My Michael by Amos Oz

Author:Amos Oz [Oz, Amos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Literary, Israel, Middle East, History
ISBN: 9780156031608
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1968-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

At midday, when we returned from the beach, Yehezkel would make us a vegetarian lunch: fried eggs, vegetables, toast, and fruit. Meat never appeared on his table, out of some principle which he refrained from explaining, for fear of boring us. During the meal he was at pains to entertain us with anecdotes of Michael's childhood, such as something Michael had once said to the Zionist leader Moshe Shertok, who was visiting his primary school, and how Moshe Shertok had suggested publishing Michael's remark in a children's newspaper.

At mealtimes Yehezkel would tell his grandson stories about bad Arabs and good Arabs, Jewish watchmen and armed Arab gangs, heroic Jewish children and British officers maltreating children of illegal immigrants.

Yair turned out to be an attentive and devoted pupil. He did not miss a word or forget the slightest detail. It was as if he combined Michael's thirst for knowledge with my depressing aptitude for remembering everything. The child could be tested on everything he had learned from "Grandpa Zalman": The electricity lines are linked to Reading Station; Hassan Salame's gang was firing into Holon from the hill of Tel Arish; the water supply comes from the spring at Rosh Haayin. Bevin was a bad Englishman, but Wingate was a good one.

Grandpa bought us all little presents. Five ties in a box for Michael, for me Professor Shirman's Hebrew Poetry in Spain and Provence, for his grandson he bought a red clockwork fire engine with a siren that really worked.

The days were calm.

Outside, on the grounds of the workers' housing project, ornamental trees were planted around neat, square lawns. Birds sang all day. The town was bright and sun-drenched. Towards evening a breeze blew in off the sea, and Yehezkel would throw the shutters and the kitchen door wide open.

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