Because the love was there all the time

I won't tell you the place where I spent my holiday, but I could recall every detail from the window of my small room. A teenage girl was absorbed in her reading, and I would suspect her to be a foreign student (on an exchange-student program). Young lovers were strolling past her. The sun was slowly sinking into the August structures in the distance, the river turning into colors of the autumn. And then I noticed a troika of teenage boys prancing around the riverbank. I just finished reading a paperback.

My uncle gave me that paperback as a birthday gift, as he thought I was interested in novellas by foreign authors. He was half right. (I because curious of foreign authors after watching movies with subtitles. It was part of the module.) I was surprised to read "Soumchi," Amos Oz's coming-of-tale of a young boy and how his (young) life changed overnight. I could relate to the titular character, who grew up in British-occupied Jerusalem. A bicycle would be a big deal, such that I must show it off to my friends. They would be green with envy, which I expected the moment I first held on the handles. And they would think of ways to barter it in exchange for the things that would tempt me to give it away.

But this is not a neorealist tale

Amos Oz set his story after World War II. There was uncertainty in the air, as the inhabitants were trying to build a life after witnessing the horrors of World War II. Soumchi would think of the Himalayas, his respite from the hard life. The bicycle would offer him a shortcut, but not what he expected. A well-to-do friend offered his pricey railway, as his parents forbid him to own a bicycle. The bully in the neighborhood forced him to barter his railway in exchange for his puppy. And the puppy would run away from him. He was left with a pencil sharpener, which he found in the streets. And he didn't have the courage to tell his parents about the turn of events. It was a blessing in disguise, as a kind soul offered him a home for a night. He turned out to be the father of the girl of his dreams.

It seemed like a fairy tale, with a happy ending. But Soumchi, who was recounting this particular episode from the past, made one thing clear in the beginning. Everything changes.

Oz's bittersweet tale didn't turn Soumchi into a bitter adult, with unresolved issues towards his parents. In the hardship and turmoil that would follow, he had happy memories to recall. It would remind his folks of his Uncle Zemach, who didn't go with the flow. Soumchi's father was worried at how his brother had an influence on his son. (Zemach gave Soumchi a Nazi bank note for his birthday.) But he would be one of those people who knew how to deal with such a situation. Find humor in such tragedy. If not for this series of events, Soumchi's so-called wonder years may turn out to be a melancholic episode. Who would have thought that the events spanning twenty-four hours would turn into a lifetime moment?

I was thinking of the same thing, as I was looking at the sunset. My wonder years were uneventful compared to Soumchi's, but I would make it up. I was thinking of another holiday next summer.