Interrupted Romance (9 page)

Her mother was also waiting to hear about Adam.
 
Dafna told her about Adam and Jack, both with eyes covered, both needing help with their food.

There wasn't much more to say, other than she would go back again the following day to visit.
 
Until then, she wouldn't know if the doctors were pleased with the work they had done and if there would be any problems.

It had been a long, nervous day for Dafna and she was feeling very weary.
 
She talked for a little while with her mother, before deciding she needed to go to bed.
 
Her mother intended to sit up a while longer, reading.
 
Dafna kissed her on the forehead and headed for a shower and bed.

She woke in the early hours of the morning, straining to hear what had woken her.
 
There it was again!
 
A strange pattering and scratching…
 
Possums on the roof.
 
The next few hours were spent with eyes closed, but mind working overtime, thinking about Adam, listening to the possums race about.
 
You could be forgiven for thinking they were running about in army boots, so much noise were they making!

Each time she was near Adam, she knew she wanted it to be that way always.
 
As far as she knew, Adam reciprocated those feelings, but nothing had really happened to cement an understanding.
 
Perhaps he had made a commitment yesterday when he mumbled something as she left him, but not having heard him clearly there was no way of being sure.
 
Maybe he was thinking of her only as a great friend, who was prepared to put herself out for him while he wasn't well, allowing him to recuperate in her house, share her meals, have her look after him.
 
It was just so uncertain; Dafna wriggled and turned in bed, unable to settle.
 
She would have to be the one to move this romance along, she thought.
 
Adam seemed to be a bit reserved, shy maybe.
 
Well, she'd fix that, and the sooner the better.

A tired, but happy Dafna set out for the hospital that day.
 
Over the next few weeks she intended to make certain that Adam knew exactly how she felt about him, and she was equally certain she would find out how he felt about her.
 
It was with determined step that she strode along the hospital corridor to Adam's ward.

He and Jack were sitting in their chairs, talking animatedly together, laughing a little at each other's jokes, when Dafna arrived at the room.
 
At first, they didn't know she was there and she was able to stand and listen to the jocular mood they were in, having fun.
 
Jack and Adam had a common love… fishing.
 
They must have been on the subject for a time, as they were already up to the 'mine was as big as this' stage, with arms outstretched to the length of an imaginary fish, even though neither could see the other's arms!
 
It was this that caused them to laugh.

Dafna decided it was time to join in the conversation.
 
Before she could speak, Adam stopped in mid-sentence, turning his head toward the door.
 
He held his head still, then said "Is that you, nurse?
 
You have a lovely perfume on today.
 
In fact, it's very much like… Dafna, is it you?" he said smiling.

"Yes, dear, I'm here.
 
I've been here for a little while, listening to you two trying to tell the best lies!"

Jack said, "G'day, miss.
 
How are you t'day?
 
He's been waiting for you all morning."

Adam stood up and moved forward to greet her.
 
She walked into his arms and gently, putting her arms around his waist, cuddled up to him.
 
Jack went back to his own bed, picked up a little radio and walked slowly, but steadily from the room, using his hand to feel along the walls and headed for the lounge area.

"You two can have the place to yourselves," he said as he passed through the doorway.
 
"I'll go and listen to music for a while."

"Thanks, Jack," Dafna and Adam said in unison.

Adam still had his arms around Dafna and held her for a long time.
 
Finally, he said, "I'm a bit scared, you know, of how my eyes will be when the dressings come off.
 
The doctor was here this morning, early, and seemed confident enough about the future, but he did warn me that there may be some blurring that will stay with me.
 
We won't know for some days after the 'unveiling'."

"Whatever happens, Adam, I feel sure you'll cope very well.
 
You're quiet, but I know you're strong.
 
How else would you have been brave enough to save me, when you could just as easily have run for your own life that day, knowing what you knew was about to happen!"

"I'm glad you're here with me," he said into her hair.

She tightened her grip on his waist, and, raising her head, was able to reach his lips with her own.
 
She clung to him.
 
He returned her kiss, more passionately than ever before and they swayed together until, overbalancing a bit, Adam leant against the bed for support.

"You make me giddy," he said smiling.

They talked, sitting close together on the edge of the bed, holding hands.
 
It would be some days before the dressings would be taken off and Adam would need to be protected from bright light for a time after that.
 
The doctor was flying out of Sydney to visit other capital cities, but a colleague would be watching Adam's progress until Dr Feldman returned in a month's time.
 
Adam would keep an appointment that had been made for him to see Dr Feldman a month from today.
 
At first, Dr Feldman thought Adam would visit him in Tel Aviv, but Adam had insisted on staying in Australia for the month, as it was important to him to see, really, physically see, Dafna.
 
He didn't want to leave without knowing what she looked like!
 
Later, when he returned to Israel, he would visit the doctor at his clinic for a check-up.

And so the days rolled by, with Dafna coming daily to the hospital, walking with Adam along the corridors and down to the shaded courtyard, where they could sit and talk privately.
 
Both looked forward to the day Adam would be discharged into her care.
 
It seemed a long way off.

A week after the operation, a decision was made to lift the dressings away and allow Adam a chance to open his eyes, in a darkened room, while they examined his eyes.
 
He was warned that he would probably see nothing yet.
 
This was just the first step on his way back to sight.

It was a nervous Adam who sat, fidgeting, while the nurse removed the dressing.
 
She murmured words of encouragement, then stepped back to make way for the doctor.

Adam tried to open his eyes and slowly his eyelids parted.
 
Everything was black.
 
Nothing.
 
The doctor said that this was expected and to be patient.
 
He shone a small light towards Adam's left side and his eyes turned towards it.

"I can see a light there, doctor," he said excitedly.
 
"It's not bright, but it's there!"

"Yes, that's excellent.
 
Let's try the other one," said the doctor.

Again, he shone a light towards Adam, this time to the right side.
 
And again, Adam smiled and said he could see it, too.

"Don't look at the light, Adam, keep looking straight ahead for me," the doctor said as he moved the light about, looking into Adam's eyes.

Adam remained quiet, sitting patiently to hear the result of this examination.

The doctor examined him for a further ten minute or so, then straightened up and asked the nurse to open the venetian blinds a little bit.
 
As the slats tilted to allow some light into the room, Adam was aware of a change in the lighting.
 
It was some minutes later that he became aware of blurred figures moving about the room.
 
He told the doctor that people were moving about and pointed to a person on his left.

The doctor was pleased with this, but wouldn't allow Adam to strain his eyes and requested that a covering be placed across his eyes to relieve them.
 
He explained that it was to protect the healing eyes and that each day Adam would be allowed to uncover them for longer and longer periods of time, until such time as the covering would be taken off permanently.
 
Probably another four or five days would be needed for this to happen.
 
It depended on how quickly the eyes healed.

When Dafna arrived that day to visit Adam, she found him sitting on the bed with a suppressed smile on his lips.

"Soon," he told her, "I'll be allowed home without covers on my eyes.
 
But I must not go out in bright sun without very dark glasses for another few months.
 
But I could see movement today, Dafna.
 
I knew how many people were in the room with me.
 
They were blurred, but they were there!" he finished excitedly.

That evening, when Dafna called his parents to give them the news of the day, they were all so excited and his mother cried, his sister was laughing happily, his father thanked the Almighty.
 
It had been a long, hard wait for them.
 
They asked when Adam would be travelling back to Israel.
 
Dafna couldn't answer their questions other than to say that Adam was intending to see the surgeon in a month's time, before travelling anywhere.
 
She explained that his vision was still very blurred and that he had to be careful not to strain it too soon.
 
He would call them as soon as he came home.
 
With that they had to be content.
 
His mother thanked her for calling again and they hung up.

CHAPTER 12

Adam had been out of hospital for over a week.
 
He spent many hours sitting in the garden with Dafna and her mother.
 
It was still necessary to wear very dark glasses, and as an extra precaution he wore a wide-brimmed Akubra.
 
The hat was a present from Dafna to give him added protection from the sun.
 
Dafna's mother was enjoying the company, especially when Dafna had to go out shopping.
 
She was improving dramatically herself day by day.
 
Most of their lunches were eaten under the pergola, at an outdoor table that Dafna had moved from another area to make life easier for herself now that she was preparing three meals a day for three people.
 
Until the sun moved across the sky to shine into the pergola, it was their sanctuary from the heat of summer.
 
By late afternoon it was too hot there and they would adjourn inside the house to listen to music and talk some more, watch television.

Dafna had taken Adam to the local library for a selection of 'talking books', which were designed especially for the blind.
 
The stories were read by well-known actors and helped to fill in the time for Adam.
 
Dafna's mother also enjoyed sitting and listening to them.
 
In fact, it was a kind of bonding period for all of them.
 
In the evenings when the television programmes weren't inviting enough to tempt them, the talking books would be part of their entertainment.
 
They would discuss the story line at the end of each book and share their opinions of the plot.
 
This was a very pleasant way to fill in the hours and all benefited by the companionship it entailed.

As Adam's health improved, Dafna ventured out with him to the Opera House for a concert or two.
 
The imposing building, right beside the harbour, at Circular Quay, overlooked historic 'Pinchgut', the colloquial title given to Fort Denison, which guarded the harbour from an impending attack by the Russians prior to the turn of the 20
th
century.
 
She described the outstanding scenery to him before they went up the stairs into the concert hall.
 
Dafna also made a mental note to take Adam to Fort Denison at a later date.
 
The short trip from Circular Quay, by ferry, was a pleasant one, and the tour of the little island would interest him no end.
 
The guides made the visitors feel as though they were living through the 'old days'… from the traditional firing of the 'one o'clock gun', to the dim, dark powder room, to the tower holding the big cannons.

The symphony orchestra was an absolute delight for Adam.
 
He loved the very making of music and could distinguish the various instruments throughout the performances.
 
Often, he would lean forward in his seat to concentrate on a particular passage of music and to listen to the instruments playing it.
 
Some of the programme was familiar to him and he would tap his fingers on his leg in time with the beat.
 
At other times he simply sat back and allowed the music to flow over him.
 
His appreciation was evident from the smile on his face.
 
Dafna felt that more visits to the venue would help in his recovery.
 
It was as though he was 'living the music'.

During the trip home from these concerts, Dafna learnt of Adam's childhood - his love of music.
 
He had begun music lessons when he was eight years old.
 
After realising that Adam had an aptitude for music, his mother had insisted that he learn piano.
 
She had hoped he would be a child prodigy - another great Jewish musician of note, like Daniel Barenboim or Yehudi Menuhin.
 
This hadn't happened.
 
However, Adam had developed into a classical pianist worth listening to.
 
He was, at the same time, making a name for himself on the soccer field.
 
That is, until he finished high school.
 
The army then claimed him for the next three years of his life.
 
Along with all the other eighteen year old boys.
 
It was the practice of the army to have two intakes a year with the boys serving for three years, girls for two years.
 
Dafna knew that some of the girls could avoid military service if they applied for special leave to continue studies at a university, or if they married.
 
She had been one of the girls to apply for leave to study.