S88
PARTISAN REVIEW
The driver talks to a girl in the seat to his right, "Honestly, too bad
you're not fifteen years older. I tell my wife all the time that she should
leave me, and she doesn't want to."
The girl answers, "You must have a wonderful wife."
"Sure she's wonderful, I just don't know what she sees in me, why she
doesn't leave me."
In the driver's mirror you see a dark young man sitting with his head
upright and his face gloomy, turned toward the landscape.
The driver says, "No, I can't, it will only create a turmoil, If I check
every person, when will I have the time to drive? It's not my job, I'm not
allowed to, only the security people are allowed, you saw that he was actu–
ally waiting for the 'express' bus, he didn't even want to get on. You have
nothing to be afraid of!"
''I'm not afraid of him," you reply in a low voice, close to the driver's
head, "The bag worries me. He actually has kind eyes."
"You see, you yourself say he's nice."
"Do they know already who did the bombing in Hadera?"
"A suicide-bomber. Don't worry, come sit here beside me. I'm look–
ing at him in the mirror, OK? Have I made you feel better?"
"If you tell me that a suicide-bomber did the attack in Hadera, of
course you make me feel better."
The driver laughs,
"What can I do?"
And an elderly couple in the seat behind him say loudly, "You
shouldn't be afraid, if we're afraid where will we be?!"
You put your bag on your bosom, a large leather bag full of books and
papers, cover your chest, but the head, what about the head? You roll
down, lower your seat, and the bus enters the Central Station in Hadera,
and you get up and come up to the driver, whispering:
"Now you can call a security man."
"OK, in a minute," he answers, and gets up, calling in a loud voice,
"Come with me to check him. Come on, so you feel secure."
You grimace, shake your head, entrenched in your seat.
The driver walks up to the young man, and says in a voice which is
heard from one end of the bus to the other, ''I'm telling them that you are
riding with me every day, and they don't want to believe me. What do you
have in your bag? Ibrahim? OK, Ibrahim, take care."
He returns to you with a broad smile.
"Well, are you calm now?"
A man gets on the bus, sits down beside you. Will protect you with his
body.
