Solitude
Today the girls in the office next to me decided that they didn’t like the energy in their office (or something or other) and moved to a vacant room in the next enclave.

I suddenly found myself all alone.

In the ensuing moments of hysteria I decided I would move too. The guys in the office next to where I would be moving to offered their help. “But not now.” They were very busy. Afterwards. Sometime or other.

I didn’t really like that other office anyway. Maybe I was better off staying where I was.

Now I had the opportunity to look deeply into the meaning of impermanence and taking refuge in myself. (Sigh)

I moved some of the clutter from my office into the now empty room next door, and looked round happily at the result. I suddenly realized that I now had full control over the air-conditioning, which the two offices shared. I turned on the radio just that little bit louder than I would have before. A feeling of contentment descended.

My peace was only disturbed after lunch, when Bish called from his office to tell me that they’d just heard a tremendous blast from one of the nearby roads and that now they could hear the ambulances. You can imagine the familiar sinking feeling. It took a while before it became clear that it wasn’t a terrorist attack but part of an ongoing war among criminals. Not that this knowledge made me feel much better. Three people were killed and about thirty injured.

I think I should explain: Israel Police is so busy fighting Palestinian terrorism that not enough manpower or funding is left over for the local bad guys, who are having a wonderful time shooting, blowing up and stabbing their rivals in crime, or at least trying to. They missed today’s target, kingpin Zeev Rozenshtein, while killing three innocents. I reckon Rozenshtein is indestructible. There have been quite a few attempts on his life over the years. Maybe he’s still alive because he’s been more successful in liquidating his enemies than they have. His enemies crossed a line today though.

Watching the pictures on TV, I realize how near this attack was to Bish’s office. He says he often goes past the money-changing place in which it took place.