon as the door was opened he ran in and closed it behind him. The sun set down.
“Ha Ha!” dad laughed loudly “I told you he will be here on time!”
“Yes, I was probably worried for nothing.” mother said.
The table was set with a bowl of baked potatoes, a freshly chopped salad and a single chicken wing in the center.
Yossi was breathing fast. He was confused and worried. He was afraid something bad had happened to Matt but he also felt guilty and was afraid of how his parents would take it. They would surely be upset. On top of that, suddenly everything started to look alight and normal — his parents, the warm house, the food on the table, everything but the bothering question — Where is Matt?
The conversation around the dinner table circulated between the friction with the Arabs on the Egyptian border and the politics of the ministry of agriculture where his father had worked. Yossi ate very quietly and kept hearing the sound of the crash in his head. What was this crash? Maybe Matt was just fooling with him? How soon would he be able to go back and check?
“Dad?” Yossi said but dad was busy talking and he didn’t respond. “Dad!” he repeated. He decided to tell his father what had happened and they would go together to find out where Matt is and make sure he is safe but by the third attempt to call him, he gave up. He decided to sneak out later and go by his own to check.
They finished dinner and took Yossi through the night ritual of shower, tooth brushing and then off to bed.
“Good night, Yossi”
“Good night, mommy.” he answered and added a lowder “Good night, daddy!”. Dad rushed into the room and kissed him on his forehead and gave him a big hug “Good night, sweetheart”.
Yossi kept his dad’s old hand watch near his bed. He saw it was a little after nine o’clock. He would wait until the hours hand made a full circle before he sneaks out of the house to check on Matt. But it’s so dark outside, he ought to take a flashlight or at least a box of matches. And as he was plotting how he would find a source of light he sank into a deep sleep.
Yossi woke to mother caressing him. “Good morning Yossi, it’s time to go to…”
“to school, I know…”
“No, funny boy — this Friday is off and you are going to your auntie, remember?”
“Why don’t you come with me?”
“Daddy and I,” she stopped to think “ we have some errands to run. We will pick you up tomorrow after noon, after the Shabbat is over.”
And he got dressed and mommy packed him a little bag and he drank a cup of tea and ate a piece of bread with margarine and boiled egg and he sat in the living room and waited for auntie to come. He felt he had missed something, he felt he forgot something and it disturbed him but soon he was occupied again. Dad entered the room with a box — “Take this Yossi, you can assemble it before auntie comes. It’s a new jigsaw I’ve got for you.”
A bitter feeling of unease crawled up as pieces came together — red and blue, green and brown. Yossi felt the excitement he was expecting and learned to like, the glory of a finished a jigsaw, he felt the urge to run to his father and laugh and celebrate his victory over the colorful pieces but the bitter feeling just increased and as the last piece of the puzzle found its place, the eye of a grand parrot sitting on a tree — an awful taste flooded his mouth and he vomited.
