Sorry for the really long wait. I got caught up in 'Desert Dreams' and trying to get that up and completed so I could come back to this. I'm sorry.
As always, please either PM or review if you have any ideas for this. Any ideas at all. I can only say no.
Thank you to Shortcake99 for inspiring me and implying in her messages for me to get a move on. Thank you!
Disclaimer: I do not own the letters N, C, I, or S, so I can't really own them collectively, unless... *tries to hatch evil scheme* *sighs* Sorry, got nothing :/
Love and Hugs,
Rebecca x
21st January 1987
Wow, it's been a long time. Two weeks in fact. I'm really sorry for not writing but time just flew by. I've been very busy trying to help Rivka with the house and trying to work on my French and English. But apart from that, there's really no excuse. I'm sorry.
Tali is getting so big now. She'll be two months old tomorrow – the time has passed so fast! Soon she'll be walking and talking and playing with her toys by herself. To be honest, I don't really think I want her to grow up. I want her and Ziva to stay as little as possible for as long as possible. I really must sound like Rivka if I'm saying that.
Aba still hasn't come home from the mission yet so Ziva still hasn't come home from Aunt Nettie's. I really miss her. She's very smart and cute for a four year old. She's also very manipulative but that's one of the things I love about her.
Naya invited me over to her house last week. We've become really good friends lately. She lives in a really nice house, it overlooks the sea and it's quite small. She's an only child and lives with her Ima and Aba. Sometimes her aunt comes to visit as well. Her parents are really nice and told me I could come back anytime. After dinner, we went to the beach and got absolutely covered in sand. Rivka wasn't happy with me when I got home. She made me scrub the floor where I had gotten sand on it. My arms really hurt after that and I told her as much (which was a mistake!) so then she told me that if I ever did anything like that again then it wouldn't be just my arms that were hurting. Isn't she just the sweetest person ever?
I haven't received a reply from Scott in a while. I hope he's okay although he could just be busy. I asked the librarian at school (because she knows everything) if Scotland were on their Christmas holidays and she said that they had just gone back not too long ago. Maybe he's busy getting back into the swing of things after their holidays. Hopefully. Or maybe his letter has just got lost in the mail? I don't know, there are lots of reasons why I haven't gotten a reply.
I'm going to bed now. It's eleven at night and I have school tomorrow.
Goodnight.
Ari
22nd January 1987
I am very, incredibly bored. I have no idea what to say or what to do. I've practiced my Russian, French and now I'm practicing my English here.
I feel lonely – which is stupid because I'm not alone at all. I have Rivka and Tali and I can phone Ziva and Aunt Nettie. I also have my friends and Naya – because she's too special to count as just a 'friend'. I don't know – maybe I'm being stupid. Probably.
I wish you were real – yes, that's sounds stupid again – but at least I could actually talk to you. I must be really bored today if I'm writing things like that.
I don't know, I think I'm just going to go now.
Ari
23rd January 1987
Hello! I feel a lot less depressed today! I must have just been having an 'off' day yesterday – that's how Rivka describes them, especially when she's been grumpy that day.
Naya and I went out today. We just went for a walk and talked about boring things but it felt nice. Calming. She wants to be a Journalist when she leaves school, or a photographer, after her conscription, of course. Something nice and safe. Naya's lucky; her family has nothing to do with Mossad or anything remotely like that.
We were only out for a little while because Naya had to go back and help her family prepare for the Shabbat dinner. We're not doing Shabbat at the moment – there's really no point. Aba and Ziva are away and Tali are too young to celebrate properly so it would only be Rivka and I. Since Shabbat is about family, it wouldn't be as fun as it was in December.
I found out that it's exactly a month today when my Ima comes again from Palestine. It's strange but I actually haven't thought about her that much over the past few weeks. I've been very busy though and since I don't see her a lot, maybe that's why. I'm very excited.
Ari
24th January 1987
Happy Saturday!
Rivka, Tali and I went to the beach today. It was a little cold since it's winter but it was fun because the place was practically deserted since it's a Saturday. It was one of those warm winter weekends though – where the sun shines and there are no clouds. It was slightly windy but not hurricane-style wind.
Rivka and I built sandcastles while Tali slept on the picnic blanket in her car-seat. We made this great big one and we put doors and everything in it and then the tide came in and made it into sloppy sludge. So we built another one and I thought it looked a bit like Aunt Nettie's house in Haifa. Rivka agreed with me so we made a tiny Aunt Nettie and an even tinier Ziva to put next to it. It looked like they were waving at us!
After we packed everything up, we went back home and Rivka and I made malabi together. Of course it didn't turn out right the first time so we had to do it again and again until the whole kitchen was covered in cornstarch and pistachios. We spent the next hour cleaning it up. It was really fun!
After Rivka put Tali to bed, she let me pick a story and then she read it to me. Okay, so I'm twelve and not a baby any more but Rivka has a really good reading voice and it was soothing.
It was a really great day!
Ari
26th January 1987
I have absolutely great news! ZIVA AND ABA ARE COMING HOME IN A WEEK! I'm so happy it's unbelievable! And I have so much to tell them! Like how I got 30/30 in my English vocabulary test and that how my French teacher is so impressed with my language skills that she wants me to get an IQ test and how I can now make sahlab by myself!
I spoke to Ziva on the phone yesterday – only the second time in the weeks she's been gone. She told me that she and Aunt Nettie celebrated Shabbat on Friday but it wasn't the same without all of us. She also told me that Aba thinks she should get an English tutor now because it's better to learn when you're young. I asked her if Aba had phoned her and she said yes, he phoned last week.
I asked Rivka if Aba had phoned and she said that he had but I was at school and he hadn't phoned again. I then asked her why she didn't tell me and she said, "Because I did not want you to get upset over something you could not change." Well, she actually said something different and in Hebrew but that was what she meant. It's hard, all this translating business!
I can't wait until next week!
Ari
29th January 1987
Only 3 days until Ziva and Aba come home! I'm so excited, I can't wait!
Saturday again today! I didn't do much. No school so I practiced my French and Russian – which I like to count myself half-fluent in. Rivka's fluent in French and Russian from her job as a translator so she helped me and taught me ways to remember the ending of the French verbs. It's almost as hard as learning English except it's made slightly easier by the fact that I already know how to pronounce the letters and to write them. French also has capital letters as well! I hate capital letters! Why do other languages need them? We get along perfectly well without them and it doesn't change the pronunciation of the word so why? I think it's to confuse people.
Naya and I are going to the beach tomorrow after school. It's going to be so much fun, I can't wait. Her Ima said she would pack us a picnic and then Rivka said (because I think she felt she was taking advantage of Naya's parents) that Naya could come over later in the week and we could watch a movie together. I hope out TV decides to work then. We don't watch it very often and on the rare times we do, it decides not to work sometimes.
There was something on the radio today. Apparently the head of the American CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has resigned. I think the CIA is involved in operations in the Middle East but I'm not sure. I wonder if that means things will change here for us.
Ari
30th January 1987
So I went to the beach with Naya today and we had our picnic! It wasn't that busy since it's a Sunday and quite cloudy but it was quite warm. We just talked about school mostly, and our favourite things to do. Then we moved on to things that are happening in our year at school. It was very nice.
It's only 2 days until Ziva and Aba come home! I am so excited! Aunt Nettie will be brining Ziva and she said that she'll stay for a few days because she's missed us even though it's not been that long since I've seen her. I think Tali is excited that they're coming home too. I swear Ziva is Tali's favourite.
Mrs. Cohen told the English class today that there was going to be a really big exam coming up in a few weeks! Now I'm really nervous! I mean I think my English is good but what if it's not good enough for this big exam! I can't start freaking out though, because if I do then I'll just start to forget simple things like vowels and capital letters and similes and full stops and things!
I need to calm down.
Ari
31st January 1987
Only 1 day until Ziva and Aba come home! And Aunt Nettie comes to visit!
I've been revising like crazy for this English exam! It's so hard to try and cram lots of things into your brain and trying to remember them is really hard! I just can't wait to get this over and done with!
I'm sorry but there's nothing for me to write today – I'm too busy and too uninteresting. Sorry.
Ari