Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

by Etgar Keret

The Palestinians asked for a state, nicely. Did they get one? The hell they did. So they switched to blowing up kids on buses, and people started listening.

Lies without arms, lies that were ill, lies that did harm, lies that could kill. Lies on foot, or behind the wheel, black-tie lies, and lies that could steal.

Eight percent of those about to die say “What the fuck,” 6 percent say only “Fuck,” and there’s another 2.8 percent that say “Fuck you,” though in their case, of course, you is the last word, even if fuck overshadows it irrefutably.