Free A Possibility of Violence by D. A. Mishani Page B

answer?”
    â€œMaybe she’s sleeping.”
    â€œMaybe she doesn’t want to talk to us?” Shalom asked, and Chaim said quickly, “We’ll call again soon.”
    Ezer was silent, and in his eyes, which actually smiled the day before, Chaim saw tears, and so he said, “I already spoke to Mom this morning, before you got up. We’ll give her another call soon.”
    His mother entered the room and said to him in Farsi, “Wouldn’t it be better for you to tell them that she’s not coming back?”
    He didn’t answer.
    None of this had been planned.
    And he wasn’t sure that this was a good idea, even though the promise made them so happy at first. They left the bedroom and Shalom said to his father, “I get to talk to Mom first, before Ezer, right?” and Chaim said, “The two of you will talk at the same time.”
    They lay down on the carpet again in the dark living room.
    His mother suggested to Shalom that he gather up leaves in the backyard, but he said, “I just want to stay with Ezer.”
    Even though Chaim knew that she wouldn’t answer, he took them into the bedroom again and they argued over who would be closer to him when he dialed the number and he waited and instead of Jenny’s voice he heard his voice again. “You’ve reached Chaim and Jenny Sara. . . . You can leave a message.” The next time only Shalom went with him and Ezer remained seated in front of the television.
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    THE HOLIDAY’S SECOND DAY WAS FRIDAY and his mother took them to Adina’s in the morning. She said that Adina had prepared plates for them with sweets and apple slices in honey and filled the house with toys. She invited her sister’s son, who was a few years older than Ezer, and they’d play ball. Afterward everyone would eat lunch at Adina’s place.
    Shalom was glad to go, especially after he heard about the plates of sweets, and Ezer went without an expression on his face and without a word leaving his mouth, as if asleep. After they didn’t succeed in speaking with Jenny, his face had closed up again. Chaim fixed the wall in the bathroom. He sanded off the damp, crumbling layer of paint in which a dark mold had spread due to the humidity, and after the plaster dried he put on a new layer of waterproof paint. On all radio stations songs were playing and no one said a word. He thought of how he could get closer to Ezer. Afterward he took the radio out to the courtyard and finished filling in the concrete path leading to the house. The heat was again unbearable, and he removed his shirt. His back hurt. Despite this he worked quickly and tried to keep from thinking. If it were possible, he would have chosen to remain there despite everything. Far from their shared apartment, and far from the children’s small room into which the lights from the adjacent building were reflected at night. Was he less afraid here because his father’s strength was more tangible inside it, as if he were still to be found within the house’s walls? He warmed up rice and chicken and ate in the kitchen by himself. And then he suddenly crashed. Without knowing why, he went to his mother’s bedroom and collapsed onto her bed, but didn’t dial the phone. Afterward he lay down on it properly and fell asleep. He didn’t make it back to the synagogue, as he had hoped.
    The next day his younger brother came with his children and took the boys to the pool.
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    IT WAS ONLY WHEN THEY RETURNED to Holon, on Saturday night, that Ezer suddenly spoke up.
    They passed through Jaffa on the way, because the stores were open there, and Chaim bought vegetables and eggs and cheese. He called the Brothers’ Bakery and left a reminder on their answering machine that tomorrow he’d need only half the regular number of rolls. Shalom fell asleep in the car because he hadn’t slept that afternoon, and Chaim carried him in his