DEPAYSEMENT

04

04. AUFERSTEHUNG

WHEN HE REACHES CARDIFF, bathed in all of its monsoon glory, the first thing Yusuf does is find a telephone booth to contact Aliyah. 

"Hello?," comes her voice,  slightly cracked due to the poor signal, and upon hearing her, he instantly realises how much he misses her.

"Aliyah, hi, this is Yusuf."

"Oh, hey! Did you reach Cardiff okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just about to board a bus for Merthyr Mawr. How are you?"

"I'm alright," she sounds strangely distant, but he ignores it, basing it off of his tiredness and their distance. "Best of luck for your journey."

"Ali-" he begins, but she cuts the call before he can speak. He shakes off his doubts about her and heads on over to the bus station. Once he gets on the bus, he spots a young, pale child taking off his kippah before boarding. The boy is seemingly alone, no adults nearby taking his responsibility, and soon he is settled into the seat next to Yusuf.

The boy looks him up and down, and he slyly takes out his Star of David necklace and lets it hang outside his shirt. The boy instantly relaxes and passes him a genuine smile. Yusuf reciprocates, and he takes it as a sign to begin a conversation. 

"What's your name?"

"I'm Yusuf, how about you?"

"Aaron," he replies, his hands fidgeting with his jacket, suddenly scared again. "If you're Muslim, how come you wear our necklace?," he almost whispers.

"I'm not Muslim. I'm Tunisian. Sephardic Jewish."

"Oh!," he says excitedly and then whispers, "I've never met a Sephardi before."

"Glad to be your introduction. How come a little boy like you is travelling all alone?"

"I'm not a little boy!," he huffs impatiently and offended, "I'm eleven!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. What's a young man like you doing all alone?"

"There's no temple back home, so Mum sends me here to go to yeshiva." He finishes his sentence with an odd finality to it, but then turns to him, visibly afraid. "Mum told me to never tell anyone I'm Jewish."

"It's okay," Yusuf whispers, "I'm Jewish too, and my mum used to tell me the same thing."

"Really?"

"Truly."

And as the bus travels, Yusuf becomes a Tunisian encyclopaedia for Aaron, answering everything from their food to asking to teach some slurs in Darija (Yusuf staunchly refuses, much to his chagrin), and then drops the bombshell of a question on him.

"Where's your family?"

Yusuf blanks out for a moment, and before he can come up with a satisfying enough lie, Aaron gives him a look of quiet empathy and pats his hand. "It's okay. I understand."

He turns away from the boy and has to grab at the windowsill to stop himself from crying. Why are you still so sensitive?, the voice in his head asks him, You never even knew them, stop crying. His mind wanders to Maman, who took him to see the unmarked graves of his grandparents the morning after their boucherie was set on fire. "Look Yus," he remembers her saying, "Ils nous haïront toujours. Always."

It was the day before they finally left for France, that Maman took him to Sidi Bou Said. Asking a stranger to click a photograph of them, Maman threw caution to the wind and let her Hamsa and Star of David necklaces hang over her swimsuit. "Yus," he recalls, "When you're eighteen, we'll come here again, and we'll see how much they hate us then. We'll be rich, just like they imagine us to be. Won't we?"

"Yes Maman."

The sudden halting of the bus draws him out of his reverie. "Merthyr Mawr, get off the bus! Merthyr Mawr!," rings the tinny voice of the conductor and Yusuf gets up, only to be followed by Aaron.

"You live here?," he asks, incredulous.

"Yes, why are you surprised?"

"No reason," he admits, and it is true, there is no need to be surprised at this detail. He is slightly alarmed at living in a place with no synagogue, but relieves himself at the thought of at least one Jewish family living there. 

As they walk out of the bus, Aaron tugs at the bottom of his jacket. When he turns to him to inquire, he sees a face of pleading, hiding a cheeky smile.

"You have to meet my parents!"

"Thanks Aaron, but I really need to go to my hous-"

"Please! It'll only take fifteen minutes."

He gives Aaron one of his 'trademark withering looks' (at least that's what Aliyah called them), but it is to no avail, as he catches hold of the entire brim of his jacket.

"You know what, I'll freshen up and change my clothes, and then, in an hour, I'll meet your parents. It will make a better impression on them. Deal?"

"Deal."