Jamus and I have decided that one squad leader is sufficient and so we take it in turns to disappear occasionally. Once a week he goes to the eye doctor in Rehovot, and once a week I visit the dentist in Tel Aviv. My teeth are actually quite OK. But I have a slip of paper from the doctor, with some Latin on it. I can use it any time for a short leave - whenever I decide to use it. The sarge understands no Latin.
I glance into my tent, stuff the dirty washing into my bag, together with the paperbacks I have read already, and just need to get the medic to sign my slip before heading off for Tel Aviv. Our tent is an oasis in this desert of a camp. Jamus and I have assembled all our booty from the last year here - the deep armchair that we "bor-rowed" from the Irgun after Altalena Day,2 the hubble-bubble I got in Chudad, two chairs from the cafe which charged an extortionate price for two bowls of ice cream, a folding chair from the staff of an Egyptian battalion, and a chest of drawers we found in an abandoned British barracks. We can live quite well with these.
On the way to the medical center I find the eyes of Fini staring at me. Fini belongs to the battalion staff. A boy with a tragic expression and rounded shoulders, whose duties nobody is very clear about.
"Good that you are here," he says to me and slaps me on the shoul-der. "I have a little job for you."
"I am sorry," I say quickly. "I have no time!" Fini has no rank. I don’t have to take orders from him.
"Don’t run away, my friend. First you should hear what it is about. It is a humanitarian matter."
"A humanitarian matter?"
"I need some volunteers for a memorial meeting."
"What sort of a memorial meeting?" I hate memorial meetings! Throughout the whole war I have tried to get out of going to one. "Who for?"
"We are making a pilgrimage to Sancho’s grave. In half an hour his parents will arrive."
"Don’t talk nonsense. Sancho was not buried at all. He was left in the field."
"My dear friend, you are mistaken!" His voice becomes very gentle. "Sancho was buried in accordance with religion and law!" He names a location in the area.