The People of Forever Are Not Afraid Read Free

never go over to Avishag’s house anymore now that Dan’s back. She won’t let me go there.
    My sister would hear us if we went to my house, and she is the worst. You can hear anything on a landline. When my mother is on the landline, no matter how late at night, I can hear everything she says, even when she whispers, and I can hear it if she cries.
    “ARE YOU SURE?” We are shouting into our cell phones.
    Yes, Tali Feldman is sure. Her mother doesn’t want to let her have a party when the house is empty because she is worried about her daughter’s friends breaking more of her Romanian tea set, and Noam’s mom doesn’t want her daughter to have a party when the house is empty because she is worried about her daughter breaking her trust, and Nina’s mom doesn’t want her daughter to have a party when the house is empty because she is worried about her daughter’s friends breaking her daughter’s hymen, because she is a little on the religious side.
    We also find out that Lea is having a party, that she has an empty house because her mom and dad are going to get a massage at the hostel in the next town over, but that her mother says I am not invited because last time I broke a chestnut pot and Lea told her it was me. The real reason is because Avishag and I are the only ones who are not super afraid of Lea, because we played with her before she was super popular, when she still played with people instead of just playing people.
    I told Dan on the bench that day all my secrets. One of them was that Avishag and I still played with dolls. This is something we kept a secret even from Lea, ever since we were in fifth grade. It was actually better to play with dolls when we were in seventh grade, since we could think of things we couldn’t when we were younger. The dolls could puke yellow Popsicles and then cover another doll in it, before burning it. They could invent a cure for cancer or pick up smoking or go to law school. It was a lot of fun.
    When Avishag found out I had told her brother about us playing, she walked into class right at eight in the morning and opened my backpack and threw my sandwich on the floor, right there for everyone to see, and she stepped on it, and she was screaming. The tomatoes oozed yellow and red liquid on the floor when she jumped on them.
    “Gross,” she shouted. “He is my brother you sick, sick bitch. You have a boyfriend! Who do you think you are? I don’t even know you.” It was rare then too, that she cursed.
    We acted for a while like we really didn’t know each other, because really we didn’t, I would agree on that, but I didn’t know anymore if there was anyone I did know. Emuna took Avishag’s seat next to me in class. Avishag switched to sitting next to Noam.
    Then Dan went into the army. It was regular that he did, because he was eighteen, and it was regular that Avishag and I forgot about the words she said about him. But I know she thinks she doesn’t even know me. I’ll always know that.
    “Are RPG children like those tiny RPGs that don’t need a launcher?” she asks before we leave the cellular tower.
    “No,” I say. “You are thinking about the Soviet hand grenades that were also called RPGs, but no one used them bythe time it was the Peace of the Galilee War. You are thinking about the past. I’ll let you copy all the definitions later.”
Inside My Room
    We leave the hill with the cellular tower at around four in the afternoon and go home, unsuccessful at finding a place for a party. My mom usually gets in from work at five. I watch the national children’s channel until she comes.
Chiquititas
and
Wonder Shoes
and
The Surprise Garden
. Shows even Avishag would think I am too old for. When I hear my mom’s car outside I run into my room and lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. She doesn’t knock to ask how I am, and I am glad, because all I want is some quiet.
    I can hear her whispering on the phone. I stare at the ceiling for about an hour,