“Lower your head and keep your eyes on the floor,” he told Yanai, and before he managed to explain, the door opened and Bejo was standing there.

“You have twenty seconds to put your berets on backward, take off your boot blousers, and enter the room silently,” he said, and we quickly followed the orders.

6.

KORCZAK WAS THE first to enter, then Yanai and me.

“Salute your seniors,” Bejo demanded, and told us to stand against the wall. We obeyed. Eight or nine seniors were sitting to our left on two frayed leather couches, looking at us with the solemn expressions of a grand jury. Sakal was standing in front of us, in the middle of the room, in a puffed fleece jacket and green baseball cap, the Israeli flag and company symbol hanging on the wall behind him. He was holding the seniors’ stick—a thinly carved branch that granted its holder the authority to rule on matters of seniority, and served as an unconsoling consolation prize for those who were about to be discharged.

“Soldier, state your name, rank, and personal number,” Sakal said.

Yanai replied. His beret fell on the floor, but he didn’t notice.

“You’re charged with breaking three rules,” Sakal announced. “Entering the company commander’s room without permission, eating cheese, and the unauthorized use of a toaster. Are you ready to be tried before the higher court of rookie affairs?”

Yanai nodded.

“Excellent. And do you plead guilty?”

“No,” he stuttered, still staring at the floor as Korczak had told him to.

Sakal smiled.

“Then let’s move on to the witnesses,” he said as he turned to the seniors on the couches.

“Who here was near the canteen and saw a soldier leave this room with a grilled cheese?”

Three soldiers raised their hands.

“And can any of you point to the perpetrator?”

The three of them pointed at Yanai. Sakal, who seemed amused by the entire situation, shrugged.

“Three against one,” he said, and waved the stick in the air. “Off with his head!” he yelled.

Yanai whimpered, recoiling as if a stray ball was heading in his direction. He tried to shield his face with his right hand.

The soldiers on the couches started laughing.

“We’re just fooling around, cupcake,” Sakal said with a smirk. “Don’t worry, we’ll knock you around for half a minute and call it a day.”

“Sakal, you’re fucking brutal, man, cut him some slack,” one of the seniors called out. “He’s about to piss his pants.”

Sakal took two steps back. “You’re right, twenty-nine seconds,” he said, and grabbed Yanai’s neck. “And remember it’s only ’cause I got a soft heart, you know you deserve worse.”

Yanai looked up.

“Wait!” Korczak roared. “I’m his advocate, right? Give me one minute and I’ll prove to you he’s innocent.”