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"They told him it was typical Israeli bravado. He didn't accept it." • Chapter 28 in the book 'Bat Number Four'

I wrote here before about the harm within the family, about what it does to the victim and how much silence adds guilt to a crime and makes the victims believe that their blood is allowed. However, in the silence of these victims, a new, much worse monster is born. 

Think about a person who has committed one of the heinous crimes there is. He hurt another person; Not just any person, but someone from his own family; Not just a family member, but a minor; He hit his little sister, inside the house she was supposed to be protecting. This person was caught - actually, there is someone in the house, one of the adults, who knows what he did.

And what is happening now? He is acquitted even before he is tried - because the same "responsible adult" who caught him, instead of treating him as one of the criminals, helps him hide the crime. The same mother, like the mother of Hila Saban, the protagonist of the book, knows what her son did to her daughter and she hides the crime - from the world and maybe even from herself.

"Face and Darkness" exhibition by the artist Hanita Ben Zeno, Tel Aviv Artists' House (photo: private album)
"Face and Darkness" exhibition by the artist Hanita Ben Zeno, Tel Aviv Artists' House (photo: private album)

What does this despicable criminal learn from the situation? He learns that he can do the worst and go on with his life as if nothing happened. He learns to be "all-powerful", he believes he is like that because Hina, that's what happened and no one made him pay any price when it became known what he did. 

If someone reads these lines and knows such a situation. Maybe you were part of the situation for any reason, usually the reason is fear - fear of what they will say, fear of the thought of what happened and a desire to repress. Either way, know that it's never too late for the victims to do the right thing for them. They live the hurt moment by moment, day by day. Acknowledgment of what happened, for them it means a whole world. Yes, even if 50 years have passed.

In the next chapter, you will see a demonstration of one who hurt and was not punished. Amit Saban has no law and no justice. Amit Saban has no God.

You are welcome to read, comment, write to me. After all, a book comes to life only in the eyes of its readers. 

pleasant reading,

Lily

Chapter 28

John climbed to the monastery of Stella Maris. This is the first time he did not expect to meet Hila in the monastery. He didn't like leaving her behind. No, he hated to leave her sleeping in Gregorius Church, when she might wake up at any moment and look for him. But a week has passed since she disappeared. A week in which he did not leave the church for a moment, he woke up to her at night and sat quietly by her side during the day. Hila didn't want to talk, but on the third day she joined the afternoon tea in uncle Martin's small kitchen. They made sure to have a fluent conversation about Dumas affairs, talking about life in Israel and London, while she quietly sips from a cup and listens. However, he had other commitments, such as the virus that afflicted the nuns. It turned out that every summer there is a stomach virus that is overwhelmingly contagious. One nun gets infected and immediately the whole monastery. At least it was spared a halo. Even so, there was nowhere to lose weight. During the spring and summer she gained a little weight and for the first time her clothes seemed to fit her, and not as if she had received them on loan. So tempting in his eyes. He and his absurd dreams. He mustn't think of her that way. But how beautiful she is, my God. 

He shook his head, trying to shake his thoughts to no avail. If he had to confess to Uncle Martin or Father Francis in the confessional, he would have to say 'God, I have sinned against you', repeat the prayer to the Holy Mary twenty-four hours a day and give a thousand alms to atone for the thoughts. He laughed at himself. What is left for him to do?

When he crossed the road to the convent he saw Sister Catherine in the doorway, trying to close the convent door in someone's face, and sensed his steps. Already encountered cheeky visitors who just wanted to enter without any coordination and wander between the walls of the monastery. He was told that this was typical Israeli insolence. He didn't get it.

You can't be kind to someone who is disrespectful, and it has nothing to do with basic etiquette, it has to do with personal space. And personally, he was calm that the monastery had zero tolerance for the aggressiveness of uninvited visitors. That's how he knew that as long as she was inside the walls of the monastery, Hila was protected. No one took into account that she would feel exposed from the direction of the sidewalk.

"I'm asking you to go. We're not open to the public. There's a contagious virus here and we can't have visitors." Sister Catherine spoke quietly in Hebrew.

The man yelled at her and John really held back from grabbing him by the sleeve of his shirt and tossing him to hell. "Umm, sorry, sir," he began to say in English in a voice that didn't match his anger. English manners and his work at the hospital taught him that people can behave unpredictably when under stress.

Sister Catherine smiled weakly and with relief. "Dr. Bell."

The man turned angrily, he looked slightly familiar to John. Maybe they met at the anchorage at Cherkas's? He met a lot of people there.

"Hey, I know you," the man said in the strange accent and John's heart skipped a beat. No.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea who you are, but I'm asking you to respect what Sister Catherine requested." He didn't know how he managed to sound his own.

"We met in the chapel, down here, Football, London. Ah, you're John. That's it, John Bell! But you didn't say you were a doctor. I thought you were visiting relatives."

John cursed in his heart. He felt like dragging the scum with his feet all the way up the mountain and down and drowning him in the sea! This is what his hands wanted to do, this is his broken heart that has longed for revenge since Hila confessed to him about what her damned brother did to her.

Instead he heard himself answer him politely, "I am indeed visiting relatives and staying here for the next year as a physician of the monastery. Thus I can testify and say that you have nothing to look for here because all the nuns, including Sister Catherine whom you are disturbing here, have contracted a stomach virus. Except From the possibility of getting infected and disturbing their rest, I don't understand why you need to enter the monastery." Although he knew very well what the wretch wanted to find here. John is amazed at how arrogant he is, a criminal like him, who dares to show his face and make demands. A result of the fact that no one proves him for his actions and no one does anything! Damn.

"Nurse Catherine, come and rest please, I will escort Mr. Saban out."

“I know my sister is here, Dr. Bell. I don't believe them they say otherwise. I want to check for myself."

"Your sister? Aren't you Jewish? What does your sister have to be here?" He asked the questions and had this delusional conversation with his blood rushing in his ears.

"I don't know. But it's clear to me that something suspicious is going on here. And I can swear I saw her running in the garden when I brought a group of tourists here a few evenings ago. I was busy and I wasn't sure I was seeing correctly because she's not supposed to be here in Israel, but I would recognize my sister The little one everywhere, you know." How he wanted to break his too perfect teeth.

"I can assure you, Mr. Saban," he almost spat his name out in disgust. "There are only nuns in this monastery. And they are very sick." At least that was the truth. He's glad she's not here anymore. How lucky can one girl be?

Amit Saban examined him at length. In the end he nodded once. “Okay, Dr. Bell, I'll go now. I really hope you're telling the truth.” He turned away leaving John worried.

contact: At watsapBy email

Lily Milat
Lily Milat
Haifaite who found her home in a kibbutz near the Sea of ​​Galilee. Loves coffee, sea, people and cultures. Feng Shui consultant and author. Working on finding the regular and changing pulse in the residences and in the stories. Short stories penned by Ata, in English and Hebrew, were published in various collections and across the web and even won prizes. Her library: The Revolving Twin House (Sa'ar Publishing), The Bride of the Sea (Meteor Publishing), Bat Number Four (Meteor Publishing). To read short stories and learn more, visit Lily's website: Link

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7 תגובות

  1. It is easy to identify with the stressful experience. Excellent literature.

  2. Good morning, what fun it is to read your heartwarming words at the beginning of each chapter. Fall in love with the protagonists every episode (except for Amit Saban, of course).
    Every day, every day

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