Rafi's records

Rafi was five years older than me and his records were absolutely forbidden. Naturally I listened to them whenever he wasn't home.

His room had a little record player and he kept the albums standing against the wall. I would sit on the floor and try to put everything back exactly where it was so he wouldn't know I'd been there.

He always knew.

I scratched one of his records once and blamed it on one of his friends. I don't remember which record it was anymore, although Rafi probably does.

That's where I heard a lot of music for the first time. The Beatles, the Stones, Dylan. Later Hendrix. I didn't understand half of what they were singing about. It didn't matter.

The funny thing is that Rafi wasn't especially patient with me about anything else, but sometimes he'd come home and find me there and instead of throwing me out he'd put something on and say, "Listen to this one."