“To see if he’s had breakfast. And to make sure that he does, because all morning long he’s been looking for Yoni. He even went to Sheikh Dahr, but he’ll be back soon. Then, I don’t know. Maybe to the laundry. Maybe not.”

I finally found Azariah sitting by himself in the empty recreation hall. I must have given him a start. He was sorry, but he simply couldn’t go to work in the tractor shed today. I had his word of honor that tomorrow and the next day he would work overtime to make up for it. He had already looked everywhere on the kibbutz, in all the orchards, as far as the ruins of Sheikh Dahr, but no trace. Now he wanted to die because he was to blame for everything. “Srulik, maybe you should get Little Shimon, he’s in charge of exterminating stray dogs around here, and that’s what should be done with me. Only you have to let me find Yoni first. I’m the only one who can. And lots more. Just give me a second chance, and you’ll see what I can do for this kibbutz.”

There was a panicky glint in his green eyes, which refused to meet mine, and frightened lines at the corners of his mouth. Yoni, he promised, would be back by this evening. Or, at the latest, by tomorrow or the day after. Or sometime soon. His intuition, which had never failed him, told him so. There were only two things that Yonatan had been missing. One was love. The other was purpose. Some Jewish ideal, if one might still put it that way, because something had died inside him. Unlike himself, Azariah, who had resolved to devote his life to the kibbutz, to society, to the country.

And what exactly was he doing alone in the recreation hall? He was trying, I might as well know, to put together a statement. Or a poem. A strong one. Something with the power to console and to rekindle the flame. (By the way, he really is a good guitarist. That much I’ve discovered at our rehearsals.)

“Azariah,” I said. “Listen, please. If you really want to help, there’s something I’d like you to do for me. First, calm down. It would make life easier for all of us if you tried not to be so emotional. And second, I’d like you to spend the day at the switchboard. I want you to make sure that the line is free as much of the time as possible. Someone may try to get in touch.”