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» נצפה 252 פעמים מאז תחילת הספירה.
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לפני 14 שנים ו-2 חודשים סיפור חיים באנגלית, פרק 7 A.B.
23
Chapter seven: Pre military training.
In order to survive in a country surrounded by enemies we have to be prepared for the probability of war at any time, our whole country is a frontline; every one of us is a soldier. These were some of the slogans we were faced with those days. It was 1949 and we were merely one year after the war of independence, so what else could I do but join the “Juvenile battalions”. Generally it consisted of a gathering once a week, and acquiring some pre military training, like using firearms, a variety of self defense practices, judo and so on. Our commander had the impression that I was a potential Rambo, and he that I join a six weeks sergeant’s course, that took place during the summer at a military base in the Western Galilee. On the day of our arrival we received a judo lesson. We were some twenty boys and girls standing in a circle. In the center, our trainer calmly explained the principles of judo.
It is not a question of how strong you or your opponent is. It is rather a technique that uses the adversary’s weak spots in order to defeat him. For example:
Here came a series of demonstrations performed on the boys, causing each one of them to end up unconscious on the ground. With the girls he was a bit less aggressive for some reason. Anyway it was a very convincing lesson, so much so that some of us fainted even before he had reached them. I was among the lucky ones; on me he showed how by clutching ones throat with his arm, and blocking the blood vessels to the brain, it takes just a few seconds and I passed out. But at least, it was painless. The boys were so impressed by that particular routine, that they tried it on me several times during the course. All in all a lot of violence went on there, but it made me a bit tougher, and in some circumstances it was needed. The fact that I was good as a sharp shooter was a total surprise to me, because my eyesight has always been far from perfect, and I didn’t wear glasses at the time. It is possibly due to my defective eyesight that I hit the target so well The fact that I see everything smaller, makes me aim at the center of the target, how about that as explanation? Anyway it is during a sharp shooting contest that I met Michaela Mountaineer, and I don’t have to tell you that she was the most beautiful girl I had ever met in my whole life. The competition took place in the basement of the “Monastery of the Crucifix” in the valley with the same name in Jerusalem. (We used what we call “air-guns” these are guns shooting tiny lead bullets propelled by air pressure.) I don’t remember the results of the contest, and it is really not important, but I do remember the evenings sitting around the campfire, singing songs and telling jokes. I sat near Michaela and she suggested that we sit back-to-back so we could lean on each other.
You don’t mind, do you? I am a bit tired, she said. It was something for a start. My back became the transmitter of tiny little pulses created by my desire. Was it only my excitement? I don’t think so. We sat in that awkward position for some time, I didn’t want to be the one to break apart, and I didn’t have to, because she moved around and put her head in my lap. My dream was coming true. From all the boys in the group Michaela had chosen me. I looked at the sky, never before have I noticed that the stars are shining so bright. What should I do now? I could kiss her, but we were amongst our group. (I doubt it if I’d have the guts if we weren’t). What do you say in a situation like that? I tried to remember some smart phrases from the many movies I have seen, but my mind was blank. Silently I caressed her head. At first so lightly that she might think that it is by mistake, but as there was no reaction, I became more daring. (I was a real hero, when I come to think of it.)
24
Finally I looked down at her and noticed that she was asleep. Was it the same story as with my aunt Tsuby again? Slowly I slid my hand under her shirt. (There is no better teacher than your own experience.) Suddenly she sat up.
What are you doing? Are you crazy or what? She slapped me on my face, got up and ran away. Back in the camp she avoided any contact with me; I was glad that there were just a few days till the end of the course. I had lost interest in what we were doing; I hated everything around me. I even avoided the final ceremony. On our last day at the camp we had no duty, so we went to the beach for a swim, and maybe a ballgame. The sea was quite rough; still a small group ventured into the water, and began swimming towards a small island situated about a mile offshore. I was amongst the group of course, and I swam as fast as I could, to show them who is the champion. After a while I noticed that there is nobody beside me. At first I thought that I am ahead because of my furious energy, but I looked back and saw that they have returned to the security of the beach. I decided to do the same, and began swimming towards the shore, but instead of approaching the seacoast, I was being pulled back into the deep blue sea. Stay calm, don’t panic, I kept saying to myself. But in spite of my logic decision, I began to swim frantically. That didn’t help either; on the contrary, the distance to the shore was growing. So was my anxiety. All those people are standing there doing nothing. They must realize that I am in trouble.
Help!!! Help me, I am drowning. I yelled at the top of my voice.
Nobody moved, it drove me crazy, how can they let me die like this? I knew that I must stop yelling; otherwise I shorten my chance to survive. I tried to use the waves to my advantage, but on every meter that I advanced towards the shore, I was pulled back twice that distance by the receding waves. It was hopeless, I had no energy left, I could hardly keep my head over the water. I remembered stories about people who on the verge of their death had a vision of their whole life as if they were watching it in a movie. Well I saw no such picture, but I remember how sorry I was to leave the world before I had the opportunity to enjoy real life, I had not even experienced sex yet. While I was mourning my death and aimlessly floating among the waves, I noticed that the color of the water has changed to greenish brown. The sea has dragged me southwards and thrown me out again. After a short rest I went back along the shore to the camp. All the people on the beach were staring at a few guys in the water, who were struggling and straining to keep their heads above the water. It looked as if they were watching the drowning group with curiosity.
Why are you doing nothing to save them? I shouted.
What can we do? It is too dangerous to venture into the water.
Why don’t you bring your ropes, and tie them together? A good swimmer tied to the end of the rope, can reach them and we can pull them out. (each one of us had a rope about five meters long, as part of his personal equipment.)
We did exactly that, but of the six guys we managed to save four. That was on the last day of the course.
25
Back at home, I was told that David has bought a house in Nof-Yam, and a few weeks later, we left Herzlia and moved to our new home. Our house like the rest of our neighborhood was set in the middle of a vineyard, previously belonging to the Arabs who used to live in the nearby village Sidney-Ali. Here and there a few fig trees were scattered among the vines. That was the scenery when we arrived, but it was not for long, because the new inhabitants had a different picture in their mind. So David, like his neighbors hired a tractor, and cleaned the yard from its trees and vines and plowed the land in order to plant vegetables and flowers. Nothing of all that materialized, except for a few guava trees who’s fruit was so abundant that it kept rotting on the ground, spreading a nauseating smell about six months a year. It didn’t take long for us to realize that vegetables don’t grow just by putting seeds in the ground. First of all, it has to be done in the proper season. And they need water and fertilizers, so if that didn’t work out, David decided to go into egg production. With combined effort, (Samuel and Aaron were back from the army, so with David as supervisor, we were six) we put up a chicken coop. Now we had a new problem to solve. Chicken food was expensive, and as we were told, chicken liked snails more than anything else. Every morning one of us had to gather a bucket full of snails. Jacky was the only one of us who was still a pupil, and too young to apply for work, so he was the one who had to get up at six o clock in the morning, six days a week, and fill the bucket. It was only on Sabbaths that we the providers took turns and let Jacky sleep a little longer. That was not the sole punishment that he had to endure for his young age. The chickens needed variety in their diet. David made some interesting experiments on them, and found out that they liked a certain kind of trefoil. Fortunately it grew in abundance near the yard, so apart from gathering snails every morning before school, Jacky had to pick a bucketful of plants as well, and cut them into small pieces, so the chickens could enjoy a gourmet meal. In spite of all that care, the chickens instead of laying eggs kept dying away. So we kept a vigilant eye on them and whenever we noticed a chicken with pre-mortal behavior, off came her head, and it’s easy to guess what we had for the next meal.
It was finally concluded that agriculture is not our strong point, and since we all worked at very simple jobs, with accordingly low wages, David decided that we go into transportation. The first step was that he bought an old shaggy truck. With it we were expected to make the money to buy another one, and so on until we were to become the leading transportation company in Israel. Samuel was the first one to drive, since only he and Aaron had a driving license, and Aaron had a better job. I volunteered to be the second driver. A big building company hired us, and our job was to load building blocks at one site, and distribute them on various locations. It was hard work, but we were quite happy, because we were finally on the track to making big money. One day we were sent to load a truck-full of steps. The factory was situated in a quite isolated place, so I asked Samuel to let me drive. I sat behind the steering and Samuel gave me instructions. As I released the clutch, the truck jumped forward. In front of us just off the road, lay a row of fresh cast steps, drying in the sun.
26
Before I managed to hit the brakes, I crushed a few of these steps. The owner realized that I was not of age to own a driving license, and threatened to call the police if we didn’t pay him the price that he demanded, which was at least three times the value of the steps that I had damaged. It is important to mention that all the money we earned we handed over to David. His three sons received a small weekly allowance that was enough for about two packets of cigarettes. Now we were arguing with this man trying to reduce the sum of his blackmail, but he closed the gate, and wouldn’t let us move the truck until we paid. Asking David for the money we needed was out of the question. Just to think of his hysterical reaction, was even more repelling than confronting the police. Samuel had a friend from the army who agreed to lend us the money. It took us about a year, to pay him back. Samuel smoked only when he was offered somebody else’s cigarette. None of us went to the movie, but saved the money instead. After a while the truck broke down and the price of the repair was more than the value of the car itself, so we got rid of it and of the trucking business as well.
My next job was as auto mechanic in the central garage of the big bus company “Dan”. This was finally the fulfillment of my childhood dreams. The company had acquired a range of new busses that used air pressure for their braking system, instead of the well-known hydraulics. As it was recently introduced, there were quite a few malfunctions in the first shipment. Leyland sent an expert to teach us how to repair the defective central valve, but it was quite complicated, and I was one of the few, who managed to realize how it operated, and consequently how to fix it when necessary. I was very proud about it, and walked around like a peacock for a while. But, it didn’t last long. Leyland developed a new valve that needed no repair, and I was back to doing simple repair jobs, and nobody remembered how clever I was.
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