The Bean Seed / Grazing Fire
Published in Issue #30 Translated from Hebrew by Yaron Regev subscribe to unlock the full storyThe Bean Seed
Back in the day, we moved a long way from the center of town, which made me feel like we’d gone to live in the Wild West. And yes, the air was filled with a sense that the place wasn’t safe, that the good old middle class moral code hadn’t yet reached it. We befriended a couple who lived downstairs. I would go visit them with my eldest daughter, who mainly liked to have fun and play with Lardal, their giant of a dog whose breed I was never quite able to identify. My daughter was very curious about the dog and often asked, “Mommy, is Lardal their son?”
I felt a certain sense of relief finally meeting people who weren’t subjected to the tyranny of the traditional family structure, though there was a certain desperate tone in their conversations with Lardal, even when we were present. One of the couple, the husband or the wife, would ask the dog, “Lardal, do you want to go out and play?” Or, “Lardal, are you hungry maybe?” And they explained to my daughter that if they listened hard enough, they could always understand what Lardal wanted.
One day when we went to see them, they almost refused to let us in. They did not spell it out in so many words because of the little one, but I understood.
Someone had killed Lardal.
My daughter asked, “Where is he?”
“He’s probably gone...
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