Chapter 30
Uzzi Levin’s father died at an early age, leaving a wife and three small children. Uzzi, the eldest, had to shoulder the heaviest burden, as his mother depended on him to carry on where his father had left off, to bring her respect, money, glamour and some compensation for her lost opportunity.
Jonathan and Uzzi had been inseparable since the first grade. Their teachers called them “birds of a feather.” Since they were both tall, with long faces and straight brown hair, they were often taken for brothers. At Jonathan’s house, Uzzi found a substitute mother and Greta found a surrogate son.
When Uzzi and Hanny decided to get married at twenty, Mrs. Levin wrung her hands in rage and despair. “Why this premature marriage? Who needs it? Did she trick you?” she barked at Uzzi, who slammed the door and left.
That night, boiling with anger at his mother, Uzzi spent the night on the sofa in the Schwarz living room. “Don’t worry, we’ll give you a lovely wedding,” Greta promised him, secretly relishing the drama evolving under her roof. She negotiated a truce between the stubborn mother and the loving couple. Her discretion and respectability prevailed and helped accomplish the mission. “Greta Schwarz is not just the mother of your best friend, she’s an institution.” This was how Mrs. Levin explained how she came around to accepting the marriage.
However, Greta had to admit to herself that had her own Jonathan decided to marry at twenty, “with just his tattered underwear to his name” like Uzzi, she would probably have reacted exactly as Mrs. Levin. No, she did not think that Mrs. Levin was a monster, envious of the young people’s happiness.
But gentle Hanny, with her doe eyes and slender figure, found favor in Greta’s eyes from their first encounter, and she embraced her as the daughter she never had. She gave her the most beautiful gown in the bridal department of the Greta Schwarz store on Allenby Street. Such a gorgeous gown had never before been seen in Israel. Greta also paid for the catering at the wedding. “Are you out of your mind?” her husband asked in amazement when he found out about her decision. “Herr Schwarz,” she put him in his place, “since I am using my own money, as the sole heiress of Dr. Rosenzweig of Rosenzweig and Weill Bank of Berlin, I would appreciate it if you would not meddle in my private affairs. I am willing to pay for my private predilections.”
Uzzi thrived and prospered. Even his sour and sullen mother could not deny it. By age thirty-four, he had graduated from the Technion and served in an Intelligence unit in the air force, rising to the rank of lieutenant- colonel. Hanny was a good wife, who, within a few years, bore him three children. But Uzzi always had a nagging sense of deprivation; he complained of not being promoted fast enough at work. Even at the ceremony where he was given the national award for security, he seemed sullen and cross.
Talia could never quite understand Jonathan’s total commitment to Uzzi, although she went often and willingly to Ashdod to visit the well- tended little house where Uzzi and Hanny lived; the friendship between the two women was no longer a function of their husbands’ relationship, but had become a separate entity.
One weekend, when Hanny and Talia were taking care of the children and the men conferring in the study, Jonathan seemed inordinately quiet and pensive. “Uzzi is considering leaving the army,” he told Talia on their way back home, “He is very unstable financially, and this hurts him and me, too.
I want to help him, Talia. I’m determined to make him a millionaire.”
And, as usual, Jonathan carried out his decision. Shortly afterwards, he gave Uzzi twenty percent of his own shares of “Mazor Medical Laser Equipment, “making him the CEO of the company with all the benefits accorded the post—a high salary, a fancy Buick and a large expense account. For the first time in his life, Uzzi looked happy and content.
“You needn’t worry about anything,” Greta whispered to her during the Shiva, “Uzzi will take care of everything.” But Talia examined Uzzi’s face with a foreboding in her heart. Why was he not by her side at the funeral, but rather standing with Micah, Dan and Manu? Why were his visits so rare during the days of mourning? And when he did come, his sympathy seemed artificial, as he sat there next to Greta, who looked upon him like a son. But Talia could felt his aloofness clearly. He seemed self-absorbed and avoided eye contact with her. What was more surprising was Hanny’s absence throughout the days of mourning and her silence, which Uzzi explained by the illness of their younger son. This explanation stirred doubt and disturbed Talia for a few days, until it was lost in the fog that surrounded her.
Talia realized that she, too, probably communicated a coolness to Uzzi. There were things for which she simply could not forgive him. He was a contentious man; he had quarreled with Gabriel Lehavi, the chairman of the “Mazor” board of directors, over an office room that they both coveted. In his last visit to Israel, Jonathan had spent much of his time and energy trying to settle that conflict.