Round Noon

Round noon Avni had left the path and climbed a short distance into the forest. He'd travelled only one-third of the journey, but he was hungry and needed a break. So he’d eaten a sandwich and rested in the shade, hidden from the path. He did not care to meet anyone.
He hadn’t met anyone. Then, in the afternoon, he’d started feeling tired from the long climb uphill, and he’d also felt concerned that he might not find the hut or that Andreas was wrong after all and it had been destroyed or vandalised. The valley could only be accessed by road from the south-east, and the invading army, advancing along the main routes from the north, had not ventured far into that natural cul-de-sac made up of a maze of foothills and canyons. The path climbed steeply into the mountains, sometimes close to the water, sometimes winding away into the forest and then back along the stream. Higher up, the brush-covered slopes were uninhabited. But even if the enemy hadn’t swept the area, they might have sent a scouting party up there, a small airborne unit or men who could find their way across the passes. And everyone knew what a bunch of soldiers could do to a place unless they had a reason to respect it or to cover their tracks.

Changes

There was a breeze blowing in gusts, so that sometimes the water from the jet of the fountain fell back into the basin and sometimes, as it fell, it was carried sideways onto the stone rim and the earth beyond. When this happened, the splashing, gurgling sound of the water changed pitch as the water hit the rim or the bare ground. There were scudding clouds in the sky with the sun breaking through and the light changing every few minutes. Watching these changes, he felt a sudden sense of relief, almost a rush of joy, and he knew the worst was over. She also sensed it after a while and cast a sidelong glance at him. She could no longer hurt him as much as before. If she'd left then, he would have done nothing to stop her.

Lee-Ho

"I was admiring your boat here," he said. "Very pretty."

"Thanks." She stepped into the cockpit, started arranging her things into a locker.

"What sort of boat is it? I mean, they don't make this type anymore, do they?"

"She's an old boat – maybe forty, fifty years old. I...I restored her." She was reluctant to go into explanations, give the impression that she was boasting about her skills.

"What? By yourself?"

"It was not that difficult. I did a boat restoration course..."

"How wonderful."

She smiled without saying anything.

"Lee-Ho," he went on, looking at the name painted white on the bows. "What's that? Chinese, I suppose?"

"Well, not exactly... It's more like a pun, you see..." (Again she found herself going into explanations.) "...It is actually lee like in the lee of something or lee shore. That's the side opposite to where the wind is blowing from. Lee-ho! is a command you sometimes give when you are sailing. But it sounds Chinese, so it goes with the rig, which is a Chinese junk rig... See?"

"Junk rig, so that's what it is. You don't see many of these around, do you?"

"No, they're quite rare in this part of the world."

He looked at the boat appreciatively: "I like the green colour. It's a sort of Owl and the Pussycat boat – pea green..."

She chuckled, climbing out of the boat again.

"I think I might enjoy sailing," he said. "Never done it before, never had the time to learn, but I think it might be just the right thing for me," he added, still looking at the boat. Then suddenly looking up at her, meeting her eyes for a second: "I mean...I don't mean to..." he trailed off.

She looked away: "Yeah, it can be a lot of fun," she said.