THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) by John Price Page A

south of Highway 5. With a sinking feeling Moshe realized that the
invaders of Israel were now only about four miles from Petah Tikva and their apartment building. Moshe knew that if the
armored column pushing south left Rabin Highway and headed west towards Tel
Aviv on 483, then moved to 481, one direct route to Tel Aviv, that his building
and his neighbors in east Petah Tikva might escape
harm. On the other hand, if the forces turned south on 40, the Yerushalayim Highway, they would soon be on their doorstep.
Maybe, just maybe, they’ll take 483 and 481 straight into Tel Aviv. If
they do in Tel Aviv what they’ve done already in Israel, he realized, his
dental office would be no longer, but at least they would still be alive.
                   Sophia
was also awake. She could hear the radio reports of the location of the
invading forces. Being the practical member of the family, she immediately
realized when she heard that the invaders were south of Highway 5 on Rabin
Highway, that their community offered too attractive of a bombardment target to
ignore. She said her prayers quietly, not wishing to wake the children, whom
she knew would be awake soon enough once artillery shells began to rain down on
their neighborhood.
                   Moshe
heard Sophia’s fervent prayers. As reports were broadcast that the
invading forces were turning south on Highway 40, Yerushalayim Highway, next to their home, Moshe reluctantly realized that the Guttman family might not survive the next hour. When they
purchased their flat the salesman had been quite specific that the safe room
would afford only limited protection if larger rounds of ammunition were to be
used. His expression at the time, Moshe recalled, was, "This is not a bomb proof room, and just barely a bullet proof room, depending on
the size of the munition being used". Moshe decided he needed to pray
also.
                   As
he finished his prayers, Moshe heard two things simultaneously, the radio
newscaster announcing the latest location of the armored column on Yerushalayim Highway, just a block from their building, and
the sound of exploding ordinance. The armored column made its way south on Yerushalayim Highway, blasting each residential tower on
its way, moving west to downtown Tel Aviv. As numerous shells tore the
buildings apart, screams of the residents could be heard in the loud
explosions. A Russian artillery unit pulled up next to the six story apartment
tower in which the Guttmans lived and fired four
devastating rounds into the building. The blasts had the effect of collapsing
the first floor, which led to the pancaking of the upper floors. The apartment
tower was no longer a tower, but was now a pile of rubble, surrounded by dust,
in the midst of which flames erupted from opened gas lines, consuming what was
left in the building that could burn.
                   Moshe,
Sophia, Golda and Yitzhak Guttman were no more. The Guttman safe room and flat on the third floor of the
apartment tower collapsed into the rubble. Their bodies were torn and crushed
by the explosion which destroyed their home. Moshe, Sophia, Golda and
Yitzhak’s blood flowed from their smashed bodies, mixing with the
concrete dust, disintegrated timber and what was left of their family home.
Thus, the four Guttmans ’ lives flowed out of
their bodies as their blood ran onto the Promised Land. Though what had just
happened in Petah Tikva was of no great concern in
America, it was noticed where it counted.

23
    The
Old Cemetery
    Rosh
Pina, Israel
                   For
the site of the curse the Rabbi chose the Old Cemetery at the back of the 135
year old town known as Rosh Pina. The town was settled in 1878 by orthodox
Jewish farmers, financially supported by Baron Edmund de Rothschild. The town
boasted the nation’s second oldest modern Hebrew
school and Baron’s Gardens modeled after Versailles. Buried in the Old
Cemetery is