A Room of Their Own by Rakefet Yarden & Hila Kreimer Dan-Ber

Author:Rakefet Yarden & Hila Kreimer Dan-Ber [Yarden, Rakefet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-13T22:00:00+00:00

Dani

Rotem was talking away. I liked her enthusiasm. It made me feel that she was letting me get to know her, and it also made me think that my situation wasn’t that terrible, considering that we could talk about other things, even laugh a bit. She continued sailing away with her ideas about writing, and I went back 15 years in my mind.

We were on a family trip to one of the streams in northern Israel. It was known as a beautiful stream, set in the middle of a narrow canyon. Even though it was a seasonal stream and had no water when we were there, the walk around it had a spectacular view of sharp-edged cliffs hidden within a thick forest. Like on many other trips, we took Toto along, a mixed German Shepherd who was probably six or seven years old at the time. We’d had him since he was a puppy.

As usual, Dad decided to take a shortcut, because why go through the entire walking route if one can discover new paths, which would surely be shorter and prettier. Mom got angry. She didn’t like the idea, claiming that it was dangerous. We took a shortcut anyway, just like Dad wanted, and reached a steep stone cliff down which we had to slide in order to continue to the narrow walking path beneath it. Mom got hysterical and started laying all her problems on Dad: her partners at the office, us at home, everything that was stuck, everything that wasn’t working the way she’d wanted. They argued loudly. I was around nine, and the only thing worrying me during those days was that they’d get divorced. I watched them fight while Iddo played with rocks and ignored it, and Tal tried to find practical solutions.

Eventually, Dad promised Mom that everything would be all right if she just trusted him, thereby ignoring her actual distress. He started taking us down the cliff, one at a time. Tal went down easily, followed by Iddo, sliding straight into Dad’s hands, and I got down pretty smoothly too, although I was really scared. Mom stayed up there, stuck in her anger and screaming at Dad that this time they’re really getting a divorce. Oh God, anything but that! This is it, I kept thinking to myself. They’re getting a divorce. This is the end of us. Why didn’t I defend Mom and make Dad give it up? Why didn’t I do anything?

Eventually Mom managed to get down, too, with Tal and Dad holding her on either side. Last but not least was Toto. He stood at the edge of the cliff, howling, trying to find his way to us. He kept trying, getting scared and stopping, and then trying again, shifting from side to side.

Mom and Dad, in their now silent anger, said that we’d continue and he’d catch up. I was the only one who stayed behind, refusing to leave Toto on his own.

“Dad, help him! Do something or he’ll fall,” I sobbed.

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