"The Volcano" - short story

“You need to come home. Now.”

“I hear you,” I reply, holding the phone at a distance. Maya’s voice comes across the line at a higher decibel level than usual. “Are you sure you’re feeling contractions?”

“Daniel!” It is nearly a shout. “I know what this is and I know that you have to be on the next flight.”

“Alright,” I say, wondering if this isn’t another case of false labor, like the symptoms that sent us to the hospital prematurely just two weeks ago. “I will order my ticket for tonight.”

“I don’t know if I can last that long!”

It is early afternoon so there’s plenty of time to make a reservation. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be an empty seat on the plane. Not many people fly from Sofia to Tel Aviv in the middle of the week.

Read the rest of the story on The Bookends Review.

Why I Run

I get up every morning at 5 am. Am I crazy? Although I’ve always been an early morning person, these days I am working from home and can get up whenever I want. Yet here I am, getting out of bed before the sun rises in the sky.

And the reason I get up so early is so that I can run.

Last year, I ran the 10-kilometer race in the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Marathons. I am not an athlete at all, nor a professional runner, but I ran those races.

At the time, daily visits to the gym and running, whether indoors on a treadmill or outdoors on weekends, were part of my routine. Unfortunately, a number of physical setbacks as well as the rising cost of gym membership threw me off course. It's only in recent weeks that I’ve begun running again.

So, why do I run? Here are a few of the reasons:

Boar Meet

I ran into a pack of wild boars the other day. Wild boars? Is there any other kind?

It was on one of my 5am runs that I encountered an adult boar and six piglets. The smaller creatures quickly vanished into the brush, but the adult turned to me and moved steadily forward. It grunted as it approached.

I have written about boars before, and how they became uninvited visitors on my moshav. The last time I saw boars was in the middle of the night a year ago, when two huge creatures ran across my path. But I knew they were still around.

Overturned garbage bins. Garbage on the street. Hoofprints in the garden. Uprooted plants. More garbage.