final_thp_2ndedition

2005.
GAZA STRIP
It was 8p.m. when I
got a call from the infirmary.
Ariel was refusing treatment
again. He would only talk to
me, since our cousins were
married, and I was the closest
thing to family on the medical
staff in Gaza.
“No, no, don’t
apologize. I understand,
I’m coming in now,” I said
as I hung up the phone and
put out my cigarette. As I
entered the infirmary, I heard
Ariel coughing wildly down
the hallway, mixed with
shouting. When I entered
his room, his nurse threw an
inhaler at me.
“He’s yours now,”
she said as she stormed out
of the room.
“You’ve been wreaking havoc
again, Ariel,” I said as I gave him an
inhaler to calm him down.
“Thanks for coming, Udi,” he
said as he took a puff from the inhaler
and lay back in exhaustion. I looked
around the room, which had standard
military medical decor: White walls,
a bed, a desk, two chairs, a sink, and
an old, round-screened television
on a counter in the corner with the
news channel on. The only difference I
noticed was a small, miserable looking
Sabra cactus by the television on the
counter. It seemed emaciated and
abandoned like one of the stray cats
that roam the streets of Tel-Aviv.
Ariel had been acting strange
since he checked into the infirmary
with a high fever three days prior,
just after a successful raid. He had
frequent night terrors and outbursts
with the nurses, and was persistent in
his refusal of treatment from anyone
except me. I assumed all this behavior
was a result of his feverish delirium.
His commander was concerned for
his health too, since Ariel was the
machine-gunner in his squadron.
More importantly, his commander told
me, Ariel was the best paratrooper
he’d worked with in Gaza. I took his
temperature; it read 39.8 ° C. I picked
up the stack of medical papers.
“Your blood test results just
came in this evening,” I said, “and
it turns out you have pneumonia.
Sure explains why these antibiotics
weren’t working. We’re putting you
on stronger ones. You should be better
in a week, but a lighter cough may
persist for a month or two.”
I handed him two pills and a
glass of water.
1 Achi: Slang; Literally, “My brother” in Modern Hebrew, but used as term of endearment or friendship.
2 Kushi: Slang for a dark-skinned person of African descent in Hebrew, with derogatory connotations similar to the American-English
word “Negro”
3 Midrash: A rabbinical interpretation of an ambiguous passage in the Torah. Often imaginative
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