A person of Neshiyah
Ezra Ben-Ami, teacher
Teacher
Ezra Ben-Ami
Teacher, about 83 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Ezra Ben-Ami keeps the schoolhouse clock twenty minutes fast, not to hurry the children but because he likes being ahead of things. He stands at the chalkboard with his sleeves rolled, knuckles white on the ruler, and his temper flares quick as struck flint—that morning in the square, he and Nitzan went at it over a misplaced sack of seed, neither man willing to let the other have the last word. By noon he was laughing about it. He sits by the river after supper, watching the water take the fog’s edge, and asks no questions of anyone. He wants the harvest in before the first frost, same as always, and the town lets him be—a stubborn old man who teaches their children sums and tells them the fields are real because they are.
Temperament
Content not to ask; slow to believe anyone; hot-tempered; friendly enough; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Ezra Ben-Ami believes what everyone believes: the fog is the edge of the world, and the fields need working whether it is true or not.
What the record shows
- day 22 Ezra and Nitzan came to blows at the square over nothing much.