You Don’t Care for Me at All

Who is a good mother? We all know that there are antagonistic, abusive women who look and act the part of the good, protective mother. In this courageous story that focuses on a rejected child’s suffering, the author attempts to shatter the stereotypes that mislead us.

Noah is 8 years old and lives with Sima, his divorced mother. Although she is young and beautiful, Noah thinks she is a witch. On the other hand, people around him believe that she is good and kind, a woman who works hard and copes bravely with raising a child alone. To the outside world she behaves impeccably, but this is only a mask. Noah knows that his mother hates him, perhaps because he resembles his father, or perhaps because she herself was a rejected and miserable child. Sima mocks him,is rude and cold towards him, and calls him a mouse, but who will believe Noah? The child, locked in a no-win situation, has to buy her cigarettes, fold the laundry and wash the dishes. One day, when he brings a few kittens home she orders him to get the “vermin” out of the house. Noah has no choice, he leaves the kittens outside and the next day finds them dead. “What a terrible mother you have. She doesn’t even care if you die,” Noah thinks angrily of the kittens’ mother. He knows that his mother, too, doesn’t care. So when his father calls from faraway Eilat, Noah decides to run away from his mother and walk to Eilat. As expected, his plan fails and he is returned home, but he is confident that his father will come in the summer and take him away. Noah has something to occupy his dreams and hope for.