Saturday, April 14, 2018 9:25 PM

Coming home after dark, I stumble carefully through the yard, around curves and down brief flights of steps without banisters. As I fumble for my keys, a light comes on above me. Someone calls my name. "I saw you walking in darkness and I didn't know why." The man from upstairs steps out of a shadow. He speaks no English, but keeps his Hebrew simple enough that I understand. "You know that you can turn on this light from inside, but there is also this here." We come back to the top of the first staircase. He shows me a switch on a wall and turns it off and on. "It's good that you also know of this one now. I wouldn't want you to be hurt." I thank him and head back to the apartment. Getting down the stairs is much easier now. Several cats that had been watching us duck back into the darkness as I pass.