Did I do something wrong during bagels and iced coffee earlier? Use the wrong word, eat too quickly?

It’s hot. Like really really hot.

I squint against the sun and shield my eyes with one hand. Geula is teeming with tourists, and the human traffic is slow and heavy. Tili seems completely unaffected by the heat and is keeping up running commentary.

“Then I’m totally getting the pens with the little leather hearts for my besties, but hairbrushes all the way for my sisters,” she lists.

I nod. “Totally,” I say.

She stops suddenly, so suddenly that I end up stepping on the back of her VEJAs. I know that’s what her sneakers are called, because I stepped on them earlier, too, and she said, “Hey, don’t step on my VEJAs.”

See, I’m a quick learner.

“Ouch! Careful! Dahlia, how many souvenirs do you need?”

I swallow. Zero, I say silently. Because my sisters are married and my brothers in yeshivah do not want personalized pens with leather hearts, and what’s the other thing? Oh, right, I have no friends back home.

Out loud I say, “Six.”

Which I am definitely kicking myself about once I see the price of a pen.

Tili passes me a pen and six pieces of paper. “Here, write each name on a paper.”

“Thanks!” I say enthusiastically. “Names on paper, names on pens, bringing home some names for friends!”

Tili turns and stares at me.

I swallow. “Thanks,” I say again.

Annnnd it’s time to make up names. I do Hadassah, Temmy, and Mommy. Then I write Osnat, Leba, and Penina, then switch Penina to Kayla. I always wanted a friend named Kayla.