“I’d better go out then. Talk to Shimon. Get the kerosene. And I really ought to sit down with Udi too, and go over the accounts. What’s that?”

“Nothing. I didn’t say anything, Yoni.”

“All right. See you.”

“Wait a minute. Don’t wear your new jacket. Wear the old one. I’ll mend it when you get back.”

“Oh, no, you won’t, because it’ll be soaking wet.”

“We said that the rain had stopped, Yoni.”

“We said! A lot of good that does. What if we did? By the time I get back, it will be raining again. In fact, there it goes. Just listen to it come down. It’s a flood!”

“Don’t go out, Yoni. Sit down a while. I’ll pour some more coffee. And if you’re looking for something to give your Italian, why don’t you give him that can of instant we never use? I like to brew us real coffee, good and strong.”

“Listen, Rimona. That Italian! You know how he says, I’ll pour you a cup? ‘I’ll pour’a you a cup.’ You know how he says, It’s raining cats and dogs? ‘It’s rain’m catch’m dog.’ But you’re not listening. Why is it that every time I say something to you, you never listen, you never answer, you’re never there. Why?”

“Don’t get mad, Yoni.”

“Now you too. What’s the matter with all of you today? Since I got up this morning everyone’s been telling me not to get mad when I haven’t been mad at all. Suppose I feel like getting mad, then what? I have no right to? Everyone wants to argue with me all day long. You, Udi, that Italian, my father, Etan R. Everyone! It could drive you mad. Every day that crazy Italian wants to fix my boot. Every evening it’s you with that rag of a jacket, and every night it’s my father with some new job he’s cooked up. Do me a favor, will you? Take a look at this newspaper, at those Syrians my father wants peace and brotherhood with, those Syrians he’d like to take to his bed, look how they talk about us. The only thing they want is to slaughter us all and drink our blood. Hey, you’re dreaming again. You’re not listening to one word I say.”

“I am, Yoni. What’s wrong with you? I’m not your father.”

“I don’t care who you are, I just want you to listen to the rain instead of telling me that it’s stopped and sending me out for your kerosene. Do me a favor. Go to the window, you’re not blind, are you, and have a good look at what’s happening out there.”