Flipside: By the skin of our teeth

[Gimel]

At first, he doesn't think it's an explosion. If Yoni had a shekel for every sonic boom that shook the windows of his Jerusalem apartment and caused his stomach to clench, he wouldn't be receiving calls from his bank every five minutes reminding him that his overdraft has exceeded its limit.

Years of therapy, three "understanding" wives, and a trek to Nepal have gotten him to the point where his shell-shock is under control, if not laid to rest.

It is thus that when the bathroom mirror nearly comes unhinged as he's performing his daily dental ritual, Yoni's psyche doesn't follow suit.

Brushing his teeth and flossing his gums fastidiously is something Yoni never forgoes, no matter how rushed he is in the morning, or how exhausted at night. This is ostensibly due to the wounds sustained when his Armored Personnel Carrier overturned under fire during the Yom Kippur War. To be sure, the fact that much of his medical treatment involved intricate operations on his mouth has made it necessary for him to take extra care with his oral hygiene.

But one of a long line of shrinks made Yoni realize that his obsessive-compulsive behavior indicated a deeper problem related to his battle injury. As proof, the psychologist pointed to Yoni's recurring nightmare about his teeth falling out.

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WHEN THE sirens start screeching, Yoni is putting his toothbrush back in the cup on the shelf above the sink.

"Turn on the TV," a daughter from his first marriage calls out to a son from his second, each there to console him on the break-up of his third - and to help him pack.

"Bus bombing in Rehavia," the son, on a two-day furlough from the army, announces.

The nausea that accompanies every reminder of Yoni's trauma turns at this moment into full-fledged panic.

"David..." Yoni says, his teeth beginning to chatter. He is referring to his 14-year-old, who left for school only half an hour ago.

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A day in the life of a Jerusalemite.