Two Out of Three

He smiled and nodded, acknowledging she'd relented and offered an olive branch. His voice was softly accented and he had an Israeli name, but his looks could have made him either Jew or Arab. His hair was dark but turning gray here and there, and his olive skin stretched taut over muscles that belied his age. He must have been well over forty, maybe even over fifty.

"Don't you have a car?"

"It's with my family. I'm on duty, assigned down south for a month. Normally I'd take the bus but it was too crowded, and it's too hot to be stuck for ten hours with nine or ten other sweaty people. I thought I'd take my chances on hitchhiking. It usually works pretty well. I saw your car from the road and asked the ride to let me off here. But then I didn't see anyone near the car, so I went exploring."

She felt herself turn redder, decided to ignore it and take an aggressive stance. She'd found it worked better with Israeli men, which she assumed he was.

"Liked what you saw? Thought you'd get a freebie, since your wife isn't with you?"

He watched her for a few moments before answering her.

"Yeah, I liked what I saw. Who wouldn't? I'm sorry, I didn't know. I left to give you privacy."

"Thanks for that."

"I don't have a wife. Not any longer."

"Tired of being a military wife, was she?" Val sniped back.

"What?" he stared at her, confused. "No. She died, a couple of years ago. Breast cancer."

Val mentally kicked herself: she was an ass. It wasn't the first time she'd let her quick anger make a fool of herself.

She swallowed hard. "I'm very sorry. Listen, I'm on my way south. I was going to stop in Eilat anyway, maybe spend a few days before going on. It won't be any trouble to give you a ride. Are you ready to go?"

He nodded once with a sharp, military gesture and turned to grab his duffel. When he bent to it, his glutes stretched the heavy cotton material of his pants nicely, and his biceps and triceps worked together to lift what seemed to be a fairly heavy load.

"What do you have in there, rocks?"

He snorted. "May as well be. Books."

"Most people would use a Kindle for those nowadays. You're not a fan of e-Readers?"

They walked to the car and she opened the trunk, waited till he put the duffel inside and positioned it carefully, then closed the flap.

"I have one of those apps on my computer, but no, they're not those kinds of books. I'm doing some research. They're library books. Old and rather obscure, not yet digitized."

They got in the car and rode in silence for a few minutes, Val turning left onto the road to Eilat and fiddling with the radio, looking for a station.

"Reception tends to be complete crap down here," he said, as if apologizing.

"I thought that might be a problem. I brought a few CDs, they're in the glove compartment. You could look to see if there's anything you like."

"Does the car have a USB port? I have an iPod with me - saves my sanity on the road."

She wanted to lighten the mood a bit. "How about we play 'rock paper scissors' to decide whose music?"

"Huh," he said. "Haven't played that for a while. Had a friend who did it all the time. OK, here we go," and he extended his fist towards her. He won the first round.

"Two out of three?" she asked. She won the next round, but lost the third.

"Mind if I look for a USB port?" Avi pointed to the dashboard compartment under the radio.

"You might also look in here," Val tapped the armrest and lifted it to reveal another compartment.

He plugged in his iPod and for a good fifteen minutes they listened to his idiosyncratic mix of music, ranging from European pop to world music to Israeli folk. She was content to drive in silence, letting herself enjoy the scenery and trying to ignore the stranger sitting next to her. As they drove through the desert, passing the occasional scrub and rock pile, she noticed occasional large metal sculptures, surprising the eye.

"Random acts of art," she offered.

"What?"

"You know, like random acts of kindness, but pleasing to the eye. Makes one think. Focuses the brain."

"Focuses the brain in what way?"

"Well, some of the sculptures you'll like, some you won't. Then you'll start thinking about why you like one and not another one. About the artist who did them and what they were trying to achieve, how successful they were at it."

He added nothing to that, and they continued driving in silence for another ten minutes or so.

"What were you thinking about back there? At Avdat," he asked.

She didn't answer for a couple of minutes. Then blurted, "Screwing and getting screwed. Letting off some steam."

"Been a while?"

She looked at him sideways with her best freeze ray look, then turned back to the road.

"It's been while for me," he said, looking obliquely at her.

"Yeah, I bet. And I need to know that because...?"

"Well..."

"Thanks if you're offering but no thanks," she said, cutting off whatever hopes he'd had. "I don't do strangers. Literally or figuratively."

"There's always a first time. Besides, we don't have to stay strangers. I'd really hoped we wouldn't."

"Yeah, no. Thanks again." Did he get finality? Or would she need to get hard-assed about it?

"No worries. Sorry if I was rude," he said, and fell silent. Intermittently she sneaked peeks over at him and noticed that he'd let his eyes close, and eventually she heard the heavier, more relaxed regular breathing of sleep punctuated with light snores every once in a while.

"You can drop me off right there," Avi said a couple of hours later after what had become a comfortable silence.

They were getting very close to Eilat, and the outskirts were beginning to give way to the city. He pointed to a parking lot in front of some fenced-in huts, the only visible evidence of the military compound announced by the placard she finally noticed. "You can't get me any closer to where I'm going than this."

She nodded, and pulled into the lot, stopping near the compound's gate and turning the car off. When he got out, she got out as well and opened the trunk to let him grab his duffel bag.

"Did you have a place to stay picked out already?"

"Not yet. I thought I'd check out the hotels near the water."

"You didn't make reservation? They might be full, you know. It's a pretty popular spot for vacationers. And a stop-off to Petra."

"Yeah. I'm not much good with planning my travel. I just like to show up, check out the lay of the land. I'll just drive around, find something.

I'm not too picky."

He nodded. "Good luck, then." He dug in his wallet for a few seconds. She was worried that he meant to pay her for the ride. She didn't want to take his money, but didn't know the road etiquette here. When he handed her a business card with his name, a couple of phone numbers, and an email, she was relieved.

"Call me if you don't find a place to stay tonight. I have some friends in town who might be able to put you up. Or call if you need anything."

"Thanks for the offer, Avi. I'll be fine, but I appreciate your thinking of it."

He shrugged, "You never know. Or you may want some company. Get a drink together." She started to demur, but he kept going. "Thanks again for the ride. It was really helpful. Hey, make sure you pick a reputable outfit for your diving. Some of these guys have run into trouble. Why don't you try these guys, Red Sea Divers - let me write their name down on my card. They're really good."

She gave him the card, and he scribbled the diving company's name on the back before returning it.

"Thanks for the tip, Avi. I'll be careful. Take care. Good to meet you. Good luck with... everything," and she stretched her right hand toward him.

As he shook it, she didn't miss the slight twitch at the right corner of his mouth, the dimple forming in his right cheek. She had to admit, he was attractive in a lean, sparse way. What, did he want more? A kiss? I don't think so.

She knew she was awkward with men she'd known for just a short time. Should she have hugged him? Kissed his cheek? Given him a peck on the lips? Whatever. This was all she had to offer and she wasn't likely to see him again. She gave him a last look as he walked to the gate, noticing the nice way his buns flexed against the tight-fitting desert-patterned army fatigues, one leg tucked into his black dusty boot, the other not. Men... they didn't pay much attention to things like that, did they?

He was nodding and chatting with a guy who'd come out of the little guard booth to greet him, then looked over his shoulder, vaguely pointing towards her car. She nodded in greeting at him, not sure whether he could see her, and drove off.

"Avi! You made it! The colonel's been looking for you..." the guard said, giving Avi's back a manly slap.

"Yeah, well... Took a while to get a ride," Avi shrugged.

"Hey, who was that, anyway? Didn't see too much of her but she sure was a looker! "

"Shove it back in your pants, Dov! And yes, she is a looker!"

"Got a bit of her, did you?"

"Naw, man. Though I wouldn't have minded... but..."

"Of course, of course, always the gentleman," Dov laughed. "You know, she looks a bit familiar..."

"Yes, she looked familiar to me too," Avi said, forehead wrinkled. Then, "All right. Where's the colonel?" as he headed through the gates.

As he headed towards the colonel's office, Avi thought about Val. Even at Avdat, when he first saw her face, she'd triggered a memory. Something about her eyes and her mouth when she smiled. The game of rock paper scissors in the car had triggered another.

He dropped his duffel on the side of the road and, taking out his phone, scrolled through the photographs he kept. He had to scroll a ways back to find photos that were a year old or more. But there, amid the others, was the selfie Josh Schwartz had taken of himself and Avi, laughing, arms around each other. In another, Avi and Josh and a few of their friends sat around a table in a bar, beer bottles littering the table top. He magnified Josh's smiling face. They shared the same eyes and mouth. She must be Josh's cousin Val, the one Josh had confided in him about and had agonized over. The one to whom Josh had written a letter, before he'd left on his last mission, that he'd wanted Avi to deliver.

He'd had no idea how beautiful she was.

The Dive Boat

"All right, everyone's filled out their release forms? When I have yours and you've picked out your dive gear, grab your dive bag and proceed to the boat. There'll be people there to help you on and get you settled in once you're on board."

Val hauled her bag to the boat as directed. It was pretty basic, about 32 feet of working boat set up for diving. Once she boarded, she could see the long benches up each side, with the wells behind them filled with air tanks. She looked to be the first guest on board. She chose a spot near the exit so she could be out of the boat and into the water first. She fished out her BCD, the cumbersome but essential diving vest used to control the diver's buoyancy in the water, and unraveled the two long hoses of the octopus, laid out the fins and the dive booties on top where she could get them easily, and shoved the nest dive bag far under the bench, out of the way.

She'd brought her own "skins" - she loved diving in warm water with only the tight Lycra garment that was normally worn under the heavier wet suits to make them easier to slide on. She'd already decided the 76°F water of the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat, depending where you were from) was sufficiently cozy for her to need only the skins to provide just a little extra warmth and protection from the reefs or jelly fish or other stinging marine life. She stepped out of her shorts and stepped into the legs of the black and grey one-piece garment, pulling it up her legs and over her one-piece swimsuit to about the level of her navel, then tied off the dangling sleeves loosely around her waist.

"A real pity to hide those legs," she heard behind her. She turned, annoyance on her face, to the man standing loosely in the door of the cabin under the deck.

"Hello to you, too. Is that how your mother taught you to address strange women?" she said, as cold as she could manage, then took a second look and relaxed.

He smiled at her. "She'd expect me to be more polite to strange women. But you're not exactly a stranger."

"Avi, what the hell are you doing here?"

"My friend Yoel captains this dive boat. He was short some hands and asked me to help. I was off, so... here I am."

"Huh, what's the chance of me going on the same boat? I take it you approve of these guys?"

"As much as I approve of any recreational diving outfit. They're careful. Give a good tour."

"How's the dive master?"

"I hear he's OK. Haven't heard anything bad about him," Avi shrugged.

"Well, I'll just put my stuff away."

"There's water bottles and juices in this cooler over here if you want some. It's a good idea to drink a lot - it's pretty dry here, though it may not seem that way."

"Yes, I will get one. Thanks."

She rolled up her shorts and put them into the dive bag, but left her T-shirt on to keep her shoulders and chest from burning in the sun too much. Her fair skin would turn red pretty easily and there was not a cloud in the sky. Done with the preliminaries, she walked over to the cooler and grabbed a bottle of water.

"Have you done a lot of diving?" he asked her, drinking out of his own water bottle.

"Yeah, quite a bit."

"Whereabouts?"

"Here and there. Bermuda. Belize. Thailand. Indonesia and the Philippines. Indonesia was probably my favorite."

"Been to the Great Barrier Reef?"

"I have. Just once. Very cool, but I think I like the diving in Southeast Asia better."

"How many hours?"

"Over a hundred, I'd say."

"Recreational only?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And night diving. Some of my favorite."

He nodded his agreement, "Yes, mine too. Will you be doing any here?"

"No, I don't think so. Don't have enough time, and I wanted to see the place in the daytime."

"How long are you here for?"

"Today's my last day in Eilat. I've booked a tour to Petra tomorrow. I leave early in the morning. No time for a night dive this trip. I'll be back, though. I have family in Tel Aviv."

He nodded. "I'll catch up with you later, then. Have to help these folks onto the boat, get them ready. Let me know if you need help with anything. I'll do your check-out in a bit." He squeezed her shoulder and walked past her to help the family just getting on.

She realized she felt more relaxed around him. She didn't quite know why, but didn't spend much time worrying about it. Leaning over the gunwale, she looked out over the gulf, first towards the Jordanian side where the city of Aqaba was visible, pretty close, then towards the Egyptian side that was quite barren except right near the border with Israel.

Behind her she heard the usual banter of dive boats. In time, she turned and helped out here and there, trying to stay out of the way mostly. She'd already put her buoyancy compensator vest, commonly known in the dive business as the BCD, over the tank behind her seat. The vest could be filled and emptied of air using special valves, letting the diver regulate their depth level in the water. She opened the regulator valve on the air tank and checked the gauge to make sure that it was full. Finally, she checked that both the first and second stages were fine - the hoses and fittings that brought air to the diver from the tank. All good.

She liked getting on boats early - more room to dress and get ready, less bumping into people she didn't know yet. Luckily this was a pretty light group, as far as dive groups went. A couple in their late forties or fifties and their teenaged son, another couple in their late thirties or early forties from the States, an older German couple, and a Swedish girl in her late twenties or so, tall, blonde, and looking nicely formed as only Scandinavian girls could be. She wondered idly who her dive buddy would be and watched people as they started getting ready, to gauge their experience.

"OK, everyone's on board and we're ready to go. We've got a nice intimate group today, which will be just great underwater. My name's Yoel and I'm the boat captain. Ben is my second in command and will be helping with you with all of your needs, help get your tanks on and off, and help get you back in the boat when you return from your dives. And Avi's our highly experienced dive master today."

Val flinched and looked at Avi, who smiled right back at her, his dimples fully in evidence. Damn him! His near-black eyes crinkled into a fan of laugh lines radiating from the corners out.

"So, any questions before we push off? We've got about an hour and a half to our first dive site, so we best push off."

No one had questions, so he turned and settled himself up into the captain's cabin, and maneuvered the boat out of the harbor. Ben made himself busy pulling in the anchor and coiling lines, while Avi sat on the cooler after passing out bottles of water and juice to everyone who wanted them.

"Great, folks. I'll tell you a bit about the dive site and what we should expect to see there. We'll be diving for about forty-five, maybe fifty minutes depending on our air, then coming back on board and eating lunch while the captain heads out to our second dive site. We'll be doing our second dive, again about 45-50 minutes, then heading back to shore. Normally we would refill the tanks in between our dives, but because there's not too many of us we have taken on sufficient full tanks for everyone diving on board. That'll be nice - running the compressor is pretty damn loud, so it will be much more pleasant for all of us. Any questions so far?"

Everyone shook their heads, "No."

"Folks, if you have any questions whatsoever, please ask. Don't be shy. I'll answer all I can, and if I can't answer, the captain and Ben are both a great source of information."

People settled in, looking around. Avi asked everyone to introduce themselves. Tim, the teenager, wanted to be a marine biologist. His parents both taught biology at a university in one of the Midwestern states. The German man was in the car manufacturing business, his wife a very well-kept hausfrau by the looks of it. The Swedish gal was studying graphic arts in Gothenburg and was spending a semester at Tel Aviv University. Val presumed she was enjoying the heat, the light of the Mediterranean winters compared to the dark of the northern ones, and the inevitable attention the tall blonde must be getting from the dark-haired, olive-skinned Jewish boys. One anecdote after another and soon enough Avi was tapping the side of the cooler to get their attention.

"OK, everyone, I'm going to be pairing you up. You two will be dive buddies," he said, pointing to the German couple. Mr. and Mrs, Sanderson, you two will buddy up."

"But what about Tim? Roger usually dives with Tim," said Mrs. Sanderson, looking from her husband to her son a bit nervously.

"No worries, Mrs. S. Why don't we try this arrangement today, at least for the first dive. You and Mr. S. Will enjoy yourselves a rare opportunity to dive together. Tim will dive with Val, who's a very experienced diver. He'll be in good hands. OK, Tim?"

Tim nodded vigorously, throwing Val a quick look, sweeping down from her neck to her bust and getting a bit flushed.

"And I'll dive with Ylva," Avi finished the assignments. "We'll be moving slowly along so we can get a good look at everything. I'll be in front. Please keep an eye on me - if I see anything really cool, I'll be pointing things out to you guys, or writing on my little dive board. Mostly I'll be pointing. I'll be checking back on you all - please stay with the group, and don't dawdle too much. Val and Tim will be bringing up the rear."