that he understood how tiresome they were, but it seems the two of them are accustomed to this restricted frame, and he really doesn’t need an extra intern, and he’s happy with her enthusiasm, her seriousness and her maturity, and it’s only her choice of nickname that irritates him sometimes, Anati, it has such a childish ring to it, and yet she’s so wise and so quick on the uptake, what does she need with any extra letters.
Attorney’s office, good morning, she answers the phone, no, he hasn’t arrived yet, his mother’s in hospital, I expect he’ll be here before midday, have they blocked your application again? I’ll tell him to contact you at once. Her face lights up on hearing of the fresh injustice and she hurries to record all the details in her notebook, and when he sees how well the office is functioning without him he feels a pang of acute sorrow, yes, in the same way the world will function without him one of these days, full of injustices, desperate phone conversations, blouses buttoned up to the neck, mothers and sons, nothing will be diminished. Likewise the world will function without the man he met this morning, if you could call this a meeting, as he didn’t notice him at all, just gazed at his wife with his last vestiges of strength, as if trying to imprint her features in his memory, so now he will also try to memorise the sight of those delicate lips despatching words into the receiver, and those animated fingers avidly recording the contentious details. Outside the window their ugly ailanthus tree is flourishing, the tree that he learned to love, an urban survivor that can hold on anywhere. There’s no such thing as an ugly tree, Anati said when he apologised on behalf of the tree, his regular joke, and suddenly he wakes up with a start, as if he’s overslept and held up an urgent assignment, and he says to her without preamble, Anati, I need your help. It seems to him that if he involves her in this strange project the strangeness will be cancelled out, that if she and not he contacts the vehicle agency and asks who has bought a gold-coloured Citroën in the last year, this unavoidable mission will become a natural part of his world, and she looks up at him and says Avni, how is your mother? as if trying to re-arrange his entry here. Suleiman is looking for you, she adds, he’s on his way here now, and barely has she spoken his name when he appears, as if he too has been hanging back and watching them, expecting an official announcement.
Many years have passed since they met almost by chance, as Suleiman was trimming the ivy at the entrance to their building, and when Avner acknowledged him he was tentatively asked if he was the lawyer who lived here; the neighbours had told him a lawyer lived upstairs and Avner, who had only just completed his studies and was already regretting his choice of career, confirmed this in a faint voice and at once found himself listening and volunteering to help in a small issue, a biblical-style dispute taking place at the end of the second millennium, the case of three shepherds whose flock had been confiscated on the grounds that they were operating in a closed military sector, and the huge indemnity that had been imposed on them for the return of their livestock. It was his first case and it dragged on for nearly two years, a minor case which became a big one and went all the way to the Supreme Court, in which he was able to prove that the order for closure of the area had not been properly presented, and not only did he succeed in getting their money back with interest, he also ensured that their right of residence would be recognised in law, and since then members of the Bedouin clan, Suleiman included, had tended to credit him with higher powers. But now Avner sees disappointment and scepticism in his face as he says, did you see that the application has been rejected? They’ve served us with a demolition order on the school, and at once he pats his
Attorney’s office, good morning, she answers the phone, no, he hasn’t arrived yet, his mother’s in hospital, I expect he’ll be here before midday, have they blocked your application again? I’ll tell him to contact you at once. Her face lights up on hearing of the fresh injustice and she hurries to record all the details in her notebook, and when he sees how well the office is functioning without him he feels a pang of acute sorrow, yes, in the same way the world will function without him one of these days, full of injustices, desperate phone conversations, blouses buttoned up to the neck, mothers and sons, nothing will be diminished. Likewise the world will function without the man he met this morning, if you could call this a meeting, as he didn’t notice him at all, just gazed at his wife with his last vestiges of strength, as if trying to imprint her features in his memory, so now he will also try to memorise the sight of those delicate lips despatching words into the receiver, and those animated fingers avidly recording the contentious details. Outside the window their ugly ailanthus tree is flourishing, the tree that he learned to love, an urban survivor that can hold on anywhere. There’s no such thing as an ugly tree, Anati said when he apologised on behalf of the tree, his regular joke, and suddenly he wakes up with a start, as if he’s overslept and held up an urgent assignment, and he says to her without preamble, Anati, I need your help. It seems to him that if he involves her in this strange project the strangeness will be cancelled out, that if she and not he contacts the vehicle agency and asks who has bought a gold-coloured Citroën in the last year, this unavoidable mission will become a natural part of his world, and she looks up at him and says Avni, how is your mother? as if trying to re-arrange his entry here. Suleiman is looking for you, she adds, he’s on his way here now, and barely has she spoken his name when he appears, as if he too has been hanging back and watching them, expecting an official announcement.
Many years have passed since they met almost by chance, as Suleiman was trimming the ivy at the entrance to their building, and when Avner acknowledged him he was tentatively asked if he was the lawyer who lived here; the neighbours had told him a lawyer lived upstairs and Avner, who had only just completed his studies and was already regretting his choice of career, confirmed this in a faint voice and at once found himself listening and volunteering to help in a small issue, a biblical-style dispute taking place at the end of the second millennium, the case of three shepherds whose flock had been confiscated on the grounds that they were operating in a closed military sector, and the huge indemnity that had been imposed on them for the return of their livestock. It was his first case and it dragged on for nearly two years, a minor case which became a big one and went all the way to the Supreme Court, in which he was able to prove that the order for closure of the area had not been properly presented, and not only did he succeed in getting their money back with interest, he also ensured that their right of residence would be recognised in law, and since then members of the Bedouin clan, Suleiman included, had tended to credit him with higher powers. But now Avner sees disappointment and scepticism in his face as he says, did you see that the application has been rejected? They’ve served us with a demolition order on the school, and at once he pats his
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