MY PENTATEUCH
The New Testament
"Andre will clean up"
A red steel gate, decorated, opens up in front of us and a young black man produces a big smile, aimed at me, enclosed by white teeth. "Bonjour Madame, Bonjour Monsieur", he says to us, gleeful and waving his hands. "This is Michell", Suzanna says and introduces me to him. "I have 4 people working for me: Andre, the cook and in charge of house keeping, Michel, who is in charge of laundry and ironing the clothes, and Iska the gardener. At nights and on Sundays there is a guard named Adma". We enter the garden and the house. Michel takes the suitcases. "Will you have something to drink?" "Yes". Suzanna brings bottles of mango juice and date juice and I enjoy sipping the cold tasty juices. "Come, I'll show you the garden. For two years now I've been caring for it and altering it". Indeed, the garden is well card for, and lovely and inspires peace. Papaya bushes, and bananas, mango trees, orange and lemon, flowers, grass, a swimming pool reeds, and lemon weeds, a bungalow furnished with white chairs and a table. A rock wall 2.5 meters high encircles the garden and the house and the bougainvillea bushes climb it - cuddle within it. A falcon with snipped-off wings is dosing off on one of the trees and a gray parrot leaps around in a big cage. A large black dog, appears from somewhere, and waves his tail hello. "This is good old Max, who likes petting, food and sleep".
Back to the house. The house is big and roomy and there are enough rooms in it to have several people over. The living room and the dining corner are large, from them one can get to the kitchen rooms and to the refrigerators, the laundry and the ironing room and the staff room. Another door leads to a long and wide corridor. On both its sides there are a closet room, an office, a bedroom, and two-guest room with their own shower and toilet.
"In Germany I would have never made it to a house like this", Suzanna replies
to my comment. The office rents the house, but she put a lot into it and
into its garden and now - two years later - it looks wonderful.
Seating down to eat. Salad, red papaya slices and fresh pineapple and white
wine from Germany are set on the table, to celebrate my arrival. Suzanna
puts on the disc I brought - songs of Israel - as background to the conversation
and dinner. "Make yourself at home". "If you want me to make myself at home,
then I wash the dishes". Suzanna laughs. She recalls the differences between
the patriarchal German household and the Israeli-Kibbutz household, where
the wife can lay back on the couch, after dinner, and the husband washes
the dishes. "No, there is no need for you to wash. Andre will clean up...".