NEW Story: General Infantry
Pyjamas
Tzipora hated sleeping by herself. It wasnβt just anxiety from America, either β sheβd spent half her life in dorms and didnβt much like the silence of a quiet room. When she first moved in with Baron, she would lie in her improvised bed for hours and listen to the ringing in her ears. She was most paranoid, most neurotic alone with her thoughts, with her memory wandering through everything sheβd said and done.
Cobian would come around now and then to stay the night. Maybe once every two weeks. At the time, Cobianβs mother was hoping sheβd become a medical researcher like her father. To that end, Tzipora was a pest, and threatened to become a major distraction in Cobianβs final years of high school.
Among the finest things Tzipora ever owned was a set of silk pyjamas found second-hand shortly after her arrival in Vekllei. She was never quite sure if it was synthetic silk or not; Ayn had no idea either. It was a skirt and blouse done in an oriental style. Sheβd never owned anything so nice β it made her feel good, like an actress in a Hollywood film. She had no idea how such an unseasonal, foreign thing ended up in Vekllei.
Cobian said, βthose are lovely,β when she saw them. That mattered to Tzipora a great deal. βYou look sophisticated,β Baron said. βYou are very pretty in that, Tzipora,β Ayn told her.
That night, when Tzipora lay in bed listening to the ringing in her ears, she thought about how good she looked in the pyjamas.