Free A Wall of Light by Edeet Ravel Page B

and it’s not her fault that there aren’t enough lawyers who care about what’s going on, and she can’t say no, people in desperate situations need her, and she’s working on one case that might change the whole course of the country (she always exaggerates). She loves us and she’s doing her best and she can’t split herself into two and it’s only temporary. (Dad says it’s been temporary since they got married.)
    I don’t know whose side I’m on. I don’t miss Mom, I’m too old now, so it’s easier for me to see her point of view, but I can tell Dad misses her so I can see his point of view, too.
    Anyway, the reason Dad got angry today was that Sonya’s teacher let some scientists come to the school to do experiments on Sonya without getting Gran’s permission (which means Dad’s permission). It’s the first time I’ve seen Dad lose his temper since the person putting a new string on his violin got a scratch on it, and that was around three years ago. I was with him in the store—it was pretty fearsome.
    He phoned the teacher, Galit, and really let her have it. I felt sorry for her. But Sonya said she had a great time at the laboratory.
    They were interested in her memory, which is very good. Or maybe they were interested in her whole brain. She can memorize any number she sees right away, and stuff she reads in books after just one time, and whole movies scene by scene. She says she sees things twice—first she sees it, and the second time there’s a click and it gets locked in. I can’t imagine keeping so much junk stored in your mind, but she says she has a lot of storage space, like a big gym, where each thing she remembers is just the size of a button. She can look at people in a room and tell you how many people are there without counting. Or matches on a table, up to about fifty. She can do math in her head and she understands university math books. She plays hard pieces on the violin and she’s good at chess—she even beats Dad. Also she knows the time without checking a watch, but Shimi can do that, and he’s probably the biggest moron in the class.
    If they knew how stupid she was in other things maybe they wouldn’t be so impressed, but they don’t get to see her at home the way I do. They don’t get to see her talking out loud to her dolls and spiders, nagging me, making stupid sounds outside the door while I’m peeing, and a million things I can’t even begin to mention. And if they heard her playing violin they’d run from the house. They’d be lucky to have that option.
    I have to go now, I’m meeting Ilanit at Ariella’s. It’s the only way we can meet, because of Ilanit’s family. They’re very regressive. We’ve already kissed and I saw and touched her boobs. The kissing was great. The boobs were a bit disappointing. They have a strange shape.

L ETTER TO A NDREI , M ARCH 8, 1957
    D earest, what a wonderful week we have had! You know, I never really saw this country because I was so sick when we first arrived, and I couldn’t go on any of those organized tours for olim (immigrants). Everyone I know told me it was a scandal that I had not set foot outside of Tel Aviv. When they heard that I had not even been to Jerusalem they were filled with horror and offered to accompany me that very day.
    But really I have had no time, no energy, and no money. It’s been all I can do to familiarize myself with this city and hold our lives together here.
    However, I now understand all the expressions of dismay, because I joined Kostya and his school (as a class mother) on a five-day trip, and it was an unforgettable experience. There are such amazing sights here! You feel yourself transported to another world, a world of infinite time and of deep, buried emotions. We saw Jerusalem, Haifa, the Sea of Galilee, the desert, Caesarea, and many other places along the way. If only I had the talent to describe them, but I “pity the paper” if I tried, to rephrase Vanya. I missed you