30 Hours

6:00

The alarm woke me up. I looked around, Mor was asleep beside me. His head was on the purple pillow, eyes closed. I looked up at the window. The sky was grey and cloudy. The sun wasn't up yet.

"Wake up, handsome" I called. My voice was soft and calm. His head moved and he started to mumble.

I came closer. My cheek touched his and he smiled.

"Beeri," his eyes were closed, "Let's stay another minute."

His full, brown eyes opened and he was staring at me.

6:10

The water was cold, I leaned in, and a wave of refreshment covered my face. I should clean the mirror later, I thought.

I rubbed my face with a gray towel that hung on the needle. Outside the sun was starting to rise but the clouds were unchangeably grey.

Mor sat on the couch in his underwear, an espresso in his one hand and a phone in the other. A latte waited for me on the kitchen table, next to it was a doll. A dark-skinned princess with curly hair and brown eyes.

"Thanks," I said taking a sip from the latte. He looked up and smiled when he saw me.

6:20

I took five eggs out of the fridge, just enough for two-adults-two-kids breakfast. I broke them into a bowl, added some milk and sea salt. Mor was always anxious about this one. He never got the difference. "Sea salt was healthier, and it had iodine in it." I was explaining to him all the time.

The pan heated. I poured the liquid mass inside. It started to squawk.

6:25

Mor dressed up. The breakfast was ready on the dining table.

"I'll go wake the kids." he said.

"Give them a couple more minutes, these are still holidays. "

Mor came closer. He placed his hands on my shoulders and leaned to me. "How are you?" he asked. His voice was so calm. It took a while to process what he just said.

I was staring at his face. "I don't know," finally I said. "I must have slept badly," my head leaned onto his hands and I closed my eyes trying to think of what to say.

6:29

We could have stayed there for hours but instantly we were interrupted. A siren broke out and crossed our idyll. Inside my head a plan formed and I started to count. The kids are in the safe room. We need to take water, food. Probably it's some new escalation. We stood up. 15. I went to take a pack of cookies from a drawer above the kitchen table and a bottle of water. 13. Mor ran to our room and took the "bag". 11. The bag packed especially for these occasions. Inside, were medicine, a charger, our documents, and something for self-care.

That something was brought to our house after a big fight between me and Mor. "Are you mad?" I asked him. "I'm not letting you bring a gun in here." We were close to the border. Very close. Still, terrorist attacks from the border were rare and usually held by one or two terrorists. Yet, when I got pregnant, things change. And after I gave birth to our son and came back home a small locked black box awaited me. Inside was a Glock. Two days later, my husband joined a standby class. There, he and other women and men trained to face and protect the kibbutz from terrorism. 9.

When I entered the safe room Mor was there. The kids woke up and sat on their beds. The saferoom was also the kids' room, inside they had two beds, a small desk and a play-zone. What other things could children of their age need? Noa was a five-year-old girl and Or, an eight-year-old boy. He was in the second grade. 7. "How are you?" I came closer hugging them.