CORINNA
589
On the radio, inside the vehicle making its way on the empty roads in
the darkening evening, they present heroic stories from the War of
Liberation.
vve were sitting in the presidio and across Jrom us were the Egyptian soldiers.
In the bombardment the cabins had been burnt and we were lift with nothing, not
even shoes. I remember that they asked us what we needed, and we said-we don't
need anything, but maybe aJew pairs
if
shoes won't hurt,
if
possible. vve were so
modest in our demands and made do with so little.
Whose familiar voice is this?
vve've just heard a conversation with lieutenant-colonel Eitan Nachshon!
Lieutenant-colonel Eitan Nachshon, thank you!
says the broadcaster, and the
driver says again to the girl,
"My wife doesn't want to leave me. I don't understand why she doesn't
want to leave me. I tell her, and she refuses."
"I don't understand why she refuses either!" You hear your voice sud–
denly, loud and measured.
The girl, and the elderly couple, and the man beside you-all start
laughing,
and Ibrahim's solemn face stares at the light turning on in the win–
dows beside the road
Translated from the Hebrew by Michal Sapir
