The events of a single night created an unbreakable connection between Faina and Frank. Two people , from worlds apart, they would normally never have met but that night was no normal night. Their story is not that of a romance but it is a story of love. Theirs is a story of humanity and kindness on the deepest and most basic level.
It was a Firday night. Frank Eggmann, assistant to the Ambassador of Switzerland posted in Israel was in his room. Suddenly he heard the sound of an enormous explosion. A suicide bomber had blown himself up in the midst of a crowd of teenagers waiting to enter their favorite disco, the Dolfinarium.
Frank ran down the street to the Dolfinarium to see if he could help. He was witness to untold horrors. Youth blown to bits. Frank searched for someone he could help. Frank approached a boy who was lying on the ground but as he drew near he realized that the boy was dead; there was nothing Frank could do for him. A girl lying on the ground caught his eye. She was severely wounded, bleeding from a head injury. Frank knew he lacked the medical skills needed to assist Jenya so he did the only thing he could think of doing. He sat on the ground next to her and held her hand.
Meanwhile, Faina, Jenya's mother, was at a birthday party. Jenya usually went with her to such events but Faina understood when her daughter said she'd rather go out with her friends that night. At the party Faina ate and talked with her friends. Faina never dreamnt that at that very moment her beloved only child was on the ground, holding the hand of the assistant to the Ambassador of Switzerland as she lay dying.
Frank sat with Jenya while she bled. All he could do was be with her. Frank and Jenya were surrounded by ugliness and pain, screaming and blood, life pouring out on cement. The two of them, an island of prayer in a sea of madness.
That night one terrorist directed his life's blood to killing children, to causing pain to as many people as possible. The terrorist sacrificed his humanity on the alter of hatred. Frank, in contrast, placed all his humanity in the hand of a fifteen year old girl.
Faina did not have a good time at the party and she didn't know why. She felt an enormous weight on her heart and she desperately wanted to go home. Someone told Faina that there had been an attack at the disco. At first she wasn't worried but when Jenya did not answer her cell phone Faina started to become nervous. Freinds drove Faina home; She prayed the whole way.
Faina hoped to find Jenya safely at home but the house was empty. A neighbor said that three wild-eyed and shaking teenagers had come looking for Faina, to say that Jenya was hurt and taken to the hospital. The hospital emergency lines were swamped so Faina did thee only thing she could do - she got a friend to take her to the hospital in search of her wounded child. It was probably hope that took Faina to Wolfson hospital where they treat the "mild" to "moderate" cases. Faina fought through a hellish scene of frantic families, friends, ambulances, police cars, sirens and shouting only to be given the terrifying news - Jenya was at Ichilov hospital, where the "serious" cases are taken. When Faina finally found her daughter, Jenya was already gone. Faina never got to talk to her beloved children again. Simply to hold Jenya's hand and feel her squeezing back would have meant the world to Faina.
The day after the attack Frank had scanned the papers for Jenya's pictures. He was pleased that he didn't see her face amongst those of the dead children. Frank searched for her in the hospitals but didn't find her. Something drove him on and on in his search. Frank went from hospital room to hospital room, visiting with the wounded and their families. Over one hundred teenagers were wounded and their families. Amongst so many faces and stories it was Jenya that was seared into his mind. Frank wanted very much to find her, to find her family.
Faina had heard that Frank had been at the scene of the attack and that he had done everything in his power to comfort a dying girl. Faina wanted desperately for it to have been Jenya. A mother has spent fifteen years raising her child, taking care of her, enjoying her personality, watching her dance and laugh and when her baby needed her she wasn't there to protect her. With all her soul Faina yearned for there to have been someone there to make things a little less horrible for her precious child.
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