A person of Neshiyah
Yarden Peretz, mechanic
Mechanic
Yarden Peretz
Mechanic, about 105 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Yarden Peretz is nearly a century old and still smells of engine oil, though the garage they keep is less for profit than for the stubbornness of a man who will not let a machine die if it can be made to run. They work slowly, hands steady, head cocked like a bird listening for the one knock that means the carburetor has given up. Their habit is to wipe every bolt on an old rag before setting it down, a ritual of order in a town that accepts disorder. They sit by the river most evenings, smoking a pipe, surrounded by whoever drifts near, though they rarely start a conversation. The town knows Yarden as the one who will argue with anyone, then buy them tea, and who believes the fog is the edge of the world and the fields need working, because that is what everyone believes. What they want is a quiet day with no one needing them, which everyone knows will never come.
Temperament
Curious when something is in front of them; slow to believe anyone; hard to anger; always in company; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Yarden Peretz 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 51 Yarden Peretz, the mechanic, died at 105, of old age. In their last days people said they were asleep.
- day 47 Yarden Peretz and Boaz Erez came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 39 Yarden Peretz and Hadassah Shalev talked a long while at the square.
- day 35 Yarden Peretz and Rimon Gilad came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 32 Yarden Peretz and Levi Ben-Ami came to blows at the square over nothing much.
Yarden Peretz died on day 51.
People on this page
Boaz Erez
Rimon Gilad