Smadar

An excerpt from my novel "Summer tempest".

On the fourth morning of the seven days of mourning Yoske’ was driving to the pastry shop, with mixed feelings. Except one single phone call Smadar did not make a move, did not come to pay him a visit as he hoped and was sure she’ll do. He has not seen her since that last and late afternoon hour, when he had to leave and rely on her loyalty; a fact that troubled him with a considerable impact. Except his longing for her and his sub conscious guilt feelings on the other hand, for rising that early of the seven days of mourning, and having shaved before the end of the traditional thirty days of beard growth yesterday, and once again this morning �" when some people might come yet to console him, Nehama’s relatives and his own, their neighbors, who for truth sake Nehama and he did not had yet the chance to meet �" but just the same, they could have surprised him and come.

After a short round in the side streets not far from his pastry shop he located a vehicle that was about to move. He waited till that stranger would evacuate the parking space with his mini van, and parked right away his own car in the empty parking space beside the pavement. Having switched off the engine he got off, he locked his car, and made his way on the narrow pavement getting used to the horrid humidity so common to mid summer.

The closer he got to his destination the more excited he became; in spite of his experience in much more critical situatations, uncomparable with this trivial matter �" he did not doubt Smadar’s loyalty that was not the problem that bothered him, having left her to manage his pastry shop all alone.

While turning the Balfour-Alenby conrner he noticed an encouraging number of clients, sitting around the pavement’s tables. As he was getting nearer, a young girl came out of his pastry shop carrying a loaded platter in her hands; a small apron tied to her narrow waist adorned her thighs. She started to serve the clients, which were sitting outside.

He passed her catching a glimpse of her young and well shaped figure, and entered his pastry shop. Despite the relatively early hour a considerable number of clients sat round the hall’s tables. Smadar was standing behind the espresso machine on the counter, busy with it and with the cash register. She raised a pair of surprised eyes, watching Yoske’s features, but a smile appeared on her lips right away.

‘Welcome,’ she said as if he was one of the clients. ‘You’re rather early, has anything unexpected happened?’

‘No, nothing in particular,’ he answered with a sense of immediate relief, and sat down in his habitual corner. He was quite used to her capricious character, to the swift transitions of her moods; to the virtual screen, which she kept setting time and again between the two of them.

‘I’d a visit of several friends on the first day, and after two dreary days with nobody calling, I’ve had enough and decided to stop it.’

He hardly finished the sentence when the young waitress that he saw outside entered, and passed him quickly on her way to the counter �" interrupting for a friction of a second the line of vision between Smadar and himself.

‘This is Sivan,’ Smadar remarked dryly, turning to Yoske above Sivan’s head. ‘I’ll complete the introduction between you two, right after things will calm down a bit.’

Sivan smiled to him embarrassedly, a slight blush appeared on her young face; she took the loaded platter and rushed out again.

Yoske’s sudden appearance, the short parley with Smadar, attracted the attention of several clients that were sitting inside. Some of them were familiar to him; he didn’t think though that they knew who he was exactly. Anyhow all of them including those who were sitting outside, sneaked glances towards him, eying him with much curiosity.

No wonder, Yoske thought. They hardly know who I am, and they had some ‘sightseeing’ these three last days. The mourning notice is still hanging behind Smadar’s back, and it did serve some of them no dout, as a good opening to make a pass at Smadar, or even at this young teenager.

He raised his eyes to Smadar again, he didn’t have any intentions to walk up to her, and frustrate all her many present admirers among their clients.

All the things that have to be clarified yet can wait, up to the dead hours. He summed the matter up to himself.

© Haim Kadman 2007 - all rights reserved.