Summary

Not long after arriving at the Pumpkin, Avi is taken to defend an army convoy ambushed by guerrillas on its way from Israel. He was not sure he would be able to handle combat, but after he experienced it, "it turned out he was fine" (39). On a visit home to see his parents, Avi established an agreement: if something happened, he would phone home and say "Everything's okay" (40). That would mean that everything was not okay on the hill, but that he was alive. That way, if they heard about a conflict on the news, they would already know their son was safe. Most of Avi's time on the Pumpkin was "cleaning dishes and waiting out shelling and standing on guard duty" (40). Everyone was tired of everything and wanted to go home. Avi writes letters to a friend named Smadar that...