AMOSOZ
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poison. And thence to the turbulent shallows swarming with raven–
ous sharks off the shores of the Polynesian islands, and onward, the
Hebrew flag forges ahead into the heart of the burning archipelago
to islands of virgin forest where no white man has yet set foot. Sev–
eral times she seems about to be smashed like a nutshell against the
black rock-walls, but the skipper steers her with an iron hand to the
Coast of Skulls. And here is the landfall, the onslaught, the final bat–
tle, and all alone he calmly takes on the hordes of screaming savages
until the polished spear pierces his chest and at the foot of the coat–
rack at the end of the passage he collapses, dying. Jephthah expires
with the word Jerusalem on his lips, willingly accepting this death in
the sight of all his foes and those who have mocked him, parents,
teachers and friends: none of them have understood anything. They
have never understood. Now they will learn, and be put to shame.
In the midst of his triumph his eyelids part and his eyes dim: on her
way to the vegetable box she is stepping over his corpse. "Out of the
way, stupid," she mutters, affording him a momentary glimpse of
garter and corset, a terrifying pink landscape, and then she is gone,
while the hero lies on his back unmasked, his hand in his pocket
burning his knees trembling a thread of dribble trailing on his chin,
panting and gasping, and he retreats to the bathroom.
Here he stays for a quarter of an hour, washed and despondent,
trying to dry himself. "Outlook bleak" is the gist of what he says to
himself, and these are the words he inscribes with his fingertip on the
steamy mirror. Wipe them out. Then: I want to die. Wipe out
again. And emerge subdued.
"We should still keep on trying to talk rationally with the
Arabs," Father says over lunch.
"For every bomb of theirs we should throw ten at them," replies
Aunt Natalia. "Then maybe they'll begin to think rationally, Profes–
sor. Jephthah, either you sit up and eat properly or you can go
straight to hell, spoiled brat."
"Never mind," says Father cravenly.
"If
he doesn't want to eat,
we mustn't force him. And we really should go for a little walk in Tel
Arza woods, it's so nice out."
At this moment J ephthah suddenly begins to feel compassion
for his mother who doesn't have the strength to stand it and for Aunt
Natalia who has not found and never will find a boy who will marry
her, and for Daddy who teaches Hebrew grammar in an elementary
school and will never ever be a professor because the antisemites
drove him out of the university in Poland and now it's too late. He
