Crack-Up
Published in Issue #11 Translated from Hebrew by Barbara Harshav(Excerpt from a Novel)
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Joel was killed on October 30th, a hazy cloudy day, and he, Elhanan, moved in with Yael, a little more than a year later, about the middle of November, another hazy cloudy day that started with a light drizzle, but he simply couldn’t remember the date, how come he didn’t remember the date, after all that date changed his life, how come he didn’t remember the date that changed his life and only that it was a hazy cloudy day that started with a light drizzle, and that Mrs. Stein, the neighbor across the hall, the first one to see him go out with his case in the morning, smiled a small smile, just like Mrs. Stern next door smiled the next day, and said, Good morning, Dr. Gill, and got into the elevator behind him. In the elevator, she said: Autumn’s starting, and he said: Yes, autumn’s starting. Autumn a little early, she said, and he said: Yes, autumn a little early. Meanwhile, the elevator stopped and Mrs. Stein said again: Good morning, Dr. Gill, have a nice day, and went to the mailbox to take out her newspaper, and he rushed out the front door, ran to the car and left.
The clinic was still empty, and only good-hearted Rebecca was sitting in the nurse’s room, drinking tea. She too said: Good morning, Elhanan, you’re not wearing a coat and it’s drizzling and you don’t even have a spare shirt here, and he said: Never mind. Good-hearted Rebecca said:...
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