Take a Train to Tel Aviv

1. I am on a train to Tel Aviv, about to depart from Beer Sheva. The seat next to me and the two seats facing me are all empty. Right before the train departs I hear a woman's playful voice above my ear: "Hoped that you would travel alone?" (in Hebrew).

A woman and a small child take the places that are opposite to me. I don't know the woman, but clearly there is no a hint of flirting in her behavior - she is simply enjoying a good day and a cheerful conversation with her kid.

The kid is in the age when he endlessly asks questions, and the mother is caring enough to give detailed explanations. Thus, they speak such a simple Hebrew that I can understand everything that they say. This is very educating, since they discuss everything: all the stations where the train will stop before their destination, the yellow airplane flying over a field outside of the train window, the little hummer used to break the window in the case of emergency (incidentally I memorize the Hebrew word for a hummer) and many other things.

At one point the mother teaches her child how babies of different animals are called in Hebrew. For each animals baby there is a special word. The lesson culminates in the woman asking:

- And how do you call the baby of a lion?

- How? - asks the kid.

- Kfir. - says the woman.

- Frrr?! - asks the kid surprised.

- Kfir. - repeats the lady.

- Frrrrr! Frrrrr! - repeats the kid, delighted at having finally found some logical connection between the animal and its name.

2. On a different train, I am standing in front of the doors, waiting till we arrive to the station. A rather pretty girl stands next to me, and, having nothing else to do, I size her up.

Suddenly, a train vendor with a carton box on his shoulder grows up besides as asking:

- Three for ten! - and, now addressing only the girl, - " What do you say?"

We look into the huge box and see the only three bagels remaining there. She nods negatively. The vendor's eyes meet mine; he nods in the direction of the girl and shows his fist with big finger stretched out in the sign of appreciating her beauty. I smile understandingly: she is indeed pretty.