Scene 12

As he searched for the note from Aral amongst the stones, he noticed that more and more men were showing up at the place – to read or to sing, or to pray, to gossip, to dance. The majority of them wore black suits, big hats and foreign fur caps; the cream-coloured tips of the twisted threads of their tzitzits slapped them around the hips and they were constantly engrossed in winding their errant locks of hair back behind their ears. There were also Yeshiva students in white shirts around, as well as soldiers in brown uniforms toting guns under their arms.

The number of people around steadily increased and it seemed to him that they were rising like water over the steps of the Old Town, this unending bazaar that had been polished to a gleaming swathe by hundreds of feet and by time. Everyone was walking quickly, it seemed as if they were all in a rush and there was a look of expectancy, indeed of impatience, on all their faces – as if they were headed for not just worship but for something far more personal, such as their own birthday party.

And then,as the Jewish people continued to sing and dance and commence on one of the most important rituals of their religious week, the loudspeakers began to blare from nearby minarets: the muezzins were calling the faithful to prayer. And amidst all this sacred noise Maille was sure to also detect the dark clang of heavy bells and the trembling sing-song of little pilgrim choirs.

Then he found the banknote: «Experience 24 movies in the New World», was the message scribbled on it. And suddenly Maille knew that he did not belong to this. The speech though would be different in future.

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