All The Lives We Could Have Led: A Novel by Eshed Dagan

Author:Eshed Dagan [Dagan, Eshed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

“What?!” Gali shouts. “Did he say that? He should be ashamed! I feel sick. Something here is not right, something stinks between him and his sister. It looks to me that you have inadvertently peered into some really sick setup. Wait, go on,” she demands, “more importantly, what did he answer you?”

It was hard for him, I say, he felt attacked and accused.

While answering Gali, I’m sure I hear a voice over my shoulder whispering to me: ‘Here you are, apologizing on someone else’s behalf – again.’

“He said he owes his sister his life. He was really tormented when he told me how she saved him, stood by him through rehab, even went into debt with a loan shark...”

“Wow, really exciting” – she cuts me off – “but what does that have to do with you giving him what she can’t?”

I don’t cooperate with this investigative inquiry and continue to justify Nevo:

“He told me his sister is an angel. She was there for him, one hundred percent, at the lowest point in his life. Since then, she’s been his partner in everything. Suddenly, when I appear on the scene, he’s less available to her. Understand?”

Gali’s eyes flash with rage.

“Some angel! She’s anything but! As I understand it, she has a very great interest in separating you two, and I don’t think it’s necessarily out of concern for him, but out of her possessiveness. I can’t stand people like that, they’re assholes. Full of self-righteousness. Such a control freak that even letting go of her own farts must be difficult for her.”

The last statement makes Gali and me laugh our evil laugh together. Here we are again, like before, two witches riding a tandem broom.

“She should get a life!”

She continues the momentum of her speech and I no longer know what is choking her more, hysterical laughter or the lump of sarcastic bitterness stuck in her throat.

“He’s not stupid. I tried to get us back together, but apparently his sister has her hooks in him. This tug-of-war between us is too much for him.”

“Avia, he knows you’re right, but try to get into his head for a minute: after everything she’s been feeding him lately, saying that he’s actually your rebound, that you’re just using him... do you think he wants to lose the only stable thing in his life, his sister? For you? Let’s not forget what we both know, which is that she’s ensnared him, she’s his noose. She’s got him good. He’s not going to risk losing her for somebody with whom the future could be temporary and shaky. You see what I’m trying to say? You have to understand his position. In the meantime, he shares his life with both of you, a foot here and a foot there. It’s beyond him. This is a man who can’t remember the last time he took responsibility for anything. Hon, you expect too much from him.”

Gali is silent, I am silent. The whole room is silent. She looks at me as if I’m under the blinding light of an interrogation and waits for a response.

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