A person of Neshiyah
Levi Ben-Ami, gardener
Gardener
Levi Ben-Ami
Gardener, about 79 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Levi Ben-Ami’s hands are never still, even when he’s sitting by the river; he’ll be turning a clod of dirt, or snapping a dry stem, or tracing a pattern in the gravel with his boot. At seventy-four, he still plants his rows with a stubborn, precise fury, muttering at the soil until it yields. He wants to see the fog part, just once, not for adventure but to know if the world beyond is worth the walk. The town tolerates his hot temper because he’s always in company—someone’s always fixing him tea after he’s shouted at the Council’s latest rule. They call him the old map, a man who’s drawn his own edges and refuses to color them in.
Temperament
Curious to a fault; slow to believe anyone; hot-tempered; always in company; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Levi 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 49 Boaz Erez and Levi Ben-Ami came to blows at the mill over nothing much.
- day 49 Levi Ben-Ami, the gardener, died at 79 after an illness. In their last days people said they were asleep.
- day 48 Levi Ben-Ami the gardener fell ill with the valley fever and lost three days to it.
- day 45 Levi Ben-Ami and Itai Segal came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 43 A guard at the end of the south road turned Levi Ben-Ami back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
- day 34 A guard at the end of the north road turned Levi Ben-Ami back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
- day 22 A guard at the end of the south road turned Levi the younger back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
Levi Ben-Ami died on day 49.
People on this page
Boaz Erez
Itai Segal