Teaching Music
December 1 ,2015
Shfeya
Bird, birds singing early in the morning. That was the first sound I heard on the first morning I woke up at the new boarding school. It took about one minute before that beautiful sound was muffled by the sound of the musical clock. It was blasting all over the school. Just before the radio program starts at 6:00 AM. The smell of the pine trees was permeating the air when the door opened, and the house mother walked in to make sure we were up.
There were six of us in the room: Mark from Morocco, Hezi Akerman the Fisherman son, Short Naftalie the son of the cook, Tall Avraham – also from Morocco, Shimon who was a nasty boy from the moment I met him, and myself. It took a few hours the afternoon before, for all of us to get to our room and to settle down. We introduced our selves and went to the dining room for dinner. The six of us sat on a big table with two other kids from another room.
Food was a light Israeli salad, scrambled eggs, bread, and some fruit for dessert. I don’t think I paid much attention to what I was eating, I was too involved talking with my new roommates. I learned that both Mark and Avraham came from Morocco a few years ago without their parents and were at our school for two years already. Nasty Shimon was a son of a criminal father (he didn’t tell us – Mark whispered in my ear). Shimon was picking on anyone who is smaller than him and there were a lot of them, including me. Naftali was a sone of a cook in a Jerusalem hotel. He lived in a small village on the way to Jerusalem. Hezi was a handsome boy a child of a divorce family. His father had a fishing boat, and his older brother was handicap and worked as a pharmaceutical delivery driver. I was the only one who didn’t have anything interesting to tell. My parents were happily married, I didn’t have a criminal person in my family, I didn’t even come from another country. I liked to sing, but I discovered that Hezi was a lot better singer. He even wrote his songs.
“When do we find out what is our job assignment?” I asked.
“First thing after Breakfast.” Said Mark. “I know already where I am working, I will be at the vegetable garden.”
“How do you know?” asked Hezi.
“Those of us who were here last year and spent the half of the summer vacation working here were assigned jobs.”
“Kitchen?” I almost cried, “I was promised to do some agricultural work.”
“All the positions are taken, and you are needed in the kitchen.”
It was the kitchen, as opposed to the dining room. The cooks were dressed in white with aprons and hats. There were three of them, in their fifties or so, very disagreeable. But then I met David. A small older man who was in charge of the kids working in the kitchen. When I say small, I mean very small, he was shorter than me and as skinny as I was. He had a happy face, almost a permanent smile.
“Welcome to the kitchen!” he said, extending his smile even more. “I want you to meet your kitchen partner, Matilda.”
“Hamnah hm mmm my nnn name is Haim.” I stumbled over my words. “NNNice to meet you!” I don’t know what it is with me and blonds, she had long light hair, blue eyes and a chin dimple.
“Nice to meet you too!”
“All right, follow me, you two.”
We walked to the back of the kitchen where we found 3 big pots full of machine pealed potatoes. Next to them were three upsides down milk crates for us to sit on. David had three pairing knifes.
“We are going to peal whatever the machine wasn’t able to.” Each potato had a few dents and folds where the machine didn’t peal, and we had to clean that part out. David and Matilda were talking about the summer and about what class she is taking. I was just dumbfounded; I couldn’t say one word. I was just mesmerized by the beauty in front of me.
“Be here tomorrow right after breakfast,” said David when we finished the big piles of potatoes. Unlike today, we have a lot more work.”
After lunch, I had to go to my studying session. That semester we were working in the morning and studying in the afternoon. It will change in 3 months and again three months after that. I was assigned to the middle level class – because of my low grades. Yet Dad promised me he would buy me a guitar if I improved my grades and be transferred to the level one class. This was not an easy task. I gave it all, I was reading late at night and doing my homework as soon as I got to my room. I even stayed up in class and didn’t dose off on daydreams. That part was easy, Matilda was not in my class. She was a year older than me.
The next morning, I was introduced to the big pots. When I say big, I mean huge. They are so big I could go inside and have room for three more. I was given a task to clean them. To wash them I had to get inside. Lucky for me they had a crank system to tilt them so you can empty and discard the liquids. I was handed a brush and lots of soap to dive in and scrub it well. A water hose was used to rinse it all.
“We just served eggs and hot grits,” said the cook. “I need you to wash those two pots. Use this brush and soap, here is the hose to wash.” Every morning it became my task to wash the pots from the night before for the rest of that semester. Of course, I had to sit with David and peel potatoes or other vegetables. My brand-new fancy boots, as I discovered, were not made for working in the kitchen, they were not waterproof. The smell of the boiled milk made me sick to the stomach just as every time I was thinking to ask Matilda out.
***
Teeth
I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. Have you ever had a tooth ache? I never did before. The whole side of my face was hurting. By the morning my face was swollen.
“You need to go see the nurse,” said Leah the house mother. Go right away, I will let the kitchen know you can’t make it today.”
“I will call you a cab to take you to Zikhron Yaakov. This is the address of the doctor and he will take care of you.” The nurse said as she was writing down the address. “Meanwhile, I gave you this pill. It should make you feel a little better.”
The last time I went to the dentist was a few years before when they came to our school to do a checkup to all the kids. They found a few cavities and the local dentist repaired them. It wasn’t painful but it was uncomfortable. I dreaded it this time I knew it wasn’t going to be fun.
The dentist was an older man, maybe in his 60s. He made me sit on his odd chair and started to look at my mouth. I am not sure how to describe pain. But all I can tell you is it hurts a lot. My body was so tense, I was kicking my legs hitting my fists on the chair. The doctor did give me a shot of nonvaccine on one tooth, but he did not use any numbing on my second root canal. He found three teeth that needed help. His drill was so old and shaky with all the belts turning it. And to add to the shaking sensation his hands were trembling as he was twisting the tool in my mouth and digging deeper into the root of my tooth.
“I can’t give you so much numbing medication,” he claimed. I will never know why, but trust me, it took years until I mustered some courage to see another dentist.
By the time I got back it was late in the afternoon. I went to my room and fell asleep. I even missed dinner. Not that I missed much, remember? I am a picky eater, I don’t eat milk products, I don’t like much red meat and except for cucumbers and tomatoes I don’t like many vegetables. My favorite food was and always is fruit. We didn’t get much fruit at our school either. Working at the kitchen I learned that the cooks didn’t really like kids or their job. They wouldn’t try to please anyone. Red meat was always over cooked and hard as a shoe leather. Fish was always greasy and dry on the inside. The soup had no flavor, and the cooked vegetables were over cooked. There were only a few things I liked from that kitchen. French fries and schnitzel once every other Friday. Roasted chicken, also every other Friday. And my favorite dish I came up with, was to mix the plain rice with the beat salad. If we were lucky, the dish we ate on every Saturday’s lunch wouldn’t burn or dry out was “Cholent” – an overnight dish most Ashkenazi people eat. In time I learned to like it a little.
“Where were you yesterday?” Asked Matilda, “I didn’t even see you at school.”
I pointed to my cheek and continued pealing the potatoes.
“Oh, that sick old dentist, or should I call him the cobbler? I will never go to him again.”
“I wish you went there with me,” I thought to myself, “I could use some pretty face to cheer
me up.”
***
Leah
Leah the house mother, was in her early fifties but looked like late sixties. She was tall skinny and very disagreeable. Sometimes I wondered how her husband, who was very calm and friendly, dealt with her. Every morning, just before 6:00 we would hear the radio on the PA system playing the same music just before the morning program was about to start. In time I began to hate that music for waking me up in the middle of some delightful dreams, like about me and Matilda making out. Right after the noisy music Leah would come in our room and call loudly; “good morning!” Seeing that we didn’t get up, she would try a little louder. When we still didn’t budge, she would pull our blankets and yell “GOOD MORNING!” Sometimes we wouldn’t move even after that. After all, we were talking late at night, the six of us, and we really didn’t feel like getting up so early. Leah would then go out and grab a bucket full of water and pour it on us.
We had to do something about it.
“But what?” Hezi Akerman the singer asked.
“Maybe we should sleep under the beds” Mark from Morocco suggested.
“She would still yell and scream at us” Avraham the tall boy answered with a shrug.
“I know,” said Naphtali the son of the cook, “we should put a trap for her. You know like on top of the door, with water.”
“Now you’re talking!” Nasty Shimon said clapping his hands together.
The next morning, we left the door opened a smidge in and placed a bucket full of water on top of it leaning on the wall. When Leah would walk in, she would push the door and the bucket would pour on her. We couldn’t sleep all night we were all excited and anxious to see her get wet. I didn’t even go to the bathroom, I held it till morning. I didn’t want to spoil the set up. It was just right, and we weren’t sure we would set it up that way again.
“Good morning” we heard Leah yelling as she Kicked the door in. “What the hell is that?” she yelled even louder as the bucket fell to the floor, missing her all together. “Are you trying to kill me? Anyway, it has been done before, that is why I always kick the door when I see it slightly open. Better luck next time. Now get the hell up and clean up your pig stie.” She didn’t let us off easy that day. She flipped our beds three times to show us how we should have set it right and she poured three buckets of water on the floor to make sure we washed the floor her way. Naphtali suffered the most. Nasty Shimon was abusing him verbally and physically.
“You and your nerdy ideas” he said while slapping Naphtali on his head. “Now we have to pay for your stupidity, I swear I’ll make you pay for it,” slapping him one more time, “you’ll never come up with another idea again.”
Our room was on the second floor and there was a long balcony that connected between all the other rooms. There was a railing that prevented people from falling over. The balcony was opened, protected by a metal railing. The water we used to wash the floors had to be pushed down over the edge of the balcony. I was holding the rubber mop and pushing the water slowly over the edge when I saw Leah coming out of the girls’ room downstairs and walking outside the hallway. I couldn’t be happier at that moment. I backed up, angled the mop just right and when she walked under our door, I just pushed the mop strong enough to shove a good amount of dirty water right on Leah’s head. Of course, I backed up into the room holding my hand on my mouth and trying not to laugh. I was dying to look out to see her, but I knew that she would punish me. So, I had to stay and listen to her yelling and cussing. Only after she had walked toward her home to change, did I peek to see her all wet and dirty.
When she came back, we were all on our way to class and she couldn’t tell who got her wet. I kept quiet and didn’t tell anyone, although I think that Hezi the singer saw me do it, but he too, didn’t tell anyone.
“What are we going to do next?” asked Shimon the brut, the next evening. “Naphtali, you are the one with all the ideas why don’t you come up with something new? We have to do something about her.”
“How about we all sleep naked?” asked tall Avraham. “You know, she’s an old lady and she would die just seeing us like that, and if she sees my big…”
“Oh, shut up!” interrupted Nasty Shimon, “if I have to hear about Avraham’s big dick anymore.” Shimon lost the bet to Avraham the last week. They were arguing about who’s sexual organ was bigger. Now Shimon couldn’t bear the defeat.
It was agreed, we all slept naked and that time we really slept. We were all tired from the night before and we didn’t even stay up to talk late.
I was woken up by a sharp laugh. I didn’t even hear the nasty music that comes every morning. Not even the “Good Morning” yell from Leah.
“What do you think I am?” She was laughing.” Did you think I never saw a naked boy in my life? I have three boys older than you and I had to wash them all. Not bad Avraham, but I’ve seen bigger…”
We just could not believe our ears. That old dame didn’t even care that we were naked. She pulled the blanket out of each of us and walked out yelling. Better clean your room before I come back. This time I was waiting for her and I collected all the dirty water I could muster. Again, just as she was walking under my room, I gave a strong shove and got her all wet.
“You idiots!” Would you look before you push the water? Look at me, I’m all dirty and wet. Now, from all the rooms next to me I saw kids looking and giggling. But again, I kept quiet and didn’t tell anybody. That night we were all talking about the wet Leah and we were laughing aloud. “Now if we could just get her to stop being so nasty in the morning” said Mark from Morocco. I think I have an idea I said quietly. I didn’t want to get Nasty Shimon too excited. He could get on my case just as he did to Naphtali.
It took some doing but two days later I managed to get the supply I needed. I had to go to the barn where they keep the cows and get a long rope. I went to the infirmary and asked for some baby powder, and from the supply room where Leah’s husband worked, I got some white sheets. Our room had a tall ceiling with beams stretched across. I had to climb on top of our closets, jump to one of the beams and while hanging on it, I tied the rope and jumped down. The next morning, I was woken up by my friend David Twito who milked the cows very early in the morning. I pulled on the rope to make sure it was still tight, wrapped it around my neck, dropped the remainder through the pajamas and stepped on the end. I rubbed some baby powder on my face to look pale. All I had left was to wrap myself with a sheet and waited.
When I heard Leah coming closer to our room, I leaned a little to the side to give the illusion that I was hanging from the ceiling and waited for her to come in.
“GOOD MOR…” She didn’t finish her sentence. Leah saw me and fainted. She fell to the ground in a big crash. It took a bucket of water to wake her up, but by that time I pulled the rope down and hid it away like nothing happened. When she opened her eyes, she saw me again but this time I was dressed in my pajamas and looked at her so innocently that she almost fainted again, but Mark helped her up. She was not sure if what she saw was real or a figment of her imagination.
“What happened?” I asked, “you walked in and dropped to the floor. We thought you had a heart…”
“You were….” Leah started to say.
“Were what?” I asked as she was pointing to the ceiling beams.
“I thought you were dead. I’m sure I saw you there hanging.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m all wet, I better go change” she said quietly and struggled to get up.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” I asked quietly and helped her up.
“Yes, I’m sure” she said walking out all humiliated and upset.
***
