Blindman in Exile
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. In the second part, Yossi is worried for Matt but he fails to go back and find him. The morning after he is waiting for his auntie to pick him up for the weekend and while waiting, he vomits. In the third part, Yossi spends a hazy afternoon with auntie and meets an old friend. In the fourth part the old man claims he knows Yossi but disappears after auntie’s inquiry and later grampa is warning auntie from the Germans. In the fifth part the old man enters auntie’s house and Yossi is hiding in the closet. In the sixth part Yossi gets out to find the house is a mess and the old man is about to kill everybody.
The gun had fired and auntie fell down.
Yossi was silent. He didn’t move a muscle. He was stunned.
The old man spit on the body and turned to the four old troops and started talking to them.
“It’s real? It’s not real?” Yossi could not decide. He blinked a few times but the picture remained. It was real.
He moved away from the window and sat on the floor. He sat there for a long moment, trying to let it sink. Auntie was dead and the dead man on the floor could have easily been grampa.
Plaff! The sound of liquid spilling on the floor. The smell of gasoline. Through the open window someone was spilling gasoline into the apartment. Boom! the next window which was closed was broken. And gasoline was flowing down from the window. He saw the silhouette of a soldier but with a hump moving very slowly and with pain. The soldier was circling the house and pouring gasoline into each of the windows.
Yossi didn’t think. His wounded legs had life of their own, they carried him up and he found himself running towards the other side of the room, towards the half opened window. He climbed up and fell into the small bushes. He got up and started to run not looking back.
They might think he died inside but if they’ll try to come after him they’ll go to his home, that’s sure. He won’t be safe there. The dunes. This was where he’d go.
The morning sun woke him up. The boy was sleeping on the warm sand. “Where am I? What am I doing here?” it took him a moment to remember yesterday’s events.
He had been hiding in the closet and his beloved auntie was shot dead. He’d ran away from the old man and reached the dunes. Looking for a place to hide he had walked deep into the sands for an hour or so before surrendering to fatigue and laying himself down on the bare sands.
He spent the rest of the morning sitting there. A little boy in the sands. The wind whistling. The sun burning. The throat drying up but he sensed no hunger.
A flock of birds flew high above the dunes. Did they know that the world had come to its end?
Nothing happened that day. At last there was some peace and Yossi could go through his memories and try to put some sense and order in them. He remembered waiting for auntie. He remembered his parents and his vomit. He remembered his father’s last hug and the dinner mommy had made. He remembered the walk with auntie and the people she greeted along the way. He remembered the old man next to the oak tree and the birds tweeting while the old man was laughing. He remembered hiding in the closet for hours and the blood and brain flowing from auntie’s head. He remembered running and jumping off the window. He ran these memories in his head for so many times but he couldn’t figure out any explanation. Who was this evil man? Who were his soldiers? What were they doing here and why were they chasing him? What did he do wrong?
The time went by and the sun travelled across the sky but to him she seemed quite still. He walked in circles. Was it only a few minutes ago that he had been in this place or maybe a few hours?
What started this rollercoaster? Why couldn’t everything be normal? Where are my parents? Everything was boring not so long ago. He remembered running to these very dunes with Matt only two or maybe three days ago …
Matt? suddenly the mental door that had been closed for two or maybe three days opened.
