How we made the watchman.

It was 20 years ago, we were young and happy because we got our first well-paid job. We escaped the poverty of a small peripheral town in northern Israel and now work as waitresses in an elegant five-star hotel in Eilat. From the abundance of foods that we brought to the tables, our saliva flowed and our eyes rushed. We wanted everything! Given that our parents still fought for their place under the sun, they didn’t have money and in the last five years, we’ve not been bad at all.
We worked in the dining room, our task was to bring and replenish large meals for breakfast and dinner. There was all this for us, of course, was not allowed, for the workers there was a separate dining room, there occasionally got cakes that "stayed" but this happened extremely rarely. Not to be able to take it with you and talk. This was strictly forbidden and was followed by the watchman Menahem. And we wanted everything, and these strange tropical fruits and air cakes and cheeses. And baking, about what was baking, small croissants with different fillings, cookies and roulette, and everything smelled so delicious. No, of course you could go and buy, but there was no money in the first place. Even the first salary has not yet been received, in the second such things are expensive, the pound of grapes served for dessert at dinner cost as much as half of my working days and then not in every store it could be bought. And yes, the money we did not want to spend, not for this we spent 16 hours to buy cakes, especially since they are cakes right before our nose. It was hard to eat during the work, but all the Israelites did so, picked up the dish and periodically ran there. The officer pretended not to notice. But we wanted more, we wanted to take home, cut beautifully into plates and sit on the shore to meet the red sunset.
How to endure? And no how. Menahem was always on guard. A little wicked old man, 45, but at 18, he was an old man, checking his bags at the exit, screaming at us, and waving a big stick. When they complained about the stick, he said he was driving away the cat, but we were sure to find it in our mango bag, then we will become cats and say goodbye to the job.
Every time I went out, I was close to a nervous breakdown. And although I had nothing in my bag, the fact of the check was as scary as the rude attitude and screams. After I dropped my bag and held the whole turn and received the extra portion of Menahem’s screams, I told Rimka that it was the last time. Tomorrow we’ll start tossing it. We discussed the plan at night.
The next morning we started by greeting him at the entrance and saying goodbye at the exit. Wishing you a good day or a good weekend. They began to be interested in his health and ask whether the cats are bored.
For the first month he did not notice us, looked through with an unseen glance, bumped something under his nose and pulled his stick. But we did not despair. Since we had to train him and not seduce him, we dressed modestly and carefully. Rimka wrapped the knots and I tail, wearing the t-shirts and sticking them to the last button and it was in the 40-degree heat of Eilat. We were polite and kind. We smiled and patiently thought about how to gain his trust and when he stops checking our bags, we will start filling them with fruits and sweets. Then we smiled and licked in the heat. A month later, he looked at us in the crowd, but still did not say hello. Then he stopped screaming at us. Then he left us without a line. Three months later, he answered our first greeting because the holidays were. Eventually he talked to us. And then we discovered that he was not a beast, but a very unfortunate man. Menachem alone raised four children, his wife died. The kids grew up, but the problems did not get better. He told us about Eilat, about Timna Stone Park, about military bases in the mountains, about military service, about his wife and children. We really became friends. Our original goal lost its meaning. He was now our friend and not a wicked, disgusting old man, but it was low to subjugate his friend and steal sweets using his trust and we didn’t do it. Like all the talkative 18-year-old girls, we spread his stories throughout the hotel and people saw him from the other side. Now almost all the employees greeted him and he answered them. He began to be invited to parties, of course he did not go anywhere for a long time, but we still pulled him out. At one of these parties he "met" Katya, before that she walked by him for two years and they did not see each other.
Soon, Rimka and I were fired, or more precisely, she was fired for "hunting" the boss with whom she refused to spend the night, and I left out of a sense of solidarity. It turned out that Menachem knew all the guards of the city, and the next morning we were already working in another five-star hotel in the VIP bar because Menachem was entrusted to us as "good and not wicked" girls. Had he known what mercantile goals we were pursuing then...
Then I left school, life turned upside down and we lost contact.
Last week, my husband and children were in Eilat, walking along the beach, the kids were running around and making a lot of noise. I constantly screamed at them when I heard, “Oh, stop screaming at the kids, you were such a cute girl, what happened to you?” I wore it, what do I think? I turn around, ready to break this ugly old man in pieces, and I see the laughing face of Menahem.
He accepted us as relatives and called us home. He then married this Kate, she was a single mother with a little daughter in her arms. They adopted a girl and they gave birth to another. The difference between the younger and the older is 20 years. He showed photos of his grandchildren, thanked us and Rome calling angels who pulled him out of depression and that thanks to us he found happiness, etc. And I sat down and burned with shame for my terrible motives, for my lies and hypocrisy, and in general for the intent to steal. I will never tell him that, let him be happy. In the end, it really became our way. Well, what gave rise to this friendship is not so important now.