Leonie nodded.
“I wish I could have done that, too. I barely slept because, well, because of what I told you about my … about the stench on that … woman.”
The mention of Lotte sent Leonie to her feet. “I should get to the clinic and talk to Aliza about her.”
Tedi watched her hurry out and regretted having told Leonie about her heightened sense of smell. Maybe Leonie would tell the nurse that she was crazy and ought to be locked up. Or maybe she was overreacting. Everyone seemed a bit tense today, Tedi thought; probably because of those poor guys in the locked barrack. Still, she couldn’t stop worrying about what Leonie might be thinking or saying about her, and decided to talk to her, even if that meant going to the infirmary, which she usually avoided. No amount of disinfectant, alcohol, or bleach could erase the acrid residue of terror and dread that accosted her even before she reached the door.
Two guards were posted outside; a young Arab well-known in the camp for his quick temper, and an avuncular Brit with a receding chin. As she reached the step, they lifted their guns to block her way.
Tedi pointed inside. “I have to visit my friend.”
“First you have to smile,” said the Englishman, shaking a finger and grinning so broadly that she had no choice but to obey.
“All right then,” he said and waved her in.
Though it was still early, every surface in the clinic was littered with scraps of gauze, tubes of salves, needles and probes. The new arrivals had kept Aliza busy swabbing, dressing, and dosing their blisters, rashes, sprains, and pains. She had given away all of her candy, too.
When Tedi walked in, Leonie was standing beside the nurse, holding a metal basin as Aliza lanced an ugly-looking boil on the shoulder of one of the new men.
“What can I do for you?” Aliza asked.
“I … I came to talk to Leonie,” Tedi stammered. “It can wait.”
“Hmmm,” said Aliza, assuming she’d come for a dose of penicillin. “Come back when it’s quiet and we’ll fix you right up. But on your way out, make yourself useful and take the sheets over there to the laundry.”
Tedi had to pass between two young men who were lying on cots; one of them had a swollen knee, which was propped up on a pillow. The other sat up, leaning against the wall, his face flushed and his eyes glittering.
The man with the elevated leg said something in Arabic to Aliza, who laughed and translated, “He says you are too tall.”
The feverish patient pointed at Tedi and said, “‘Ha Tikvah’? Yes? You are the ‘HaTikvah’ girl.” He sang a few bars of the anthem and Tedi smiled and nodded.
“Ahh,” he said, placed his hand over his heart, and began to sing. The words were incomprehensible but the melody ached with longing.
Tedi had never seen a more beautiful human being. His lashes were so thick, his eyes seemed ringed with kohl. His black curls lay in perfect rows across his damp forehead. He smelled of almonds.
As he finished singing, Aliza clapped her hands and said, “He was singing from Song of Songs. Love at first sight! Leonie, did you see this? Just like in the cinema.”
Tedi clutched the laundry to her chest and ran out, flattered and aroused by the baritone quaver, the olive-brown skin, and the face that reached for her like an outstretched hand.
“Foolishness,” she muttered, as she bent over to pick up a towel that had escaped from her arms. That was what her mother used to say, rolling her dark blue eyes, whenever anyone spoke about romance.
“Foolishness,” her father would echo sadly. Tedi stood up quickly, struck by the thought that perhaps her mother had never loved her father that way at all. The idea that her parents’ marriage had been loveless made her feel disloyal and lonely, and she pushed it away.
She also tried to shake off the sensation of that young man’s voice vibrating in her own chest, and the mouthwatering smell of warm almonds. That really is foolishness, she scolded herself, starring down into the barrel of laundry.
“Are you all right?”
Tedi turned to see Shayndel’s worried face. “What are you looking at in there?”
“Nothing,” Tedi said. “I was a little dizzy.”
“This is not a good time to be sick. Maybe you should have the nurse take a look at you.”
“I’m fine, really,” Tedi said.
They heard Nathan’s voice in the distance. “Twenty more jumps and I will take off my pants.”
“I think I’ll go see what they’re laughing about over there,” said Tedi. “Will you come?”