“Are you one of those Checkpoint Watch women? What do you want from me?” I asked. My throat was dry. The air rebelled, refusing to enter my body.

“I’m from Checkpoint Watch and the Mizrahi Coalition Against the Conscription of the Elderly,” she said and snickered. “Just kidding, sweetheart, honestly. Why so serious? Just say you can’t be bothered to look after your grandfather. It’s fine, really. Between you and me, we’re all a bunch of assholes here.”

I took a deep breath.

“Hey, are you okay?” Her tone lost its sarcastic edge. “You look really pale.”

“I’m fine,” I answered with a stifled voice. “Just a touch of asthma.”

“You don’t have an inhaler?” she asked. I searched my pockets. It took me a few moments to realize I actually didn’t.

“I have to get out of here,” I announced, and started scurrying toward to the exit. She yelled something, but I couldn’t hear. I was already outside the reception base. The way to the parking lot was longer than I had remembered. I made it to my car and found a bottle of sun-scorched water lying on the back seat. I downed it in one gulp. Then I turned on the air conditioner to full blast. A soldier who was passing by knocked on my window, miming if everything was okay. I gestured yes and released the hand brake. I just wanted to get out of there. I rolled out of the parking lot and pulled over at the first bus stop. It was empty. It took me a few moments to catch my breath. Once I managed to pull myself together, I headed to the call center downtown. The shift manager, a guy who had been two grades below me in high school, said it would be the last time I showed up late without notifying him.

5.

[email protected]

July 17, 2009, 02:12:35

Subject: Re: Hi Yuli

An Israeli traveler stopping by our office left behind a two-month-old copy of Yedioth Ahronoth. I have no idea why he had carried it around with him for so long. In any case, I saw Miriam’s name in the obituaries. I’m so sorry. She was a lovely woman. It’s true we didn’t always get along, but she really was a wonderful woman.

I hope you and your father are okay. Did you change your number? I called but it said the number was disconnected. Honestly, I’m not even sure this is the right email address.

Best,

Alma Rosenblum,

Emissary for the Jewish Agency for Israel in New Delhi

6.

[email protected]

July 17, 2009, 11:56:20

Subject: Re: Hi Yuli

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

[email protected]

Technical details of permanent failure:

Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain gmail.com by gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. [2607:f8b0:4001:c1b::1a].

The error that the other server returned was: