It occurred to me that I forgot to explain shanat sherut at the end of the last chapter. Basically, what happens is that if a person doesn't want to go straight into the army after high school, they can do a year of community service, either in Israel or in a different country (usually the US or England, I think…). The word shana means year, and sherut means service. The 't' on the end of shana is just there to make the phrase easier to say…
~*~
Benny returned not long after dark, alone.
"He can't have completely disappeared..." Adam mused. "We won't be able to find him now, though. For tonight, I guess he gets his wish. We'll all go try again in the morning."
"Let's pop in a movie for the rest of the evening," Chava suggested.
"Alright, how about Dead Poets Society?"
~
Sano's teeth chattered as he wandered the streets of Haifa, searching for a way to satisfy his three basic needs - food, a place to sleep, and people to gamble with. Luckily, he managed the more important two of the three, when he happened upon a small youth hostel.
A slight, middle-aged man answered the door after Sano knocked a few times. "Ken, ani ba! ... Oh, erev tov, efshar la'azor l'cha?"
A startled look passed across the Japanese teen's face. He still wasn't used to the new language. "Uh, do you speak any English?"
The man's eyes lit up. Here was someone new for him to practice on! "English! Yes, ah... little bit," he replied in a thick Russian accent. "How you say... eh... what can I do for you?"
"I need a place to stay tonight."
"Ah, yes, come in! You a... tourist or something?"
"I guess you could say that..."
"We haven't had many tourists, mostly because of the matzav... sorry, I don't know what it means in English... But, anyway, there is room open right here." He pointed to a closed door at the end of the sort hallway. "Go in and get yourself settled. When you're done, come back to the front. I brew tea right now, you'll tell me what brings you here." With that, he walked off toward the kitchen, leaving no room for Sano to argue his way out of it.
~
The room the man had assigned was simple enough. One window faced east, and the other south, so plenty of light would bet through in the morning. Nothing could be seen out of them right now, though...
The bed had a thin mattress, almost like a futon, which was perfectly alright. On the other hand, though, the pillow was horribly lumpy and the blanket seemed almost as rough as sandpaper (not that Sano would know what that was...). He set his meager possessions down on the bed, resolving that it would be sufficient for one night.
~
The sweet scent of the tea wafted throughout the hostel compound. As Sano quietly approached the common area, he noticed that the proprietor was mumbling something while reading his copy of a newspaper (it was in Hebrew, but pretty much all newspapers are printed on the same kind of paper, so it was easy to determine that it was a periodical).
The Russian man felt the other's presence in the room. He looked up with a sly smile "I knew the tea would bring you back. It's obvious to me you're oriental, so I was lucky we have some green tea. Please, sit." He motioned toward the sofa as he stood to serve the tea.
They sat in a calm silence for a while, enjoying the tea and not having to ask or answer any questions.
~
"I read my newspapers out loud." The man's confession startled Sano back into the real world. "I can tell you were wondering about that. I only move here a few years ago. Hearing the words helps me understand better." He paused before asking the spiky-haired teen for the information he was seeking.
Sano refused to give the Russian man the benefit. He took the silence as a signal that it was time for him to hold up his end of the conversation. "I've only been in the country a couple days. A group of kids about my age picked me up at the boat. I don't know why they were so interested in me, but I always end up having to deal with some weird yakuza... sorry, I don't know what that means in English, either. Anyway, I don't want to get anyone else in trouble."
"Someone your age shouldn't know from trouble, but this is the world we live in..." the other mused. "I will tell you story. I live in Russia before I move here. In school, they taught us many things, but mostly trained us to become part of the Party... a, uh... politics thing. My parents told me not to join, 'Jews do not join the Party,' they said. Later that year, I saw my friends from school fighting my friends from the synagogue. I hid and watched for a little bit, and then I ran all the way home so they would not fight me too. It hurt to watch... I wanted to leave Russia more than anything else after that, and take my parents with me, so that we could be away from my friends. From my friends! .....It took me ten years after graduating that they would let me out."
Sano hated sob stories more than any other kind. He punched a fist into his other palm. "I'll take care of them for you! Saying my name is like saying the word 'trouble'!" 'Although not quite as good as my friend's name...' he thought. "I can handle them!" He was so fired up he almost walked out to go find them.
"Calm down. It was long time ago and I am here and they are still in Russia if they are alive." He looked at the clock as Sano relaxed back into the sofa. "It's late. You should sleep if you want an early start tomorrow."
"Arigato."
"Huh?"
"Oh, heh... uh, thanks."
"You're welcome. Good night."
~*~
End Chapter 6
A/N: I kinda have an idea in my head of a potential itinerary, but it makes it difficult for Sano to not be riding the busses… There's a trail going from all the way in the north to all the way in the south, that supposedly takes about three weeks to traverse. I think it's called the national trail, but I can't remember… Anyway, judging by that gauge, well… you can see where I'm going with this. Still not sure how many chapters it'll cover, though…
Imalefty and Rei-Starwind, thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Ken, ani ba! – yes, I'm coming!
Erev tov – good evening
Efshar la'azor l'cha? – may I help you?
Matzav – it's the word Israelis use when they refer to the situation, but I'm not 100% sure if it actually means 'situation'