The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti

Author:Michelle Cohen Corasanti
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Garnet Publishing Limited

CHAPTER 29

The Dean informed me that it was up to me if Professor Sharon would be fired. I asked him to grant me until the first Tuesday of the next month to decide and he agreed. On that day, I travelled to the Dror Detention Centre to discuss my situation with Baba.

A temporary pen made from barbed wire the size of a soccer field had been erected near the first one. Inside it, there were so many prisoners they barely had enough room to walk. It reminded me of a gigantic tin of sardines. There was no floor under the tent tops in the new pen, just soil. Guards were everywhere. Men, women, boys and girls crowded together waiting to hear the names of their loved ones.

Baba appeared. ‘Tell the Dean that you don’t want Professor Sharon fired as long as he hires you as his research assistant.’

I looked through the glass at him, still gripping the receiver. How could he suggest something like that? His eyes were heavy. I would do whatever he asked.

‘What if he sabotages me?’

‘Then the Dean should fire him. People hate out of fear and ignorance. If they could just get to know the people they hate, and focus on their common interests, they could overcome that hatred.’

‘I think you might be too optimistic. Professor Sharon is evil.’

‘Find out what’s driving his hatred and try to understand it,’ Baba said.

I thought of Einstein’s words to Chaim Weizmann saying that if the Zionists were unable to build an honest cooperation and honest pacts with the Arabs then they had learned absolutely nothing during their two thousand years of suffering. Einstein had warned that if the Jews failed to assure that both sides lived in harmony, the struggle would haunt them for decades to come. He felt that the two great Semitic peoples could have a great common future. Maybe Baba was right.

***

‘The Dean threatened to dismiss me if I don’t employ you as my research assistant,’ Professor Sharon said. ‘Frankly, I was ready to leave. If it hadn’t been for Zoher’s father, I would’ve found employment elsewhere. Just so it’s clear, I’m doing this for Zoher, not you.’

And I’d do this for Baba. ‘Thank you for this opportunity. I can start tomorrow.’

‘Yes, I know. The Dean has informed me that he wants you to start immediately. We don’t need to see each other. I’m trying to improve silicon as a semi-conductor.’ He smirked. ‘Don’t come back to me until you’ve figured out how.’ He probably thought that he had given me an impossible assignment and, when I came back with nothing, he’d tell the Dean I was worthless. I’d show him how wrong he was. From his office, I went straight to the library.

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