Ben-Haim sighed deeply and rocked back and forth in his chair. “How many times have those words been spoken? The war to end all wars. Have they ever been true?”
“No. But they could be now,” Dvora insisted. “Turn it on again, Jan. Let’s hear the end of it.”
It made a lot of sense — or nonsense. Jan felt himself as entrapped as the Israelis. Basically the one thing he wanted to do with Thurgood-Smythe was kill him. Instead he found himself working for him. He shook his head in wonderment and reached out and touched the button.
time to leave the ghetto again. So think carefully about what I have said. Weigh your decisions. Take the Knesset into your confidence and ask them for a decision. There are no separate parts to this proposal. You must accept it or reject it. It is all or nothing. This is the only argument from me that you will hear. There is time, but not very much, to reach your decision. The attacking fleet will be here in approximately ten days. Your attack will take place just before dawn on the date that you will be given. You have four days to decide. On next Friday night your radio station will be broadcasting the usual weekly memorial service to honor those who have passed on. If you wish to take part simply list Jan Kulozik’s name among the noble dead. He is not a superstitious man so I am sure he will not mind. However, if you decide not to participate in the salvation of mankind simply do nothing — since you will be doing nothing. You will not hear from me again.”
“Such guilt he gives us,” Ben-Haim said as the screen went dark. “Are you sure he was never trained in theology?”
“I am sure of nothing about my brother-in-law. Though I am sure now that all of his earlier background is his own invention. Perhaps he is the father of lies, just as you said. What will you do next?”
“Just as he commanded. Take the proposal to the Knesset our parliament. Let a little of the responsibility and guilt slip off onto their shoulders.”
Dvora and Jan left the room when Ben-Haim turned to the telephone. They had not noticed, because of the automatic lighting, that darkness had fallen while they had been listening to Thurgood-Smythe. They went out onto the balcony, not speaking, each of them wrapped in private thought. Jan leaned against a pillar and looked out at the ascending lights of the town, where it climbed up the side of the darkened valley across from him. It was a moonless night and the stars burned clear and sharp, filling the sky as far down as the black cutout of the horizon A world at peace, comfortable and secure. And Thurgood-Smythe wanted them to give it all up, to go to war for an ideal. Jan did not envy them their decision; his had been easy enough to make. Turning around he saw that Dvora was sitting on the couch, quietly, her hands folded in her lap.
“You must be hungry,” she said. “Let me fix you something.”
“In a moment. What do you think the Knesset will do?”
“Talk. They are very good at that. Just a bunch of old men who prefer talk to action. Thurgood-Smythe should have given them four months to make their minds up instead of four days.”
“Then you don’t think they will decide?”
“They’ll decide all right. Against the idea. Play it safe, they always want to play it safe.”
“Perhaps that’s how they got to be old men.”
“Are you laughing at me? Let me see your face.”
Dvora pulled him down next to her on the couch and saw that, indeed, he was smiling. She could not help smiling back.
“All right, so I am getting angry over nothing. It hasn’t happened yet. But it will, just as I said it would. Then I’ll get angry. But if that happens what will you do? In case they say no.”
“I haven’t begun to even think about that possibility. Go back and get in touch with Thurgood-Smythe again, I imagine. I just can’t stay safely here when the fate of everyone in the world — all of the world — is being decided. Perhaps I can still contact the attacking fleet, tell them what I know. There’s no point in trying to decide before I have to.”
While he was talking Jan realized that they still had their hands clasped together; neither would pull away from the bond. What am I thinking of, Jan worried, then became aware that he wasn’t thinking at all. But feeling, reacting physically. And he knew, without asking, that Dvora felt the same way. He wanted to question the sensation but did not, was afraid to. When he turned toward her she was already facing him. Then, without conscious effort, she was in his arms.
An unmeasurable space of time passed before she drew her mouth away from his, but still held him tightly in her arms. Her words were only a whisper.
“Co me to my room. This place is far too public.”
He stood up when she did but tried hard to express the tiny niggle of doubt that tapped at him.
“I’m married, Dvora. My wife, light-years away…”
She touched her finger to his lips.
“Shh. It’s chemistry, not matrimony I have in mind. Just follow me.”
He did. Quite willingly.
“We never did get anything to eat,” Jan said.
