exclaimed, with all the frost thawing from his voice. When you say it
straight out like that, it almost blows my mind. Me too, Debra
confessed. But one condition is that we wait until we have our own
special place, you may recall that I'm not so high on public beaches or
rocky islands. I'll never forget, David agreed. Does this mean that
you don't want to marry me? He found his mortal terror of matrimony
fading under this slur on his potential marriage worth.
I didn't say that either, Debra demurred. But let's make that decision
when both of us are ready for it. 'Right on, doll, said David, with an
almost idiot grin of happiness spreading over his face.
And now, MajorMo an, youmaykissme, 'shesaid.
. rg But do try and help me remember the conditions. A long while
later, they drew a little apart to breathe and a sudden thought made
David frown with worry.
My God, he exclaimed, what will the Brig say! He won't be joining us,
she told him, and they both laughed together, excited by their own
wickedness. Seriously, what will you tell your parents? I'll lie to
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