An Hour of my Life.

By Rina Bilu.

It was a hot sticky afternoon outside, but still we decided to go out for a little walk. Gideon was a bit tired, so we took my little car and drove to the city. Many young people and children wandered around the noisy shopping mall. Gideon held my hand tightly. Maybe he got scared? maybe he was afraid of getting lost? maybe…

After a long stroll Gideon asked for ice cream. As we stood by the ice cream cabinet, he chose the largest cone and said in a loud voice and shiny eyes, that he would like in his cone that ice cream, and that one, and this one and that one as well… The shop keeper did as he asked, and looked at him with a silent gaze. I was silent as well. I paid for the ice cream, and felt rather stupid.

As his happy nibbling was over, Gideon held my hand once again, and said: ‘Let’s go home now’. We went off. My tears, pouring down again… Gideon caught one tear off my check, licked it, and said: ‘not as sweet as the ice cream’.

13 August 2010.
Translated from the Hebrew by Gil Dekel.