Yonatan didn’t answer. He laid his broad, ugly hand on the table close to Rimona’s pale, thin fingertips, taking great care not to graze them. The contrast with his own stubby fingers with their hairy knuckles and nails black from engine oil pleased and soothed him. In some enigmatic way it seemed not only just but comforting.

“When do you intend to do it?” asked Rimona.

“I don’t know. In two weeks. Maybe a month. We’ll see.”

“You’ll have to tell your parents. There’ll be all sorts of meetings. Everyone will talk about it. There’ll be lots and lots of talk.”

“Let them talk. What do I care.”

“But you’ll have to talk too.”

“I have nothing to say to them.”

“And I’ll have to prepare all kinds of things for you to take with you.”

“Please, Rimona. Do me a favor. Don’t prepare anything. What’s there to prepare? Nothing. I’ll just throw a few things in my knapsack and take off. I’ll just pick up and go.”

“If you’d rather I didn’t, I won’t.”

“Right. All I want is for you to keep cool during the next few days. And if it’s not too much to ask, to try not to hate me too much.”

“I don’t hate you. You’re mine. Will you be taking Tia?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about her. Maybe. Yes.”

“Do you want to talk some more? No, you don’t.”

“Right.”

She fell silent again. Yet it was not an ordinary silence. It was as if she were listening, as if now that the talking had ceased she could concentrate on hearing alone. After a brief interval she took his hand in both her own, glanced at his watch, and said, “It’s almost eleven now. If you’d like, we can listen to the news and go to sleep. We have to be up early.”

Yonatan felt her fingers on his wrist. A moment later he felt them on his shoulder, because he still hadn’t answered. Was she saying, “Listen to me, Yoni, what I wanted to say was that it’s almost eleven and you’ll miss the news, and besides, you’re terribly tired and so am I, so let’s go to sleep”?

Her fingers were still on his shoulder. His hand reached out and groped for the coffee mug on the table, but when he raised it to his lips, it was empty.