Eagle in the Sky - Smith Wilbur - Страница 22

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them graciously, and they'll pretend to believe me.  Let me worry about

that.  Beseder, he agreed readily.

You are learning, she applauded.  Let's just try that kiss again, but

this in time in Hebrew, please.  'I love you, he said in that language.

Good boy, she murmured.  You are going to make a prize pupil.  There was

one more doubt to be set at rest, and Debra voiced it at the iron gate

to the garden, when at last he took her home.

Do you know what the Bris, the Covenant, is?  'Sure, he grinned, and

made scissors out of his first and second finger.  It seemed in the

uncertain light that she blushed, and her voice was only just audible.

Well, what about you?

That, David told her severely, is a highly personal question, the answer

to which little girls should find out for themselves, and his expression

became lascivious, the hard way.

All knowledge is precious as gold, she said in a small voice, and be

sure that I will seek the answer diligently.

David discovered that the acquisition of an apartment in Jerusalem was a

task much like the quest for the Holy Grail.  Although the high-rise

blocks were being thrown up with almost reckless energy, the demand for

accommodation far outweighed the supply The father of one of Debra's

students was an estate agent and the poor man took their problem to his

heart; the waiting-list for the new blocks was endless, but an

occasional apartment in one of the older buildings fell vacant, and he

used all his influence for them.

At unexpected moments of the day, Debra would send out an urgent signal,

and David would fetch her in a taxi at the University and they would

hell across town, urging on the driver, to inspect the latest offering.

The last of these reminded David of a movie set from Lawrence of Arabia

complete with a dispirited palm tree out front, a spectacular display of

bright laundry hanging from every balcony and window, and all the sounds

and smells of an Arab camel market and a nursery-school playground at

recess rising from the courtyard.

There were two rooms and an alleged bathroom.  The roses and wreathes of

the wallpaper had faded, except in patches where hangings had protected

their original pristine virulent colouring.

David pushed open the door of the bathroom and, without entering,

inspected the raggedy linoleum floorcovering and the stained and chipped

bath tub; then pushing the door further he discovered the toilet bowl

festering quietly in the gloom with its seat set at a rakish angle like

the halo of a drunken angel.

You and Joe could work on it, Debra suggested uncertainly.  It's not

really that bad.  David shuddered, and closed the door as though it were

the lid of a coffin.

You're joking, of course, he said, and Debra's determinedly bright smile

cracked and her lip quivered.  Oh, David, we are never going to find a

place!  'And I can't wait much longer.  'Nor can I, admitted Debra.

Right.  David rubbed his hands together briskly.  It's time to send in

the first team.

He was not sure what form the presence of Morgan Group would take in

Jerusalem, but he found it listed in the business directory under Morgan

Industrial Financeand the Managing Director was a large mournful-looking

gentleman named Aaron Cohen who had a suite of offices in the Leumi Bank

building opposite the main post office.  He was overcome with emotion to

discover that one of the Morgan family had been ten days in Jerusalem

without his knowledge.

David told him what he wanted, and in twenty hours he had it signed and

paid for.  Paul Morgan picked his executives with care, and Cohen was an

example of this attention.  The price David must pay for this service

was that Paul Morgan would have a full report of David's transaction,

present whereabouts and future plans on his desk the next morning, but

it was worth it.

Above the Hinnom canyon, facing Mount Zion with its impressive array of

spires, the Montefiore quarter was being rebuilt as an integrated whole

by some entrepreneur.  All of it was clad in the lovely golden Jerusalem

stone, and the designs of the houses were traditional and ageless.

However, the interiors were lavishly modernized with tall cool rooms,

mosaic -tiled bathrooms, and ceilings arched like those of a crusader

church.  Most of them had their own walled and private terraces.  The

one that Aaron Cohen procured for David was the pick of those that

fronted Malik Street.  The price was astronomical.  That was the first

question that Debra asked, once she had recovered her voice.  She stood

stunned upon the terrace beneath the single olive tree.  The stone of

the terrace had been cut and polished until it resembled old ivory, and

she ran her fingers lightly over the carved front door.  Her voice was

hushed and her expression bemused.

David!  David!  How much is this going to cost?

That's not important.  What is important is whether you like it.  It's

too beautiful.  It's too much, David.  We can't afford this.  It's paid

for already Paid for?  She stared at him.  How much, David?  'If I said

half a million Israeli pounds or a million, what difference would it

make?  It's only money.  She clapped her hands over her ears.  No!  she

cried.  Don't tell me!  I'd feel so guilty I wouldn't be able to live in

it.  Oh, so!  You are actually consenting to live in it.  'Try me, she

said with emphasis.  You just try me, lover? They stood in the central

room that opened on to the terrace, and although it was light and airy

enough for the savage heat of summer that was coming, it smelled now of

new paint and varnished woodwork.

What are we going to do about furniture?  David asked.

Furniture?  Debra repeated.  I hadn't thought that far ahead.  For what

I have in mind, we'll need at least one kingsize bed.

Sex-maniac, she said, and kissed him.

No modern furniture looked at home under the domed roof, or upon the

stone-flagged floors.  So they began to furnish from the bazaars and

antique shops.

Debra solved the main problem with the discovery in a junk yard of an

enormous brass bedstead from which they scraped the accumulated dirt;

they polished it until it glowed, fitted it with a new inner-spring

mattress, and covered it with a cream-coloured lace bedspread from

Debra's bottom drawer.

They purchased kelim and woven woollen rugs by the bale from the Arab

dealers in the old city, and scattered them thickly upon the stone

floors, with leather cushions to sit upon and a low olive-wood table,

inlaid with ebony and mother of pearl, to eat off.  The rest of the

furniture would come when they could find it for sale, or, failing that,

have it custom-made by an Arab cabinet-maker that Debra knew of.  Both

the bed and the table were enormously heavy, and they needed muscle to

move them, so they called for Joe.  He and Hannah arrived in his tiny

Japanese compact, and after they had recovered from the impact of the

Morgan palace they fell to work enthusiastically with David supervising.

Joe grunted and heaved, while Hannah disappeared with Debra into the

modern American kitchen to exclaim with envy and admiration over the

washing-machine, dryer, dish-washer and all the other appliances that

went with the house.  She helped to cook the first meal.

David had laid in a case of Goldstar beer, and after their labours they

all gathered about the olive-wood table to warm the house and wet the

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