A Room of Their Own by Rakefet Yarden (best summer reads of all time .TXT) 📕

Yeah, on the brink of full-out starvation, real fun . . .

“And then you release yourself and make up stories about Grandpa,” he said as he panted.

A real saint . . . As though I’m the only one who’d ever made accusations about that man . . .

“Why did the two of you even come here?” He concluded his sermon after a few long minutes of non-stop talking. Mom was standing next to him silently, all gloomy-eyed.

“Dad, we decided to come over here together because we’re very upset about the lawsuit. Dani is very hurt by it, and she feels that it’s unjust,” Tal said.

“And does Dani have a mouth of her own?” Great. Sarcasm.

Silence.

This man is just swallowing us whole, I thought to myself. He knows how to silence anyone he wants to. Now he’s trying to silence me by suing Rotem. I was furious. I felt a lump of fire in my heart, and it grew stronger and spread out to my ears and my toes, filling me up completely. I was fuming, and I still couldn’t get a single word out.

“You’re great at remaining silent, Dani. So where did you get all that nonsense from all of a sudden? Did Rotem tell you all of those things? She’s the one who got it in your head, right? Say it already! Come on. I can still withdraw the lawsuit. If you tell the truth then I promise to retract it and stop the whole thing.”

“You’re going to withdraw the lawsuit, but not because it didn’t happen,” I suddenly heard myself saying. Finally, something came out of me. “I won’t let you do that to Rotem and I won’t let you do that to me! I finally found someone I could tell. I finally managed to realize what was wrong with me. What all of my dreams and fears were about. Secrets I’d kept in my stomach for years. They ate me up from the inside. I won’t let you silence us! And if you leave me no choice, then I’ll tell Grandma. She’ll believe me.” I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks.

“I don’t believe those memories, and don’t even think about threatening me with getting Grandma involved,” he said sharply. I felt him boiling. He then suddenly went silent − probably counting to 10, trying to calm down and decide what tactic would work best here. His voice then turned very soft and serious.

“Dani, honey, I don’t think that you’re doing this on purpose, and I’m not attacking you. You’re simply influenced by a professional who’s leading you astray. She’s trying to be a magician with quick solutions. Rotem knows that she’s to blame for your having lost so much weight while she let everything deteriorate, so she’s trying to direct the blame elsewhere. You’re a unique girl. You were born that way, but nothing abnormal has happened to you along the way. She’s just planted false memories in your head. I’ve read up on it, and it’s a well-known phenomenon . . .” He was so self-assured, as though he’d prepared that speech ages in advance.

“Then how can it be that this therapist has also planted the same memories in my head? She’s never met me. Does that make sense? I have the exact same memories,” Tal suddenly burst out. Her eyes, which shone throughout the conversation, began to fill with tears.

Dad looked at her in shock. His eyes shifted from me to her and back again.

“Yeah, he hurt me too. Not as often as he hurt Dani, because Iddo was with me most of the time, but he took advantage of every opportunity he had, and I came out of it messed up too, and I’m seeing a psychiatrist now, only I didn’t want to tell you two about it. I’ve been having panic attacks for the last six months − I almost dropped out of school because of it!” Tal wiped her face with her sleeve, sobbing quietly.

“I think that we all need to calm down a little bit . . .” Mom went over to Tal and tried to put her hand on her shoulder.

Tal moved away instantly. “We will not calm down! And what about all of the students who’d complained? And what about the girls in the unit? Were they all false accusations, too? And if you’re so sure that this is all made up, then why did you help him find that job abroad so he could spend so many years there without even coming back here for visits?”

Silence.

I was proud of Tal. I wanted to get up and hug her. I wanted to applaud her, or at least get her a tissue, but I didn’t budge. I remained silent, recoiling back into my own private sorrow.

The room was still for a long time. Eventually Mom broke the spell.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “We didn’t know. How can anyone even conceive of something like this ever happening? I’m sorry that we didn’t protect you. We didn’t even imagine the possibility of something like this happening. Of course we wouldn’t have kept quiet if we had known that this was happening.”

Dad tried to say something, but Mom squinted at him and immediately interrupted whatever he was going to say. “We spent our whole lives under the shadow of your father! He had something to say about everything, to all of us, including your mother − there wasn’t a single decision that she dared to make on her own. She stayed by his side for all of those years in New York, weakened by longing for her grandchildren, and still she didn’t dare doubt him. As difficult as this is, we’re all grown-ups now, and he’s been dead for a long time. It’s about time that you admit it: Your father was a tyrant.”

Dad sat down on the couch. He was speechless. Mom continued.

“I believe the girls. What possible reason would they have to make up such horror? Now we