Chapter 14

Aviva lived a few blocks away, so we walked, giving me my first daytime glimpse of Jerusalem. The sky was bluer than Avi’s eyes and completely cloudless. The first thing I noticed was the noise--car horns, pedestrians yelling into cell phones, and the swish of rushing air, each time a bus opened its doors. The heat of the August day captured the scents of food being fried and spices I didn’t recognize. The atmosphere energized me.

As we walked street to street, I noticed all the buildings were built with the same creamy colored stone. Avi explained the stone was called Jerusalem Stone. Its color ranged from cream to pale pink. The city law required all buildings be faced with it, rendering Jerusalem the most color coordinated city on Earth. The building Aviva lived in was only a few stories high and sported large balconies overlooking a small street off Jaffa Road. The double glass door with the name stenciled in elaborate, gold Hebrew script achieved its goal. I was impressed.

She buzzed us in, and we walked quickly through a lobby with cavernous cathedral ceilings to the elevator. He pushed the up button. When the elevator doors opened, a few people stood waiting to enter. They greeted Avi and very obviously checked me out.

Aviva stood waiting in the doorway when we walked out of the elevator. Her long brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. Her blue eyes were different than her brother’s, paler--like me and Jack. My eyes were dark green, and his always reminded me of pale-green after-dinner mints. She held out her arms and squealed Avi’s name. As we approached the door, I heard a dog bark.

He wrapped his arms around her for a few moments and then released her to pat her very pregnant belly. “How’s my future nephew?”

“Kicking like a madman,” she replied in perfect English.

“Julie, my sister Aviva.” Before I could say anything, I was engulfed in a hug.

“So nice to meet you! Sorry, to shock you, but we’re a family of huggers. Come in.” She ushered me through the door and said something in Hebrew to Avi.

I thought about asking him to translate but didn’t have the courage.

“Let’s keep it in English for Julie,” Avi said.

“No problem,” Aviva replied.

Avi entered and was immediately attacked by a hyper, tail wagging dog. “Brutus,” he said, moving his head to keep the jumping dog from licking his face. “Hey, Brutus. I have someone better to kiss now.”

Aviva and I both laughed. A few moments after the dog, a little boy ran into the room, yelling Avi’s name. Avi scooped him up and swung him around like a windmill. “Ofir!” He said something in Hebrew and the little boy giggled. Avi signaled for me to come closer. “Julie, this is my nephew, Ofir.”

I looked at Avi, embarrassed I couldn’t even say a word to the child. He must have read the discomfort on my face. “He speaks English. My brother-in-law is an American. Ofir, say hi to Julie.”

“Hi, Julie. I’m five, and my sister is two. She’s sleeping. Do you want to see what I made with Legos? It’s really cool. Follow me.” He grabbed my hand and led me toward another room. I looked back over my shoulder and saw Avi and his sister smiling.

After a few minutes, Avi entered the room and found me building a castle with his very precocious nephew. “Sorry, but you have to share Julie with me and your Ima.”

“I’ll come back on another day. Thanks for letting me play,” I said to Ofir and shook his hand in a pretend grown-up fashion, which elicited a huge grin from him.

“You like kids?” Avi asked as he led me to the kitchen.

“Yep. Love kids. For a long time, I thought about being an elementary school teacher.”

“Why did you switch to finance?”

I shrugged. “No money in teaching.”

We sat around the granite topped island, drinking strong Turkish coffee and eating delicious chocolate chip cookies, still warm from the oven. A half hour into the visit, I met Leah, who resembled her uncle more than her mother. For a moment, I imagined a child with Avi’s eyes and my hair. Stop it.

Still sleepy, the toddler sat on Aviva’s lap, crushing her head against her mother’s breasts. Aviva explained that Leah could only say a few words because her brother never stopped talking. “Sound familiar?” she asked, playfully punching her brother in the arm.

But, watching the gesture felt like a hammer to my heart. I had a brother who loved to talk, but he was gone. The flood gates opened. The guilt I restrained seized my thoughts and moisture filled my eyes. “Could you point me to the bathroom?” I needed to get away before the tears streamed down my face.

A few minutes in the bathroom gave me time to gather myself back together, and a few extra gave me the opportunity to admire her bathroom--a lot of marble and granite in this country.

“Where’s Brutus’s leash?” Avi asked as we prepared to leave.

“Since you’ll be traveling for most of the next ten days, why don’t you just leave him here and not worry about walking or feeding him?”

He patted the big dog’s head. “Ten more days of vacation, buddy.”

She escorted us to the door, reminding us that Shabbat dinner was starting at seven-thirty. She reached up and pinched Avi’s cheek. “For once, please be on time.” She turned to me. “Julie, please make sure he gets here on time. I’ve invited our great aunt and uncle. She’s eighty-two, and he’s eighty-seven. If we don’t finish eating by nine o’clock, both will be snoring at the table.”

“No problem.”

As we waited outside the elevator, she hugged me goodbye. A warm feeling replaced my initial nervousness. It would be easy to be friends with his sister. In some ways, she reminded me of my cousin Danielle--very domestic.

The elevator doors opened, and as they closed, I promised again that we would be on time for dinner.

“Even Ofir is bilingual,” I whined, leaning against the back wall of the steel and glass elevator.

“You should have paid attention in Hebrew school.”

“They didn’t teach the language, just the holidays.”

“Too bad.” The doors parted, and we headed for the exit. “Ah, shit,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” I looked around the lobby, noticing nothing strange.

“You’ll see in a minute.”

Outside the building, a man rushed toward us, speaking in rapid Hebrew to Avi, as he snapped pictures of us. I shielded my eye from the bright flash.

They spoke for a few seconds before Avi turned to me. “Julie, this is Omer. We play soccer together on Fridays. Unfortunately, he works for the newspaper, and someone called and reported seeing me with a woman.”

“Julie. You’re an American?” He snapped a close-up of my face. “Hi.”

I looked at Avi, unable to process what was happening.

“Stop it, Omer. You’ll scare her away.”

“Sorry, Julie, but it’s my job.” He shrugged at me before turning back to face Avi. “Are you playing tomorrow?”

“No, I plan on being busy for the next few Fridays.”

“Go, play,” I told him. “While you play soccer, I’ll bake something we can take to your sister’s house for dessert.”

“I’m playing.”

“Great. By the way, Ezra’s wife had the baby--a girl. Maybe you and Julie can stop by my place for a drink one night this week. Hannah would love to see you.”

“Tell Hannah I said hello. But I can’t promise we’ll stop for a drink. We’ll be traveling all week, doing the tourist trail. Julie’s only here for ten days.”

“Well, the invitation is out there if you can fit it in,” Omer said.

“If your editor decides to publish a picture, try to talk him into making it a small one.”

“I’ll do my best,” he said, walking away, giving us a quick wave.

“You’re going to explain to me what happened, right?”

“My soccer buddy is a photographer for the newspaper. His boss knows we’re friends, so he always sends him when he wants a scoop on me because he knows I’d never dodge Omer. Omer’s family needs to eat, so I cooperate.”

“Paparazzi.”

He sighed, sounding disgusted. “I guess you could call it that.”

I leaned in and pecked his cheek. “You really are famous.”

He made an unpleasant face. “You’re not going to hold it against me, are you?”

“Nope, I love you anyway.”

He kissed me and smiled. “Where to next--the Kotel or the shuk?”

“You pick.”

“Hummm, food or prayer?” He grabbed my hand. “Let’s eat.”

***

We meandered through rows and rows of stalls selling fruit, vegetables, candy, and mouthwatering breads of every type. The shuk palpated with noise and energy generated by shoppers, children, tourists, and shop keepers. Peddlers hollered in Hebrew and English, hoping to draw customers away from the other stalls. Even the air smelled exciting, rich with the aroma of spices, baking sweets, and roasting meat.

As we walked, my sexy tour guide kept up a running commentary on the history of the shuk and the area surrounding it. As I listened, people passed by, obviously checking out Avi. Teenage girls walked by giggling and whispering. A couple of courageous ones pointed and yelled, “Hi, Avi,” before running away.

He looked at me flushed with embarrassment. I kissed his cheek. “Relax, it’s no big deal.”

“Don’t get freaked out by it, please.”

“It’s not freaking me out.” I tweaked his cheek. “It’s kind of funny. Now, let’s get back to the shuk history lesson. I remember my brother talking about this place when he came back from a Birthright trip.”

“He did Birthright, and you didn’t?”

I shook my head. “Now that I’m here, it’s apparent my decision not to take the trip was completely stupid. When Jack came home, all he could talk about was the market in Jerusalem, the old city, and the beautiful girl he fell in ‘love’ with.” I air quoted the word love and feigned a love-sick facial expression.

“Really, love?”

“I teased him about it all the time. He emailed her and called her for two years. When he got his first job out of college, he started saving to fly over and see her. Must be a family thing, Wassermans can’t resist sexy Israelis.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “If Jack knew I was with an Israeli, he’d be jumping up and down singing ‘I told you so.’ I’d never have heard the end of it.”

“Why?”

“He begged me to go on the trip with him, and I continually refused.” I bumped my hip into him. “You’re a much better noodnik than Jack. I accepted a summer job and used it as the excuse. But he knew I didn’t want to leave the non-Jewish guy I was dating at the time, who Jack hated.”

‘Because he wasn’t Jewish?”

“Partially. According to Jack, the guy was ‘a total dick.’”

“Protective brother. That’s good. I’m like that with Rivka. She’s your age and has brought home a few questionable dates.”

I picked up a tomato and twirled it around my hand. “Jack loved acting the part. I’ve had two long-term relationships. He hated both. His mission was to get me to Chabad and introduce me to someone who met all his qualifications. I guess he didn’t trust my judgment in men because he always seemed to be interviewing someone for the role of Julie’s boyfriend.” I put the tomato down and reached for his hand. “You, he would approve of.”

***

We stopped at a small restaurant just outside the shuk, and he introduced me to schwarma. The man behind the counter handed me a pita stuffed with the spicy meat, hummus, Israeli salad, and French fries. When I bit into it, juices streamed down my chin. “Napkin,” I muttered through my stuffed mouth.

Instead of handing it to me, he wiped my chin. The gesture melted me to the core. We sat down at a small table outside the schwarma stand. “This is delicious,” I said. “But very messy.”

“That’s part of the fun,” he mumbled through a mouth full of the luscious meat.

“I haven’t run since Koh Samui. Is there a park around here? Maybe I could run for an hour this evening?” I said, between bites.

He thought for a moment. “I could take you to the track at the university, and while you run, I’ll swim. When we're finished, I’ll give the scenic tour of my office and lab. But, right now, our next stop--the Old City--awaits. Walk or bus?”

“Walk, of course.” I gathered our waste from the table, dumped it into the trashcan, and locked my fingers with his. “Lead on, sexy tour guide.”