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back in my lunch hour…'
    'It won't take long, Nancy,' came the
husky, phlegm-laden voice.
    'Auntie, have you been smoking again?
You know the doctor said…'
    'I need to talk to you Nancy. It's
important.' There was a pause.
    'Okay,' said Nancy in a whisper. 'Go on. I've got a few
minutes.'
    'I had a phone call yesterday.
From someone in the family. Your family, that is, Nancy. Your side
of the family.'
    'Oh, you mean…'
    'Yes. That side. But someone I'd
barely heard of before. I don't even know how he got my number. But
there. It's strange how people pop out of cupboards when you least
expect them.'
    'So…who was it?'
    'His name is Shai. I suppose he'd
be your Great U ncle. Yes, that's right.
Your mother's uncle. After they died, that is. After your mum and
dad died, I rather lost contact with everyone.'
    'Except me , Aunt Mary. I was there. With you.'
    'Yes, of course you were. Well,
you had to be. There was no-one else to look after you.' There was
another pause and Nancy heard her aunt try to smother a long
phlegmy cough.
    'Anyway, darling. How are you by the
way? Are you all right?'
    'Yes, Aunt Mary. I'm fine. Look
can we catch up later, I'm rather…'
    'Sorry, Nancy. Let me get back to
the point. We can do pleasantries another time. You're right.
Anyway, I had this call. And it seemed quite urgent. It was your
Great Uncle Shai.'
    'Who you didn't know about before?'
    'No, darling. Lots of mystery in your family. Clear as a glass
of stout they were. To outsiders. Like me, who only married one of
them. Are, I should say. Not all boxed up yet. And this call only
compounded it.'
    Nancy looked surreptitiously around the
office again.
    'Go on, Aunt Mary. I'm sure you'll
get to the point any day now.'
    'Enough of that sarcasm, young
lady. I always told you to mind your manners. Seems I failed there
too.'
    Nancy looked up at the ceiling and
gripped the phone tighter.
    'Anyway, your great-uncle
Shai , who hasn't bothered with us all his
life, is suddenly very keen to meet you. Desperate in fact. He said
it was very urgent. I think he's worried he might die first. He
rambled a bit I have to say. But he has something very important to
tell you.'
    'What is it? What does he want to tell
me?'
    'I've no idea. He wouldn't say.'
    'So what shall we do? Ignore him?
Or shall I speak to him? There's a phone in the hall where I live.
I'm allowed to take calls in the evenings between 9.00 and
10.00.'
    'He insisted that he meets you. In
person.'
    'Okay. Well, I can meet him in a
pub.'
    'That won't be possible.'
    'Why?'
    'He's very sick. Can't walk far.
He wants you to go to his home.'
    'And where's that.'
    'In Israel. In a kibbutz. Just near Jerusalem. He wants to meet you
there.'
     
    Nancy walked down the Broadway,
past the Peking Duck restaurant and Levin's jewellery shop. Outside
the bakery a beggar sat with his legs crossed and a plastic bowl in
his lap. A mongrel with a piece of string around its neck sat
beside him. Nancy skirted around the beggar and entered the shop.
The queue was short today and she placed her order within a couple
of minutes. She watched while the woman sliced the ham and placed
it on the bread like a mosaic.
    As she left the bakery she approached the beggar. He was wishing a
good day to everyone who walked past.
    'Excuse me, could you help me?'
asked Nancy quietly.
    The beggar looked up, squinting.
'Yes, miss. Would you like me to take you to dinner?'
    Nancy smiled. 'I've bought a
sandwich for my colleague. Only it's got mustard on it and she
doesn't like mustard. Would you like it? Only it would save me
having to take it back.'
    The beggar smiled appreciatively.
'It's lucky I was here. Isn't it? Otherwise you'd be in a spot of
pickle.' Slight accent.
    He took the brown bag she handed him.
'Thank you,' he winked, knowingly. 'Have a great day now,
miss.'
    Nancy hovered. The beggar was
grey-haired, but neat. Respectable, almost.
    'How did it happen?' she asked.
    'You mean how I come here? On