29
Chez George’s
The restaurant’s security guard stood like a fortified wall as soon as he saw her heading toward him. She had lifted her skirt to be able to run. As soon as she reached the restaurant she put it back down and stood.
Dana used to indicate her displeasure at the guards searching her bag by shutting it abruptly. She never believed that these measures were useful or effective. But this time she restrained herself and didn’t rebuke the guard as she used to. She didn’t protest or utter a word and just went in quickly. Her head swayed when she heard Edith Piaf’s voice. She glimpsed Ariel at the bar so she headed there armed with a smile. He smiled back and motioned to her to join him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Working. You?”
“Taking a break from work.”
“Looks like it was a quick job?”
“A bunch of losers were stalking me and I didn’t want to go with them. It looked like they were wasted or high. They tried to force me into their car. I thought of calling the police, but what would they say had I told them I was a prostitute and someone was harassing me? They don’t take that seriously in normal times, so imagine now? By the way, what’s the latest news?”
“The latest news is that there isn’t any news. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Are you from Tel Aviv?”
“No, Netanya, but I’ve been living here for ten years. Tel Aviv is the city of sins, a whore, but I love it.”
Ariel laughed when he heard that.
“Where is the bartender?”
“Getting ready to close down.”
Alex came back and stood like a bee behind the bar.
“Shalom motik. What happened? Why are you closing when it’s not even midnight? Can I get a glass of wine?”
“Laila Tov! Can’t you see the place is almost empty? You can still have a glass of wine, with pleasure. We’re not serving food tonight, except cheese and olives.”
“Black olives and wine. What kind is he having?”
“Zinfandel. Want to try it?”
“If he likes it, then I’m sure I will.”
Alex poured the wine in a glass and turned around to tend to another customer on the other side who’d asked for a drink. She kept talking to him. Ariel looked her way every now and then as he was getting ready to gather his things and put them back in his bag.
“What do you do?”
“I’m a journalist. A correspondent for an American newspaper.”
“Do you like your job?”
“Most of the time. You?”
Dana laughed when she heard his question.
“No. But I learn to like it every night as I do it. I’ll stop in two years. I’m tired, frankly. I’m tired and we don’t get any younger . . .”
“No, we don’t. But who knows? Maybe we won’t even have the chance to get older. Who knows what tomorrow has in store for us?”
“Ah. What will it have? Everything will be fine. Frankly, after all these years of work and toil I don’t want the world to end tomorrow. I want to live a little longer and enjoy life. Why are you being so serious?”
“You’re right. I don’t know. Lakhayem.”
“Lakhayem motik.”
“And what do you want to do once you retire?”
“I‘ll try to open a small café, but that’ll be difficult in Tel Aviv. I don’t want to go back to Netanya. And if I want to open the type of café I have in mind, no place other than Tel Aviv would be suitable. I have some money saved. Enough to open a Berlin-style café and restaurant. You know? I was there a while ago and they have a lot of new cafés and restaurants that offer simple food, but the décor is funky. Maybe I’ll look for an Arab house that I can fix up and do something similar. We’ll see. I also want to have a steady relationship, to be in love, but my work doesn’t allow that.”
“A lovely project. I hope you succeed. I’ll be one of the customers if all goes well after these events.”
“We’ll see. Lakhayem, again.”
Ariel gestured to Alex, who’d come to stand next to them. She raised her glass and, after taking a sip, said in an icy tone:
“I have to close in fifteen minutes.”
“Understood. Can we get the bill then?”
“It’s on me.” Ariel said looking at Dana and smiling.
“Toda motik. Ata gentleman.”
“A glass of wine won’t deplete my budget. Plus, I ate more than half of the olives.”
“Want to come for a drink at my place?” Alex said, looking at him with anticipation in her voice, but he hesitated.
“Honestly, I’m very tired and have a lot on my mind. I can’t focus except when writing my articles and I have to. I don’t want to come to your place for the first time and be in such a sorry state. And I have to get up early.”
He took her hand and kissed it, but she withdrew it quickly with an extinguished smile.
“OK, darling, I hope your head clears up.”
“I want to come, but it’s a tough tonight. Do you understand? I’ll stop by some other night soon.”
Alex didn’t say more and started collecting her stuff. Dana looked at Ariel and said in a hushed voice, “Looks like you ruined this night and your chances for coming nights with this beautiful woman.”
He smiled and raised his eyebrows. They waited for Alex to go out to the street all together.