The pair of front teeth
was the kid’s
most prominent feature.
White,
shiny,
huge,
beaver teeth.
(His mom had them too, it was probably genetic)
He was a typical
playground rascal.
Playing tricks
on everyone,
sticking his tongue out,
(past his big teeth)
or taunting us
in his high pitched voice,
“bird-brain!”
“mud-sucker!”
“ugly!”
We retaliated,
“Bunny teeth!”
“blondini!”
“tiny-chik!”
“freckle-face!”
Us neighborhood kids
disliked him
and his backyard gang.
A mini street war;
Us, against them.
(6 year olds)
All in good humor
of course.
A couple years passed. I had moved to America from Israel, and had all but forgotten Efraim and the “street wars”.
Mom was late
to pick me up from school.
On the drive back,
she was silent
and sniffing.
I was confused.
The were many phone calls to Israel that night
Lots of weeping and wailing downstairs.
Later, Mom told me.
As the Tzur Family (10 souls) was driving home in their station wagon, (not all were in the car) they were ambushed by terrorists with Kalashnikov rifles. The car stopped, in the middle of the road, freckled by bullets. The father radioed for help. Every one in the car was hit. Ephraim was killed on the spot. Ita, his mother, died in the hospital. The rest survived.
I remember seeing the newspaper.
On the front page,
was Ephraim
with his big front teeth
and his mother by his side.
(9/24/02)
