PART FOUR. The Move. Number Two. The Packers Pack

So, Shloimy, today the packers are coming from the local subcontracted mover. They are going to pack everything for you.

Aren't you excited?

Your aliyah is now a reality!

So the truck with the packers arrives. It's actually on time!

Wow. This is impressive.

What's even more impressive is the five guys who show up.

Five guys?

Yes, they tell you. That's what the Israel movers require.

Shloimy, five guys. Just for you. Are you impressed yet?

The come into your house. They want to walk around, to see what they'll be doing. They look at the books. They nod, knowingly.

You walk them through the house. Pack this, you tell them, and this. Leave this and that.

They nod. They approve.

That pile there, you tell them, you pack. This pile, you leave.

They nod. They approve.

Wow, Shloimy, this is going to be easy, right?

Then they start packing. You watch. You're a little nervous, know what I mean? These are all your precious belongings. You want them to be careful. Right?

You hover over them, going from room to room, to watch and to comment.

Then, about an hour later, the foreman comes over to you. He needs to talk. He wants  you to know it'll be okay. The men all know what they're doing. Don't worry. You don't need to hover.

So you stand back, and watch from a distance. Yes, they pack quickly, expertly. They really do seem to know what they're doing.

Still, you can't walk away, right?

So you continue to hover, only this time, from a little farther back.

The foreman comes back over to you. He needs to talk. He wants you to know that it'll be okay. They know what they're doing. You can relax.

You're impressed. He's so sensitive!

Then it's lunch. The men all sit outside, in the sun, eating. Soon, you go outside, because lunch seems to be taking a long time. They tell you they have a question. They point up the the cloudless, sunny sky. There is a jet airliner way up there in the sky, white contrails streaming behind.

They want to know what are  those white streams are coming out of the back of the airplane. They've been arguing about it since they started eating, they tell you, and feel that you are a very smart man. Can you tell them? Since you have interacted with these men now for perhaps four hours already, you have a sense of who these men are, so you tell them you know what those streams of white are.

You tell them they are from the airplane bathrooms.

Then, you quickly turn and go back into the house.

The foreman comes into the house after you. He wants to know. Is that really true? From the plane bathrooms?

You tell him, no. That's not true. You are just ragging him.

He likes that.

He goes back outside, and then you hear them all laughing.

Isn't packing fun?