A Tale of Love and Darkness Page #2

might make crumbs or grip.

If they still insist

you have something,

just refuse, but delicately,

like a gentleman--

even if you can't resist

the sight of sweets.

We were only invited

because your uncle staszek

took care

of al-halwani's son.

If, on this occasion,

in such tense times,

we behave like animals,

not only will it be

sheer insolence,

it could cause enormous

damage to the future

of our two peoples.

Jacket? Jacket?

Ah! Ah, my friend,

come, come, come.

Welcome, welcome,

welcome.

Pleased to meet you,

madam.

Hello.

Please, everybody, I would

like you to meet my friend,

the great Mr. stav.

Mr. stav helped to clear

my son Edward,

from that unfortunate incident

at the beginning of the summer.

Thank you for coming.

Please, come here.

Maybe the youngster

would like to go and

play in the garden?

Please.

Please, madam.

I want to show you...

Good morning, miss.

My name is Amos. And you?

My name is Aisha.

This is my brother, awwad.

Your father...

Your honored father

suggested...

That I come here

to play with you.

He's not my father.

He's my mother's uncle.

I don't live here.

I live in talbieh.

How do you

know Hebrew?

I've been studying piano

in rehavia for three years now.

It's a beautiful language,

and rehavia is beautiful too,

so well-kept and quiet.

Talbieh is also

well-kept and quiet.

Would you mind if

we talked for a bit?

Aren't we talking

already?

There's enough room in

this country for both peoples.

We just need to learn

to live together in peace

and mutual respect.

I have a big brother

in London.

He's studying

to be a lawyer.

What do you want to study

when you grow up?

What about you?

You'll be a lawyer too,

based on how you speak.

What makes you think that?

I'm going to write a book.

Really?

What kind of book?

Poems.

Poems?

Yes. In French

and English.

I also write in arabic, but

i never show it to anyone.

Is there

nice Hebrew poetry?

Of course!

Levin kipnis, Rachel.

Vladimir jabotinsky,

tcheminchowsky...

"A generation of gods

walks the land...

"A generation

drunk on life!

"Estranged from

a sick people.

And the tribe of sufferers."

Can you also climb trees?

Rest a minute,

just a minute.

Rest a minute,

just a minute.

This is the father of Amos.

May I please speak

with Mr. al-halwani?

Well, could you please

tell him how very truly sorry

we are about what happened?

We are anxious for

the health of the dear child.

We'll pay any of the child's

medical expenses,

of course, in full.

And we sincerely wish to effect

a meeting at an early date

to clarify and try

to right the wrong.

Once there were two monks...

Who imposed all sorts of

restrictions on themselves.

Among other things,

they resolve to cross

all of India on foot.

They also took a vow

of complete silence.

Even in their sleep,

they would not speak

a single word throughout

their years of travel.

But once...

While they were walking

along the bank of a river,

they heard a drowning woman

crying for help.

Without a word, the younger

monk jumped into the water.

He bore the woman

on his back

and laid her on the ground.

The two monks continued

their journey in silence.

Six months later,

the younger monk

suddenly asked,

"tell me...

Do you think

i sinned when I carried

that woman on my back?"

His friend answered

with a question:

"What? Are you still

carrying her on your back?"

Amos, when I was a student,

i loved to read here

among the flowers.

And one day, after class,

she met your future father here.

Do you remember what I told you

about the word "flower"?

Flower is a combination of

the words "bull" and "scent."

"Bull" has the same root

as "fertility,"

and "scent" lures the insects

that fertilize the plant.

He took advantage of

my weakness for words.

What could I do? All

the boys were courting her!

I had to make myself

stand out.

That's what happened.

Remembering is like trying

to restore an old building

with the stones

from its ruins.

And the stones have memory.

May I please have some apc?

I have a headache

that won't go away.

I don't believe them.

I don't believe anyone anymore.

It's a big conspiracy.

What do you think?

That our boys will

fight for you,

that they risk their

young lives for you,

when you say

it's all a conspiracy?

Yes, because it is

all one big conspiracy!

It's like theater!

Ben-gurion secretly

agreed to sell Jerusalem

to king Abdullah

so that he can keep

his kibbutzim.

They don't care if they

slaughter and burn us all.

What's wrong with you?

How can you say that?

A million kids...

If there is a war--

when there is a war--

we will win.

Our state is standing

right at the gate.

It's not standing.

There is no gate.

There is an abyss.

Not in front of the child.

Mm.

Nothing grew!

Come here.

You know...

That if you open up

someone's head and

take out his brain...

You see that our brains are

nothing but cauliflower--

a cauliflower this size.

What a miracle it is that

this small cauliflower

can hold the sky

and the land,

the sun and

all the stars.

It can hold Plato's ideas,

and Beethoven's music,

and Chekhov's plays,

all the dinosaurs

and the whales...

And the hopes

and the passions and

mistakes and fantasies...

And that's it.

Amos!

Come play with us!

I can't. My grandma

is coming today.

Kids! What are you doing?

You've abandoned me.

I have no life here.

You spit on me,

your own mother--

the only person

who will take care of you!

Just look at you.

How can you stand it?

This place is disgusting!

Oh. I'm not good enough

for you to answer?

I should have

left you in rovno!

I would have been

better off!

Fanitchka!

Fania!

Amos, where's your mother?

Fania?

You won't believe it!

My book is sold out!

All five of them!

He said he'd order more.

He already did, by phone.

Five more! He says this

is just the beginning!

Let's go to the Edison

and see a film.

Zarchi will

watch you, okay?

For us.

You can find hell

and paradise in every room.

A little meanness,

and people are

hell to each other.

A little compassion,

a little generosity,

and people find

paradise in each other.

Congratulations again.

I still can't believe it.

Give my love to garbo.

Amos, behave yourself.

Want a book?

Tchernichowsky.

It seems that your Patience

has helped our plants.

Why don't you go

see for yourself?

When my family moved to

the house on dubinska street,

we inherited some tenants

from the previous owners.

A Polish officer named jan

lived in the front room.

Every Friday, my mother

would send one of us

with a tray of hot biscuits,

straight from the oven,

to wish him a good sabbath

on behalf of the entire family.

Sabbat shalom.

He would stroke my head...

Call me cyganka,

a gypsy.

And promise he would

wait for me

and marry me when I grew up.

But, one day...

A Sunday morning

before the sun came up...

The colonel decided

to try out his pistol.

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