When I came to Israel, I spoke very little Hebrew. I did, however, get a job as a waitress in a small restaurant in Tel aviv. I was, picking up on some words. As time went on, I began to hear words in the songs that played so quietly in the restaurant in which I worked, and although they were songs I'd heard many times before, I thought to myself that hearing and identifying words would be the first step for me in learning to speak and understand the language of my new country. For two months I worked in the restaurant, and I slowly developed a sense of the new language. Every word was a small victory.
As I was getting ready to leave one night, a group of four boys came in. They were particularly loud and obnoxious. I looked at my manager and he smiled back at me. I knew that look. It meant I would be serving them. The owner's daughter showed the boys to an empty table off in the corner. I put my apron back on and begrudgingly approached them. They placed their orders, and one boy said something I didn't understand. "I'm sorry...", I said, "Ani lo mevin". They all stopped and looked at each other, and began laughing. One of the boys said a word I recognized- "anglit", English. I looked down. I realized they, like many before them, were making fun of me. I sighed and looked back up to walk away, and as I turned, I realized that only three of the boys were laughing. One had a rather disappointed look on his face.
I went about cleaning other tables as the boys finished their dinner, trying my best not to look at them. Eventually, they left and the only sound left was the music that I'd heard so many times. I finished a table and turned around, only to realize that the quiet boy was still there. I put my tray on the bar and approached him. I picked up the other three glasses. "I apologize for my friends". I looked up. He was looking at me. I was rather stunned that he spoke such fluent English. "It's not a problem.", I replied with a faked smile. As I cleaned the table, he sat and stirred the ice in his glass with his straw. He helped me finish picking up the table without a word. "Thank you", I realized I was actually smiling this time. I picked up my tray and looked up. Our eyes met.
After I was given permission, I hung up my apron and proceeded to leave. As I put on my jacket and I reached for the door, he called out to me "Wait!". I was frozen. I didn't know whether to keep going or to turn around. "Just go, Delilah.", I thought. I turned around in time to see him running to catch up with me. "No one should have to walk home alone", he said. I tried not to, but despite my best efforts, I smiled a bit. He opened the door for me. "My name is Amir", he said with a smile. "That's a lovely name," I replied. "My name is..." He interrupted "Delilah?". I looked up at him with great surprise. "How did you know?" He laughed quietly and pointed to the name tag that I had forgotten to take off.
Amir walked me home that night. Right to my apartment door, "Laila tov", I smiled and started to unlock my apartment door. "Here", he said quietly as he took a piece of paper out of his pocket. I left the key in the door as I took it and looked at it. It had his name and a telephone number. "If you ever need a friend." He smiled, and walked away. I sighed with content and leaned against the outside of my door as I stared at the paper. I laughed. I'd made my first friend in my new home.
I fell asleep in my work clothes. The next morning I woke up and was pretty sure it was all a dream. I got up and made toast. For some reason, I had a very odd feeling about everything. I couldn't think about anything but the boy that I'd obviously dreamed about. I pulled the crust off my toast and made it into a star shape. I couldn't eat breakfast, so I decided to go for an early morning walk. I picked my jacket up off the chair and left. As I was walking down the beach, and the wind blew, I put my hands into my pockets, where I found the piece of paper. Amir was not a dream.
I ran back to my apartment. As I got in, I thought to myself, "why did you do that? You're not going to call him." I sat down at the table in the kitchen and stared at the paper. Why would he ever want to be my friend? I don't even speak his language. I decided at that moment that I was absolutely not calling Amir. I put my head down on the table. He seemed so sincere. I reached for the phone. I started to dial and hung up. I couldn't do it. I did this three times before I decided I was going to call. I held my breath as I dialed the numbers... With every ring, my chest tightened a bit more. "Shalom?", he answered. What was I going to say? What's my name? Oh shit. For a moment I lost my ability to speak... "Hi, Amir... It's..." Once again, he interrupted, "Delilah!" He had such a surprised and happy tone in his voice. It caught me slightly off guard, and I felt myself begin to blush, and smile. I was left at a slight lack of words. I should have thought about that whole "what to say" thing before I called him, I thought... But he headed me off- "What are you doing today? Would you like to go to lunch?"
I'm the kind of girl never to trust a man, never to love. I told him that I would go to lunch with him. He told me to meet him at the little restaurant down the street from my apartment. How bad could it go? I decided that I would have to test him to see what his motives were. It obviously couldn't be love. My hair was still wind-blown from my walk on the beach and I was dressed terribly. I stared at myself in the mirror in my bathroom. I got my favorite white sun dress and brushed my hair out. I decided to braid it into pigtails, and stuck my white flower hairpin in one side. I looked like something straight out of the 50's. Everything I did felt like it was taking forever. It'd only been ten minutes. I slipped on my white sandals and grabbed my book bag on the way out the door.
I walked down the busy street and although I was too scatter minded to bring a jacket, the breeze really didn't bother me. My mind was elsewhere. Wondering why he could have an interest in a girl like me. I hoped for the best, and I meant to prepare for the worst but his charm disallowed me to. Before I knew it, my relaxed walk was over and my thoughts returned to what was going on around me. I looked around, and I wondered why I'd never been here, even though I lived right down the street. Just as my thoughts started wandering again, over the noise of the cars and the people talking, I heard my name. I turned around, and there he was. I was mesmerized by his smile, and he looked so careful as he approached me. "Delilah." He said, as his smile widened. I looked down and felt myself smiling and beginning to blush again. "You look amazing". I looked up at him, as he held his hand out for mine. I took his hand, and felt myself letting my guard down. I could almost feel his sincerity. He really meant it.
We shared lunch that day. He told me about his family and I told him about mine. I told him about America and England. The wind died down to a gentle breeze. It felt like something out of a movie. We talked for over two hours. After a bit I found myself just staring at him, as he returned my gaze. The short comfortable silence between us was enough for me to notice everything about him. He had bright, happy, brown eyes and a smile as if it were crafted by God himself just to melt my heart. "What are you doing tonight?"- he asked me in a calm tone. I laughed a bit, I told him nothing. Tonight was my night off. "Would you like to see something beautiful?"... I smiled and nodded. "I have to go to work soon, but I will pick you up at your apartment this afternoon at 7:00." He took me back to my apartment. We held hands the whole way back, and it were as if we were made for each other, I felt myself falling in love.
I went home and laid on my sofa for a while wondering what he could possibly want to show me. I couldn't come up with anything that great. I guess I'll just have to wait. I kept myself busy playing with my cat and eventually I fell asleep with her on the sofa with my little stereo playing quietly.
I woke up when Amir knocked on my door. I was petrified. My dress was wrinkled and my hair was a mess. I picked up Dakota and answered the door. He took a look at me and chuckled, "You're so beautiful". I thought to myself that I begged to differ, I told him I would change my clothes and brush my hair and I'd be ready to go. He smiled and laughed a bit again, "You don't have to, just come with me. I have something beautiful to show you." I picked up my jacket and book bag, and he led me down the hall of my apartment and outside. We walked for quite a while and eventually we came to a place just outside of town. He took me down a trail and told me to cover my eyes. "Don't peek", he said with a smile. I didn't. I let him lead me for another two minutes or so. He took my hands and I opened my eyes. "Here. The only thing as beautiful as you." The sun was setting over the sea and the waves met softly with the rocks below us. "It's beautiful", I found myself thinking aloud.
He smiled at me and sat in the sand. I looked out, in pure amazement. By this time, the world, in my eyes, had regained it's beauty, and my soul had regained hope. I sat by him. I looked over at Amir, who looked as if he were day dreaming. "Thank you, Amir, for bringing me here." He put an arm around me and thanked me for giving him a chance. I leaned on his shoulder. "Delilah?", he asked softly. Without moving from his shoulder I replied with a quiet, "hmm?". He hesitated, and after a momentary pause, he changed my life forever. "Would it be too forward of me to ask you to be my girlfriend?" I smiled. "Not at all... not at all."
A year later, Amir called me and said he had to talk to me about something important and to meet him at the same restaurant as we first had lunch at. It was his 18th birthday, so it was obviously something fun. I excitedly got dressed into my now not so white sun dress that I'd had for so long.
I skipped down the street and when I got there, he was dressed in an olive-drab uniform holding a bouquet of white carnations. I was slightly puzzled. I'd seen soldiers dressed like that. Surely he hadn't joined the army, it was dangerous. I walked up to him slowly. "Amir?" He smiled that gentle smile he always had when he had bad news and didn't want to upset me with it.
"Lilah, we have to talk." Wait a minute, in my experience, that is not a good thing to hear. I stared up at him. He pulled a chair out and I sat down, he put his hands on mine. I continued to look at him. "What's going on, Amir?" I was afraid to let him answer. He sighed, I knew he saw my fear. "Lilah, in Israel, when you turn 18 you have to join the army." I stared in shock. "No." I told him firmly. "You aren't leaving me for that. Let's go back to America. Anywhere but here. Come on, lets go now. Please!"
He explained to me that it was his duty to his country to do what he was doing and that I shouldn't worry; that everything would be alright. It didn't feel alright. He took a deep breath and brushed my hair out of my face. "Delilah... Would you marry me?" I looked up into his eyes. "Of course..." I began to cry. "Amir you can't leave. We can go to England!" He just reached out to hug me. "Shh, Lilah. Don't you worry. No one's going to take me away from you."
I smiled and bit my tongue. I felt the tears rise. I faked the best smile I could before I saw the pain in his eyes and I began to cry. All I could think of was the dead soldiers they carried off in sheets in the middle of the very city I was in. It hit me very suddenly that those were people just like Amir, and that it could so easily happen to him. He made his best effort to comfort me. Although it was warm outside, I was shaking.
Two weeks later, just before he left, we were married on a gazebo on the beach, the wind blew gently and the waves whispered. It was the most beautiful day I'd ever seen in Tel aviv, amplified by the words "I do".
Ten days later, he left for the first time, and as promised, he came back once or twice a month for a weekend. We enjoyed our time together and spent most of it on the same beach where we promised each other and God that we would never leave each other's side
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