60 – Brooklin, Maine
Chaim Levi and Debra Reuben woke late. Both were exhausted, physically and emotionally, by their love making. Reuben got out of bed first. She showered, then went to the kitchen. Levi lay in bed, listening to the rattling of pots and plates and soon smelled something pungent, onions being sautéed most likely, and he heard the sound of a fork whirling around a bowl, scrambling eggs. Time to get out of bed, he thought.
Skipping his own shower, Levi dressed quickly. By the time he got to the kitchen, Reuben was almost finished with Swiss cheese and onion omelets, freshly toasted five-grain bread from the Blue Hill Cooperative market already on the table, and a pitcher of fresh-squeezed orange juice on the counter with two glasses next to it.
“All of a sudden I feel extremely domestic,” she said when Levi walked into the kitchen. “I feel like cooking for you. Sit. I’m serving you today, but just for today.”
“Sounds good to me,” Levi answered. “But after we eat, we need to talk. I didn’t tell you before, but Abram said he and Sarah would be coming up here tonight, after dinner, late. We need to make some decisions. Before they get here.”
“Decisions about Abram’s bomb, you mean?” Reuben asked. “It sounds like he’s already made that decision, him and those three boys of his. I don’t think we could stop him if we wanted to.”
“You’re probably right about that,” Levi said. “But, of course, he’s not the only one with a bomb.”
Reuben looked at him quizzically.
“You’re not going to play some macho game with Abram, are you, like my bomb’s bigger than your bomb?”
“As a matter of fact,” Levi said. “My bomb is a hell of a lot bigger than his bomb, not that size matters.” He smiled at his joke.
Reuben had not reached the point where she could laugh at atom bomb jokes.
“Of course size matters.” She saw his face drop. “When it comes to bombs, dummy. There’s a hell of a difference between a van full of explosives and what is in our cellar.” Any hint of laughter left her voice.
“The other thing is,” she said with a hint of menace, the first time Levi heard the voice that had directed two jet pilots toward their targets, “we haven’t reached the community property stage when it comes to nuclear weapons. That’s still my bomb, not yours. I have final say over what happens to it, whether it gets sunk in the ocean or dropped on, on wherever. We are still in agreement on that point, right?”
“Yes, it’s your bomb, not mine,” Levi answered quickly. “But to be perfectly accurate, it isn’t your bomb either. That bomb belongs to the State of Israel and it gets used, when it gets used, to protect the State of Israel. You agree to that, don’t you?”
“Of course I know that, Lieutenant Levi.” She drew out the pronunciation of his rank, looooo-tennnnn-ant. “Remember which of us has more experience than the other in using these things for the purposes of the State of Israel, OK.”
“Yes sir, Madam Cabinet Minister. Now that we’ve got these technical details cleared up, let’s talk about whether we tell Abram about our Thing in the basement,” Levi said. “What do you think?”
Reuben sighed. “To be honest, the sooner we get rid it, the better I’ll feel,” she said. “I did some research yesterday on the Internet.” She paused when she saw a scowl on Levi’s face. “At the library. I walked to the library and used the computer there, OK?”
“OK, just be careful.”
“Do you have any idea whether we are frying our genes being so close to that thing for so long?” she asked. “Did they give you any training in the Navy about how to handle radioactive stuff?”
“No,” Levi said. “Remember, the government denied having any nuclear weapons, even though everybody knew we had hundreds of them. Everybody knew it was a big lie that we had none.”
“As it turned out, not such a big lie, just a little one,” Reuben said. “I found out at Dimona we only had a few bombs. The little lie was that we had none. The big lie was that we had hundreds.
“Anyway, I’ll feel better when we turn that thing over to somebody else. But Chaim, I don’t think that somebody is Abram. He’s too ready to blow things up. I’d almost rather give it to Sarah, she’d march her feet off first and only use it after everything else failed.”
“You can’t tell Sarah and expect her to keep it secret from her husband,” Levi said.
“I know that,” she replied. “That’s why I think we should keep our secret a bit longer.”
“I agree,” Levi said. “It’s only a secret until we tell somebody else. Once we let it loose, who knows what will happen. Let’s at least see what happens with Abram and his disciples this weekend.”
Debra Reuben was surprised at how pleased it made her feel that Levi spoke about keeping secrets using almost the same words her father used.
“It sounds as if it will be an interesting weekend in many ways.”
“I would probably choose a different word,” Levi said. “But you and I will be glued to the TV all weekend, I expect.”
They spent the day wallowing in domesticity, interspersed with naps in the queen sized bed.
Sarah and Abram arrived shortly after dinner. They stomped into the house without speaking. Sarah confronted Levi immediately after she walked into the living room and saw him reading on the sofa.
“I can’t believe you aren’t going to stop him from this insanity,” Sarah shouted at Levi.
Before Levi could answer, Abram spoke, his voice louder than his wife’s.
“Sarah, we’ve been through this,” he said. “It is not Chaim’s decision, any more than it is your decision. It is my decision, well, mine and the men with me. And the decision is made. It is done. Sealed. Finished. Wheels are in motion that can not be stopped.
“We are all fighting the same fight, all working for one thing, to get the United States government to rescue Eretz Yisrael. You are going to use words. That is legitimate. I respect you for that. A Jew will never tell other Jews not to talk, not to argue, not to use reason and logic to persuade. OK. Talk yourselves blue. Sing all your songs. Carry your signs. But nothing will come of it. I know that. You know that.
“I am taking another path to the same goal. My way works. You know it works. My way drove the British from Palestine and created Israel. My way even drove the Jews from Gaza and created the new Palestine. My way will get the United States to act, to do what is right.”
Abram glared at his wife.
“So, I’m going to march and you’re going to set off bombs and you think that together something will change?” Sarah said. “I think your bombs may counteract my peaceful demonstration, that’s what I think.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Abram said. “Sarah, I love you. You know that. But you can not convince me that I am wrong on this. However, perhaps fortunately for you, it turns out I don’t have the final word on this. There are some, well, some people in Boston, people I respect in the movement, the old movement and the present one. They are not so sure I know what I am doing with this stuff that I have. They want to hear from our explosives expert before giving final approval.”
He saw the surprised expression on Levi’s face.
“I told them about you in general, only in general terms, no name, no identification, no exact location. They want to see you. Tomorrow afternoon in Boston. I wrote directions for you. They’re in the car.”
“We drove up in two cars,” Sarah said. “We’re leaving in the morning, back to Portland. You can drive to Boston in the Honda later in the day.”
“You want me to drive to Boston alone?” Levi asked. “Can’t one of you come along?”
“No, I have to supervise putting all my little bits and pieces together,” Abram said.
“And I have signs to paint,” Sarah said. “And a speech to write, a short speech, but a good one.”
“All right,” Levi said reluctantly. “I’ll go. I don’t know what I can contribute, but it beats staying here and watching TV.”
Levi saw the horrified look on Reuben’s face.
“How can you leave again, Chaim?” she asked. “I thought I’d stop breathing when you went to Portland.”
“Stop worrying. Nobody even knows we exist,” Levi said. “I’m more worried about where I can stay in Boston. It sounds like I’ll be away overnight again.”
“Stay in Portland with us,” Sarah said. “You can spend the night at our house. It’s only two hours from Boston.”
“You can help me with some heavy lifting in the morning. We’ll be loading the van,” Abram added. “Bring work gloves.”
“And after that you’ll come right home. And you’ll be very, very careful,” Reuben said.