LUNCH AND ARIEL SHARON

The car is still in the shop so when my wife got back from church and woke me up from my first nap of the day we walked up to the Boulevard and around the corner to a café where they serve chicken. They don’t serve anything else. Rice and beans. It was dark and cold on the street, while inside the café it was dark and cold.

We sat near the side wall that is entirely glass. Outside there is a passageway about three feet wide, then a seven-foot concrete block wall painted with hills and fields and flowering plants. Over head the passageway is covered with chicken wire, and down in the dirt there are white pigeons, a dove or two, and a couple rabbits, one brown and the other black and white.

We ordered chicken, of course, and while we ate and I listened to my wife talk about our daughter I watched the black and white rabbit, which is the smaller one, lick and clean the brown one like a mother cat cleans its kitten. I’d never seen that before.

After awhile a fat Mexican came in with his wife, I suppose, and sat at a table near us. I was struck by how closely the Mexican resembled Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Beirut. The nose, the mouth, the stomach, the haircut. Everything. If I had been in some other venue, I would have felt a moment of anxiety.

Thought recalled that this morning on a CNN “Breaking News” segment it was reported that Sharon had suffered a stroke and was in hospital. When I first heard the news I thought, well, let’s hope for the worst. The guy’s been nothing but trouble for as long as I can remember. Then it occurred to me that waiting in line to govern Israel is Bibi Netanyahu. My enthusiasm felt compromised. What kind of choice is that? Bibi and George W?

Look out Iran!