Fiction by Etgar Keret: “All I want is a single bud, even a joint, to smoke with a pretty girl who laughs at my jokes.“
“It’s the same subject,” Corman says, impatient. “If you give me a chance to finish, you’ll understand. The driver’s whole family is going to come out to show their support. On the side of the dead girl, other than her parents, not a soul is going to show. And the parents are just going to sit there silently with their heads bowed, not saying a word.” Avri nods and goes quiet. He still doesn’t understand, but he doesn’t want to aggravate Corman.
If it weren’t for Avri, I’d never agree, but he keeps telling me that this is our chance and that it’s not like we’re doing something dangerous or breaking the law. Smoking dope is illegal, but screaming at an Arab who ran over a little girl—that’s not only legal, it’s downright normative. “Who knows?” he says. “If there are cameras there, people might even see us on the nightly news.”
We’re having this conversation in the courthouse lobby, which is dark and smells like some mixture of sewage and mildew. And even though we go on arguing, it’s long been clear to both of us that I’m already in. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have ridden here with Avri on the back of his scooter. “Don’t worry,” he says to me. “I’ll scream for us both. You don’t have to do anything. Just act like you’re a friend who’s trying to calm me down. So long as they realize we’re together.
“Hyena!” Avri jumps up in the gallery and starts yelling. “What are you smiling at? You killed a little girl. Standing there in your polo shirt like you’re on a cruise—they should let you rot behind bars.” A number of the driver’s relatives are making their way in our direction, so I stand up and act like I’m trying to calm Avri down. In essence, I am actually trying to calm Avri down.
“ ‘Terrorist’ isn’t anti-Arab,” Avri says, defensive. “It’s like ‘murderer.’ The settlers also have terrorists.” “That also happens sometimes.” I try to smile back. “Hang around with me long enough and you’ll see me get beat up over girls and over friends and defending kittens. But it’ll always be me getting beat up, never me doing the beating.”
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