And what comes next? Oh yes. Rimona, once I found her, remembered that when she got back last night from serving refreshments to the members of the Jewish philosophy group (“When was that?” “Late.” “Yes, but when?” “About three-quarters of the way through the rain”), she found the two of them awake. A little tired though. Kind to each other, “like two little boys who have fought and made up.” They were kind to her too. And then went to bed. As did she. (Whether they were kind to each other after that as well, I didn’t try to guess. What do I know?)

“And when did Yoni leave?”

“In the night.”

“Yes, but when?”

“Late. When he had to.”

I asked her what had happened in the morning. Azariah woke up. He thought he’d heard shooting. He wakes up often thinking he hears shooting. Sometimes she thinks she hears, too. When they saw that Yoni was gone, he began to run all over.

“Who did?”

“Zaro. Yoni wouldn’t have. Yoni takes his time. He never runs.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Yoni is tired.”

In short, Azariah dashed to the tractor shed, and to the dining hall, all over. And what did Rimona do while he was running? She checked to see what Yoni had taken and what he had left behind. He took what he always did when he gets called by his army unit in the middle of the night. Because sometimes that’s when they come for him. Why then was she so sure that the army hadn’t called for him last night too? I couldn’t get a straight answer, only “This time it was different.”

What did she do then? She sat and waited. Then she dressed, and made the bed, and cleaned the room. And didn’t go to work in the laundry. And gave Tia her breakfast. And waited some more. What was she waiting for? She was waiting for it to be seven-fifteen. Why seven-fifteen? Because that’s when Hava and Yolek get up. And that’s when she went to tell them that Yonatan had left in the night. And that they shouldn’t be upset.

And then what happened? Nothing. Nothing? Nothing. Hava was upset. And what did Yolek say? What did he do? He hid his face in his hands and sat quietly in his chair. And Hava stopped talking too and looked quietly out the window. That’s when Rimona left quietly and went to look for Zaro.

“Rimona,” I said. “I want to ask you something. Please try to concentrate before you answer me. Because it’s important. Do you have any guess where Yoni might be now?”

“He’s gone.”

“He certainly is. But where?”

“To look for something.”

“To look for something?”