In a Land without Dogs the Cats Learn to Bark by Jonathan Garfinkel

Author:Jonathan Garfinkel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc
Published: 2023-01-17T14:35:43+00:00

5

Istanbul, Turkey

November 13, 2003

A young medical student smelling of cheap cologne helps Tamar hoist her suitcase onto the overhead rack. He can’t be more than twenty-three, but he has the seriousness of a youth wanting to make his mark. He returns to his medical textbook, bespectacled and with flashlight, poring over images of the naked, the cross-sectional, and the transparent. When he turns the page, she finds herself staring at an illustrated fetus in utero, the blue cord that connects them, mother and child.

Tamar wants to call Joseph, but her cell phone doesn’t work here, and besides, what would she say? She wonders what Nana will utter when she opens the door. She hasn’t done a good job of keeping in touch in the three years since she moved to Toronto. The odd letter, an infrequent phone call. In part, it’s guilt that has stopped her from calling. Tamar was supposed to return to Tbilisi after one year. But it was comfortable in Toronto, and every time she thought of going home, she found a reason to stay. And besides, she had Rachel. Still, Tamar knew better. Nana would’ve appreciated more of an effort.

Tamar feels badly for it. But Nana never has much to talk about over the phone, and besides, their conversations always end with Nana in tears. She’ll be overjoyed to see Tamar again, sure to berate her for not giving advance notice of her return, all the while cooking her favorite kharcho soup, as if food and its enjoyment were the only measures of love. Yet the comfort Nana offers is vastly different from what Tamar needs. Maybe this is the real reason why she has so rarely called. She imagines sitting in Nana’s kitchen, eating until it’s too much, until the questions force their way out: “Who the hell is Anna Litvak? And how did I get here?” And still, Nana wouldn’t say a thing.

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