The Promised Land (All My Love, Detrick Series) (All My Love Detrick Book 3)

by Roberta Kagan

  In many ways, except for being on the outskirts of a big city, this was not too different than the kibbutz where she had grown up, except for the intensive IDF training. In boot camp it became apparent almost immediately that Katja would best serve the Israeli army by doing office work. She was hardly strong enough to carry out the maneuvers, and the sound of gunshots unnerved her. But it was not a problem. The officers teased her and told her that she would be a great person to make the coffee for everyone else. However, there was no malice in their words. It was a good-natured teasing, and Katja never felt out of place. She learned to type and take dictation. Her boss, a six-feet-five, overbearing, strong-willed, Sephardic Jew, learned to love her because of her easygoing personality. He loved that she was always respectful and never argued. It seemed to everyone who knew her that Katja could not be driven to anger. She laughed easily and often, giving the office a pleasant atmosphere. When other soldiers were called in for meetings, Katja eagerly made coffee and then went to the kitchen and brought out a brick of halvah or a small sponge cake. She cut these in slices and placed them on a tray. When she left the room, her boss made a point of bragging about the efficiency of his secretary.

  One afternoon Katja was alone in the office. She was finishing up a typing and filing project for her boss. Once she was done, she was told that she could have the remainder of the day off. So she was rushing to finish. As she put the files in alphabetical order, she thought about how nice it would be to take some time and visit the old city. If she left early enough she could take a bus. Perhaps, since the following day was Friday, she could leave a note that she was taking the day off and spend the night in Jerusalem. For several months Katja had been meaning to do that. However, she’d been too busy and had not yet had the chance. Perhaps Mendel would want to join her.

  First, she rolled the paper through the typewriter, and then she carefully arranged it to be sure it was straight before she began to work on the final page. She checked to be sure that everything was in order. She had only one more report to finish. Her fingers found the keys and she began to type. Click, click, click . . . When the typewriter was in motion, it seemed to have a rhythm of its own; it was almost musical. Sometimes when Katja was alone in the office, she hummed tunes while she plugged along.

  There was a knock at the door.

  Katja was not expecting anyone. She got up and opened it. Her mouth flew open in surprise.

  “Elan? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m on leave. I had a little time and I knew where you were stationed so I came to see you.”

  “How did you know where to find me?”

  “I’ve got my ways,” he said, winking, and then laughing. “I happened to see your enlistment papers on a desk when I was called in for a meeting. As soon as I saw them and knew where you were stationed, I knew I had to come and see you.”

  “Where is Rachel?”

  “I don’t know. We haven’t been seeing each other. I guess you could say that she and I don’t see eye-to-eye.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that I want a wife, not a fighter pilot. I want a woman in my life who is happy to be a woman. Do you understand?”

  She understood. But she would not acknowledge the fact. To do so would be to betray her best friend. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Rachel doesn’t want a home and family. I mean, she loves kids, but what she really wants is to get into flight school. I want a wife who will give me children and be willing to devote her life to raising them.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that you two broke up,” Katja said.

  “Yes, well . . .” He shrugged. “Sometimes it is for the best to break up early. Do you know what I mean? Better now, then later when there are children to worry about.”

  Katja looked away and began walking back to her desk.

  “That’s enough about the past,” Elan said. “So . . . like shawarma? I know a restaurant around the corner from here that makes a delicious shawarma. So, how about you have dinner with me?”

  “I don’t know. I have a lot of work to do.”

  “Ehh, the work will be here tomorrow. You can’t work all night.”

  Katja was almost done with her work, but she was thinking about Rachel. Would having dinner with Elan be a betrayal? Besides, this was not her plan.

  “I really don’t think so, Elan,” she said.

  “Do you want me to beg? Please, please, lovely Katja, will you allow me to buy you dinner?” He was joking and she knew it.

  “Stop teasing me.” She shook her head and turned away to file a handful of newly typed papers. Damn, he was handsome, rugged and tan. Also, incredibly sexy in that uniform.

  “I don’t mean to be teasing you. I just came all this way to ask you to have dinner with me. The least you could do is humor me. What is a dinner? It’s not a life commitment. I’m not asking you to come home with me and meet my parents or to marry me tomorrow. I’m asking you to accompany me for a quick bite to eat. You are making it all so serious. Come on, I hate to eat alone . . . say yes.”

  She took a moment and studied him, frowning.

  “What? . . . you don’t like how I look? Maybe I’ll go and change into a suit and tie. Would you go out with me then?

  There wasn’t a woman in the world that would not grow weak at the knees just looking at him in that IDF uniform, Katja thought.

  “It’s Rachel. I don’t want to do anything that could hurt Rachel.”

  “Rachel wouldn’t care. She would be glad that we both had someone to eat with. That’s all, just to go to dinner . . . just having something to eat. Nothing more. So you’ll go?”

  He was so damn insistent, too.

  “All right. Yes, I’ll go.” Why am I doing this?

  “When should I come back here to get you? Or would you rather I picked you up at your barracks?”

  “Here is better. I’ll be ready in an hour,” she said.

  “I’ll be here and I’ll be on time. Maybe I’ll even be early,” he said, winking at her as he left.

  What the heck was she doing?

  After Elan left, Katja sat gazing out the window with unseeing eyes. She felt uncomfortable, as if she were about to do something she would surely regret. Rachel was far too close a friend for Katja to not consider how this might affect their friendship. Quickly Katja finished her work and packed up her things. Then she left the office before Elan returned to pick her up for dinner. Looking around her to be sure he was not outside waiting, she exited the building and went back to hide in her barracks.

  Chapter 58

  All night, Katja felt strange, as if any minute Elan would appear at her door. In an odd way, she almost wished he would. She liked him. It was undeniable. But then again, there was Rachel. She loved Rachel, the only sister she’d ever had. Although they were not related by blood, they grew up as close as twins. Katja did not sleep well that night. She considered contacting Rachel and asking her how she felt about Elan, asking Rachel if she would mind if Katja had dinner with him. However, even as close as the two girls were, Katja wondered if Rachel would tell her the truth. By the time morning arrived and Katja left for work, she was glad that she had decided to leave before Elan arrived. It would be best for everyone if her rude behavior had discouraged Elan and he did not come looking for her again.

  The morning was slow. Her boss had telephoned to say he would be late and asked her to straighten up a few folders and then arrange them alphabetically on his desk before he arrived. She did as he asked, then prepared a pot of steaming coffee. When Katja had first come to the army she’d not really liked coffee, but as time went by she’d found that the rich flavor and hearty aroma soothed her. The last time she’d seen Rachel, Katja noticed that Rachel had begun smoking cigarettes. Katja had tried a puff of Rachel’s cigarette only to feel as if she were suffocating; she then had an uncontrollable coughing spell. “It’s awful. Why would you ever smoke?” Katja had asked Rachel.

 
Rachel had just laughed. It had been several months since Katja had seen Rachel and she missed her terribly.

  Katja was still thinking about Rachel when her boss called again, right before lunch, telling her that he would be in a meeting all day, and if she were finished with all of her work she could take the rest of the afternoon off. He was so good to her. Katja smiled as she hung up the phone. Although Elan’s visit had interrupted her plans for the trip to Jerusalem, Katja had other ideas for the day. She would take the afternoon and do some shopping. Hanukah was right around the corner and she wanted to purchase some gifts to bring home. Mendel and Rachel would be there and so would her parents. The holidays were always something she anticipated with delight. Ah yes, and a gift for her boss and his wife, something special.

  The long awaited holiday finally arrived. Katja took a bus home with a suitcase filled with gifts for her parents and friends.

  As always, Hanukah was a splendid time on the kibbutz. Every evening, for eight nights, the menorah candles were lit while everyone stood in a circle, their faces alight with the joy of the season. Then one of the elders told the story of the Maccabees. The children sat cross-legged on the floor, their eyes wide with wonder, as the story of the rebel army who took Judea began to unfold.

  Mendel, Katja, and Rachel all arrived within hours of each other. It was wonderful for Katja to see her friends again. That night they ate crisp potato latkes with applesauce and sour cream. Then, after the prayers were said and the candles lit, they exchanged gifts. Mendel brought both girls pieces of jewelry. For Rachel he brought a silver eagle to wear around her neck.

  “When I saw this I thought it would be perfect for you because you want to fly planes. You want to soar through the sky like an eagle,” Mendel said as he helped her fasten the chain.

  For Katja he brought a white gold ring with a fiery opal stone. She opened it and gasped. “This is beautiful Mendel.”

  “It is beautiful, just like you.” He winked.

  He took the ring from the box and as he slid it on her finger she had to turn away. The emotions that she saw in his face confused her. Had he ever looked at her that way before? Perhaps she was just imagining it all.

  “Thank you, you should not have gotten me anything so extravagant,” Katja said.

  “I wanted to,” Mendel smiled.

  The girls exchanged gifts with each other and gave Mendel the presents that they had brought for him. Then they all went to sit under the stars and sing along with the guitar player. The three of them sat together on a blanket singing the old familiar songs that they had been singing on Hanukah since they were little children.

  “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, I made you out of clay. And when you’re dry and ready, oh dreidel I will play.” The group sang in an off-tune chorus while the children sat spinning their driedels playing the same games that Katja, Mendel, and Rachel had grown up playing.

  As they sang, Katja glanced through an opening between the heads of the people singing to see her parents. Isaac and Zofia sat together, her head on his shoulder their hands locked together. A pain shot through Katja’s heart as she watched them. Her father had begun to look older. She knew he was only in his mid forties, but to Katja the aging of her parents was her greatest fear. Isaac’s once thick, curly golden locks were now thin and streaked with gray. On his face, he had the stubble of a grey beard. Her mother, once slender as a reed with heavy black, wavy hair, was now thick at the waist with silver running through her locks and reminding Katja that Zofia was forty. Katja had somehow believed that they would never age. That they would always be young and always there for her no matter what. As she watched them, their mortality dawned on her. Someday they would be gone and she would never see them again.

  The night was cool. Even though she wore a thick sweater, she felt a chill run down her back. Katja shivered and almost broke into tears. “I’ll be right back, I want to go and see my parents,” Katja said to Mendel and Rachel.

  She got up and walked over to her parents, reached down and hugged them both.

  “Happy Hanukah, my precious Sunshine,” Zofia said, hugging her daughter.

  “Happy Hanukah,” Isaac said, reaching over to kiss Katja’s forehead. “We’ve missed you. After the singing is over, you’ll come back to our room. We have a little present for you.”

  She looked at them, her heart overflowing with love. Someday she would not be able to sit beside them to hug them, to hear their laughter. Why did people have to die and leave you? Why did God make us all so vulnerable? Tears began to form in her eyes, but the night and the crowd and the singing helped her hide her feelings from those she loved.

  That night Katja found it difficult to sleep. For the first time she wondered what life would be like when her parents died. She had no husband, no family of her own, only Rachel and Mendel. Katja began to feel she would like to marry soon, to have children, to redirect some of the overwhelming love she felt for her aging parents.

  In the morning, on the day after the holiday was over, Rachel and Katja packed their things at the same time. Rachel had taken up whistling and it made Katja smile to hear her.

  “You whistle like a man,” Katja said.

  “What, you think only men whistle?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Rachel smiled at her friend and then began to whistle again. Katja laughed, and then Rachel laughed, too.

  “Rach, do you ever think about getting married?”

  “Sure. Every girl thinks about it, but I can tell you this, I’m not ready. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready,” Rachel said. Then she glanced over at Katja who sat down on the edge of her bed. “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve just been to a funeral.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking crazy thoughts.”

  “Well, stop it! We only have a few more hours together. Let’s go and get Mendel and play a game of kickball” Rachel gently punched Katja’s shoulder.

  “What are you going to do when you get out of the army?”

  “Reenlist,” Rachel said.

  “I should have guessed as much.”

  Rachel laughed, “You know me so well. What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know. I feel so lost. I guess I could come back here and teach again.”

  “That’s an idea. You were really good at teaching.”

  “Thanks. But I’m not sure what I want to do.”

  “Mendel wants to go to the University. He says he wants to be a journalist or a lawyer. Nu? So what else would he want to do? What do you think about that?” Rachel said. “Going to school, I mean. Maybe you want to go to the University, too?”

  “Perhaps. I don’t know,” Katja said. She got up and walked to the window to watch the children playing red rover. They sang as they held hands. “Do you remember when we used to play that?”

  “Of course I remember. You could never break through the line.” Rachel laughed.

  “I know,” Katja said. “You always loosened your grip to let me through.

  “YOU KNEW THAT?”

  “Of course I knew. You’ve always taken care of me in your way,” Katja said.

  “Well, you’ve taken care of me, too.”

  “Rachel, can I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you promise to tell me the truth?”

  “Sure, I’d never lie to you. What is it Kat?”

  “Remember that guy Elan; the one who you brought home a few years ago for Passover?”

  “Vaguely; why?”

  “Do you have any feelings for him?”

  “I barely remember him,” Rachel said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Why?”

  “Would you be hurt if I went out with him?”

  “Have you seen him? I don’t even know where he is.”

  “He came by my office a few months ago.”

  “Is he still enlisted?”

  “I think so,” Katja said.

&nb
sp; “Then you should have no trouble finding him. Sure, go out with him. I don’t mind at all.”

  Katja gave Rachel a hug. She wondered if Rachel really felt a little stiff or if it was her imagination.

  “Come on; let’s get in a game of kickball before we have to head out. I’ll go and get Mendel. Meet me out in the field,” Rachel said.

  “All right; I’ll be out in a few minutes,” Katja said, shutting her suitcase. She felt a strange, lonely feeling as she watched Rachel walk by the window on her way to Mendel’s room.

  Chapter 59

  After Katja returned to her army base she wondered why she’d ever asked Rachel about Elan. She was not bold like Rachel. Katja would never contact him, she was far too shy. And after the way she had treated him, it was doubtful Katja ever see him again. Katja continued her weekly correspondence with her parents, Mendel, and Rachel. Each week she wrote a letter and each week she received one. Rachel never once mentioned Elan, and neither did Katja.

  Mendel was the oldest and he was done with his military service first. He surprised Katja with a visit to her base. She had just finished work and walked outside the building. There, on the steps stood Mendel. He was smiling and leaning against the railing. Katja was so happy to see him that she ran into his arms. He lifted her high in the air.

  “Kat, how are you?” He said, after twirling her around.

  “I’m doing well. How are you?”

  “I’m fine. How do you like the IDF?”

  “It’s all right. I’ll bet you’re glad you’re done.”

  “Yes, I’m glad I served, but I’m glad I’m finished. Unless there is a war and I am called back up, my life now belongs to me,” he said.

  Katja asked, “Will you go to school now?”

  “Yes, I think I will. But I was thinking maybe I would attend the University of Tel Aviv so that I could be near you.” Mendel smiled as he turned to Katja