Fracture Point by T.D. Mandowsky

Author:T.D. Mandowsky [Mandowsky, T.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Ya’acov Siman was no fool. He knew exactly why I was willing to buy half a deserted store in Afula with a disputed partner.

“You’re a young man,” he said in a tired voice, after talking for two and a half hours in a café opposite the Ministry of Interior in Afula. “If you have the energy to deal with this, this can be a great opportunity for you.”

He and his brother Reuven hadn’t spoken in 20 years.

“I’ll be so glad to get rid of this store; it’s such a thorn in my side,” he said with a fist on his chest.

Yehuda, Dudi’s father, visited me at the store the week before. He didn’t make a special trip from Jerusalem, of course. He just stopped by on his way to another bicycle trip in the Givat Ha’moreh forest. My father also came along and so did Dudi, out of curiosity. Yehuda knocked on the walls, checked the faucets and the electricity, and counted the tiles on the floor. After 20 minutes of mumbling, he told me, “Take it.” He even gave me advice on how to negotiate with Siman. “You determine what your limit is. I really don’t know how much this half is worth. Let’s say 300,000 for example. Start at 200,000. Bombard him with data, but it doesn’t matter if the data is correct or not. Tell him that the average price per square meter of stores in this area is this or that and therefore you’re losing money here. Tell him that the asset is registered as smaller. Tell him you have to replace all the old pipes with new ones. The more data the better. It’s obvious that he hasn’t touched the place in 20 years.” My father stood listening and nodded in agreement.

“After you sign and half the store belongs to you, call me,” Yehuda said, and put down a paper cup containing black coffee that had been there for ages. He slapped me on the back like we were old army buddies and crossed the street without looking sideways.

Dudi slept the entire way back to Jerusalem and woke up as we entered the underground parking lot. I told him I would be right up and he didn’t ask any questions. He left and slammed the door. After the echo faded away, there was a divine silence, with only the sound of the engine shutting down. It sounded like fragments of a long day. I spent a minute staring at the wall in front of me, a transition from my personal task to the national mission. This was a little ritual I had every time. Sometimes it was one minute, other times it was twenty. A whirlwind of dopamine or adrenaline washed through my body. Sometimes I dream that Seffi is angry with me, and I wake up with clenched fists and sweating. Sometimes I have a daydream that I find Seffi, and when that happens, I feel like calling Amit and Eitan and telling them that I did it.

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