Teenagers and twenty-something adults hung out around shops and small grocery stores, apparently unmoved by the warm temperatures of the season. She saw soldiers walking by and thought of how safe she should be feeling. But what she couldn’t see were all the seniors and families who were tucked into their private residences. Presumably those people were probably trying to cool off with what little relief their window air-conditioners could provide.
As Kerim leaned into a corner, wafts of hashish hit her sense of smell. A loud group of young men were horsing around in an alley lane. From a boom box, a rap-style song played Shalom Shady, loudly. It was a wildly popular rap star whose Hebrew/English rap songs played day and night on the TV music video channel and on the radio stations. The boys jumped around, dancing and mimicking the rapper’s moves.
Kerim decelerated and turned into a driveway in front of metal grey gates. He stopped the bike for a moment, letting the engine idle.
Cristal heard the sounds of people scrambling and voices calling out, “Kerim is back.”
The gates creaked open. Kerim rode inside the cemented lot. Gabriel greeted him and when he saw Cristal, he grinned from ear to ear.
“Hey, Cristal! Glad you finally decided to visit the bachelor pad.”
He helped her off the bike, and immediately rambled on about what he and Rinaldo had done earlier in the day.
She watched Kerim disappear into the house. He didn’t even bother to wait for her.
“Rinaldo and Raffe are inside. Come in. We just picked up pizza. I’m sure you’re starving.”
“Yeah, I’m definitely hungry, come to think of it,” she managed to say.
She followed Gabriel inside a narrow hallway and up the stairs. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, as she entered what she guessed was the living room.
The place was cluttered with shoes piled up on the side of the doorway. Tons of family photos adorned the walls, and she laughed when she saw all the books and papers piled up on the coffee table. The only modern treasure in the room was a 52-inch flat screen TV that hung on the wall next to the fireplace.
“Come into the kitchen. That’s where everyone is,” Gabriel teased while gesturing with his hand for her to follow him.
They walked into the kitchen through another dark hallway that easily was double the size of her hotel room. Rinaldo sat in one corner of the room and he was chatting with a girl while he smoked a water pipe, which was popularly known in the Middle East as sheesha. Kerim was deep in conversation with someone and his back was turned to her. She thought it was strange that no one even noticed her when she entered the room.
“Come, the pizza is on the counter. Help yourself. Don’t be shy,” Gabriel said, waving to the open pizza boxes.
She walked over, her mouth ready to bite into a juicy slice. Her eyes widened when she saw that the pizza was covered with yellow corn niblets.
“Corn?” she asked.
“It’s an Israeli specialty,” Kerim announced.
She turned and saw Kerim standing behind her. He was half-smiling, not as pissed-off-looking as he was earlier, much to her relief.
“I guess it would be impolite to refuse to eat it?” she asked, smiling.
Kerim looked over his shoulder, and said, “This is Raffe.”
Raffe was short, coming only up to Kerim’s shoulder. His skin was honey-brown colored and his hair was a pile of black curls crowning the top of his head. He was muscular, dressed in a black T-shirt and ripped blue jeans. He stared at her with eyes so black, they looked like they were filled with liquid ink.
“Ma nishma,” he said in a deep guttural voice, putting his fist up.
Cristal remembered that this meant what’s up but she forgot how to respond.
She looked over at Kerim who motioned with his hand for her to raise her fist up. Oh, yes, she thought. Kerim had taught her how to greet people with a fist pump.
Raffe smirked as he touched his fist with hers. She felt an electrical shock run through her body. Suddenly, a feeling surged through her that she didn’t understand, and everything inside her began to put her on alert.
Raffe shot Kerim a look, grabbed a bottle of beer from the counter and bumped against Cristal slightly as he walked past her out of the room. She thought she heard him say something, but she wasn’t sure.
“Don’t worry. He’s harmless,” Kerim said as he put his arm around her.
“He creeps me out,” she said. “Who is he?”
Kerim gave her a kiss on her forehead.
Is that his way of shutting me up?
Rinaldo approached both of them and asked, “So, Kerim, were you serious when you said that we’re all going to the wall tonight?”
He had an anxious look on his face.