A Life Worth Living (12 page)

“Sure,” he said.

Gaby pulled her bag over her head, and while trying to balance it on top of the suitcases, her phone slipped out of the side pocket. “Oops,” she said, bending down to pick it up. “I guess that’s what I get for laughing at you.”

“Yeah, that’s what you get. Here, give me your phone. It’s gross to take it into the bathroom.”

Gaby smiled and handed him her phone, letting her hand graze his for a second. “I’ll be right back,” she said again.

“I’ll be right here,” he said.

She walked to the restrooms with an extra jaunt in her step. See, some people still liked her. Who needs that dumb seminary anyway? There was a whole world out there just waiting for her to explore. Leaving seminary was a good thing. A chance to reinvent herself.

She used the toilet and then stared at herself in the mirror as she
washed her hands. She smoothed her hair and she wiped some sugary residue off the side of her mouth.

She was sure Hillel would still be waiting when she came out, and he was, playing with his phone. He put it away when she came back.

“Your bus is probably leaving soon.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gaby sat on one knee next to him, reluctant to leave him. He handed her the phone back and she played with it aimlessly, debating if she should call her mom to let her know she was coming home for good. As she scrolled through the names, she came across a contact, HILLEL, spelled out in all caps.

Without thinking, Gaby asked out loud, “Who’s Hillel?” and just as the words left her mouth, she laughed and looked up at Hillel, who grinned. “Ohhh, it’s you!”

“Yup,” he said.

“Don’t be so sure of yourself. If I wasn’t going through my phone now, I never would have made the connection.”

Hillel stretched his arm out against the back of the bench. “So you’ll call me?”

Gaby smiled. “You’re the guy. You’re supposed to call me.” Then, considering for a second, she said, “Tell you what. I’ll call you now, and then you can call me later.”

“Okay.”

Gaby pressed call on her phone and Hillel’s phone starting ringing. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressed the answer button, and said, “Hello?”

“Hello?” Gaby mimicked.

“Oh, it’s Gaby.”

“Who did you think it was?” Gaby said, her smile stretching across her face. “Do you have other girls calling you?”

“No one as pretty as you,” Hillel said with a wink.

“Wow, that’s smooth.” Out of the corner she saw the
Shiloh bus pull up. She clicked end and said in a normal voice, “My bus is here. I gotta go.”

“Let me help you.” Hillel adjusted the handles of the suitcases and started walking toward the door of the terminal. Gaby followed, holding just her shoulder bag and phone. He shoved the two suitcases underneath the bus in the luggage compartment and then straightened up.

“So,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Gaby. She leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thanks for breakfast. It was yummy.”

“Mmm,” said Hillel. He squeezed her back gently and then released her. “I’ll call you soon.”

“Okay,” said Gaby. She waved and climbed onto the bus. After getting her
Rav-Kav
back from the driver, she found a seat near a window and looked out through the wavy bullet-proof glass to find Hillel. He was already walking back inside the station, but as if he could feel her watching him, he turned around and waved goodbye.

The bus pulled into the Shiloh entrance and ground to a stop. Gaby got off and pulled her luggage from the bottom of the bus. She looked at the two suitcases sitting on the grassy plot and then up at the huge hill that stood between her and her house. As she contemplated the enormous obstacle in front of her, she realized that she hadn’t told her mother that she left school. Gaby sat down on one of the suitcases. Suddenly, she was completely exhausted. How was she ever going to get home?

The bus drove away, leaving behind a cloud of dust, and still Gaby sat. She stared at the hill in front of her as if it would suddenly disappear. It didn’t.

The entrance gate clanged open and a dusty white car drove through, a hand coming through the window to wave to the guard at the gate.

“
Allo, rotzah tremp
?” a voice called out.

Gaby jumped up in relief. “Yes!” she responded immediately.

The trunk creaked open. A middle-aged man, with a colorful knitted
kippah
perched gingerly on top of his balding head, stepped out of the car. Waving away her attempt to help him as he schlepped her luggage into the truck, he motioned to her to get into the car. A minute later, he settled himself back into the car and began driving. “
V’az, mi at
?” he asked in Hebrew.

“I’m Gaby,” Gaby answered, with a smile. Help had come in the jolliest manner possible.

“Ah,
Shalom
, Gaby,” the man said. “
Ani Motti Sperlin. V’mi at mevakeret
?”

Usually, when Gaby spoke in English, Israelis would switch to English, a language most of them seemed to know fairly well. She wondered if Motti was insisting on speaking in Hebrew in an attempt to teach her the language. Regardless of his intentions, she just couldn’t resist his jovial manner.

“No, I’m not visiting anyone. My family lives here.”

“
B’emet
!
Walla
!
Ah, at m’mishpachat Kupfer, nachon
?” he asked with a beaming smile.

“
Nachon
,” Gaby nodded her agreement.

“Okay,
az atem tz’richim lavo l'echol aruchat erev etzleinu.
”

Gaby paused for a second to consider his offer. Motti must have taken her silence for confusion because he repeated his offer of dinner and then mimed eating, while making appreciative signs signaling delicious food.

Gaby laughed. Only in Israel would people invite strangers they just met to eat a meal in their house. “Sure, that would be nice.” She definitely didn’t have anything else to do, and who knew if her mother had managed to make
shabbos
this week?

Motti pointed out his house and then drove around the block to drop Gaby off at hers. He handed her the suitcases. “
L'hitraot bentayim
.”

“
L’hit
,” Gaby said, smiling shyly. She watched the little car disappear around the corner and then turned back to her house. Immediately, her good mood vanished. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

She dragged one suitcase up the stone steps, and then went back for the next one. By the time she was ready to go into the house, she was uncomfortably sweaty.

Pushing open the door, she paused at the entrance, waiting to see if anyone was inside. Thankfully, the house was quiet and dark. Rafi must still be in school, and her mother at work.

Quickly, she pulled the two suitcases into her room and got to work, putting all of Serena’s stuff into the previously empty wardrobe. When she was done, she stood back and admired all the new, trendy clothes that were neatly folded by color and hung up by length. She never had this much, and whatever she did have, she bought on sale at TJ Maxx or Kohls. These clothes were different. They didn’t stretch out or pill after one wearing, and they fit properly. Now, if only she had somewhere to wear them…

With one final, fond pat, she took a fitted navy blue dress that would be good for the Friday night dinner at the Sperlins and went to take a shower. Telling her mother about the invite would be one way to soften the inevitable upcoming confrontation. Her mother would not be pleased when she found out that the whole seminary experiment had blown up in her face.

***

Hillel’s car drove up to the bus stop in Shiloh and stopped in front of Gaby. “Hey,” he said with a smile.

“Hey, yourself,” Gaby answered. It felt great to see him, so calm and relaxed, an island of tranquility in her turbulent world. She stood up and stopped by the driver side. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Hillel said.

“Nice car.”

“It’s a friend’s.”

“Where’s your gun?”

“I left it at the base. But if you like how I look carrying it, next time I’ll take it with me.”

“It’s okay. I think I’ll manage.”

Gaby stood there smiling stupidly for a minute, and then with a mental shake of her head, she went around to the passenger side. Hillel leaned over and gave her a one-armed hug. “How was
shabbat
?”

Gaby reflected on the events of the weekend. “At first it was really bad, but then it was really good.”

“Oh, yeah? What happened?” He reversed the car and drove through the gate, heading toward the Karnei Shomron Mall.

Gaby settled into the seat, crossing her legs underneath her and leaning toward Hillel. It was amazing how s
he felt so comfortable with him so soon after meeting him. She didn’t feel the need to act like a tough chick who didn’t care about anything. He made her feel like he was the only person in the world with whom she could be herself. “So bad part first. When my mother came home, I told her I left seminary and I wasn’t going back. At first, my mom didn’t say anything directly to me. She just started cooking and putting together the cholent, and the whole time, she was muttering under her breath about an eternal source of disappointment… obviously she meant me. And I was right there! I could hear every word she was saying. So I got really mad, and I told her what the rabbi said to me, that my whole family was crazy. There is no way in hell I’m gonna to stay in a school that thinks of me like that. I mean, am I wrong? Is it normal to treat someone like that?”

Hillel patted her knee sympathetically.

“Anyway, my mom got very upset when I said that, and she went to her room and started crying.”

“Oh, no,” Hillel said.

“Yeah, and then Rafi got mad at me for making my mother cry…” Gaby shook her head and made a face, remorseful at the memory.

“But you still went to that family’s house for the meal?”

“Yeah. In the end, I apologized to my mother, and we all went to the Sperlins. It was really nice. The mother is Moroccan, and she made such good food.”

“What, like jachnun? Uch, I hate that stuff.”

“What? You are so boring. Jachnun is so good! She also had kibe and these stuffed peppers.” Gaby licked her lips, remembering.

Hillel drew back in mock disgust and Gaby laughed at him. “But what was even better than the food was that the Sperlins have an eighteen-year-old girl, Efrat. She told me that instead of serving in the army, she’s doing national service in this hospital in
Jerusalem, I think it’s called Sharei Chesed. Does that sound right?”

Hillel nodded.

“She wants to be a doctor, and this is a good opportunity for her to get experience in the field.”

“Yeah, it’s called
sherut leumi
. It’s what a lot of religious girls do.”

“I know. You told me the first time we met.”

“You remember that?” Hillel looked at her, grinning.

Gaby smiled slyly. “Yes, I remember. Anyway, it sounded really cool. And what’s even better is that Nira, Efrat’s mother, convinced my mom to let me do it!”

“Wow, that’s amazing.” Hillel high-fived her, and then returned his hand to the steering wheel and his eyes to the road.

“Nira said that she has a friend that is a coordinator for the program and she can help me find a place. Maybe I’ll finally learn Hebrew,” Gaby added gleefully.

Hillel made an unconvincing sound. “Your Hebrew is pretty good.” He drove through the entrance gate of Karnei Shomron and pulled out his ID to show to the guard, a young man barely out of his teens, standing outside the guard booth. The guard waved him through and Hillel drove into the parking lot of the mall.

“My Hebrew is so bad. The Sperlins barely speak any English, only Hebrew, and Nira speaks French, so we had to rely on the kids to interpret everything for us. It was funny.”

“So in the end you had a good
shabbat
.”

“Yeah, and then I hung out with my friend Shira today. She’s a
bat sherut
at a kibbutz up north, and she thinks I can get a slot over there.” Gaby took a breath. “Anyway, how was your
shabbos
?”

Hillel parked the car and turned off the ignition. “Eh. I ate the meals by neighbors and then slept the rest of the time.”

“That’s terrible.” Gaby leaned over and gave him a comforting hug. Hillel hugged her back and kissed her cheek. Gaby grinned and added quickly, “You should come for
shabbos
to my house. I’ll make you a nice
shabbos
.”

“Yeah. Thank you. That sounds nice.” He rubbed her back and they both smiled at each other, sitting in the parked car.

“Do you miss your family?” Gaby asked.

He shrugged. “I have an American number and they call me a lot.”

“Are they gonna visit you soon?”

“I think for
Pesach
I’ll go back to visit them for a couple of weeks.” He looked over at her and asked casually, “Want to come with me?”

Gaby chortled. “Sure, with what money?”

“I have airline points.”

Gaby looked at him skeptically. First a bus ticket, and now a plane ticket? He had to be joking. There was no way he would take her to
New York with him. “But aren’t you so lonely by yourself?” Gaby asked, switching topics.

“I’m not alone now,” Hillel answered with a knowing smile, touching the end of Gaby’s hair gently. Then, he smacked the steering wheel. “Movie?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

At the mall, they met up with a couple of Hillel’s friends and they all sat together in the theater, watching a new psychological thriller featuring Adrien Brody. Gaby used the opportunity to hide her head in Hillel’s shoulder every time the sound track sounded ominous, missing about half the movie. Hillel laughed at her, but wrapped his arm around her and covered her ears with his hands so that she wouldn’t hear.

After the movie, they hung around drinking coffee and perusing the shops, until around midnight when the mall closed. They said their goodbyes to Hillel’s friends and Hillel drove Gaby back home.

The radio was playing soft Israeli music and the highway was quiet and peaceful, their car the only one on the road. Gaby leaned her head on the headrest and closed her eyes, feeling utterly content. When he drew up in front of her house, he put the car in park and turned to her. She sat up, smiling at him.

Hillel looked at her for a minute, and then said in a low voice, “Come here. I want to tell you something.”

Gaby leaned forward, and put her forehead against Hillel’s. “What?”

Hillel whispered, “I wanted to tell you…” and then he kissed her.

Gaby kissed him back, smiling against his lips. Finally, he made his move! She was wondering how long it would take for him to do something. She put her arm around his neck and he drew her close.

Gaby knew she had made a promise to herself not to act like this anymore, but Hillel wasn’t a random hook-up. He was different. She could trust him. “Want to come in for a little bit?” she whispered into his ear.

“Yes, please,” he said.

He turned off the car, and they got out, Gaby leading the way. “Be quiet,” she warned him.

Hillel nodded, and Gaby opened the door. It creaked in complaint, and she stood for a minute, waiting to hear if her mother would call out.

“Okay, it’s clear.” She took his hand and led him to her room, tiptoeing past the other two bedrooms.

Once the door was closed, she turned on the night light. Soft light played against the glow-in-the-dark stars she pasted on her wall and warmed the purple paint. “Do you like my room?” she asked Hillel. “I painted it myself.”

“It’s lovely,” Hillel said.

Gaby laughed and Hillel wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.

“One sec,” Gaby said. She pulled out one of Serena’s cute pajama sets, and went to the bathroom to change. When she got back, Hillel was lying in her bed, half asleep.

“Don’t fall asleep on me,” she said in a loud whisper.

“No way,” Hillel said. “I’m just resting my eyes. Come here.” He opened his arms, and Gaby settled next to him.