![\"red-alert\"](\"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/red-alert.jpg\")
<\/a>red-alert<\/p><\/div>\n
On Tuesday night at about 22:00 the air-raid siren started wailing here in Jerusalem. I\u2019ve never heard an air-raid siren in my life. But there\u2019s just no mistaking the sound. You know what it\u2019s for. It’s an odd feeling really. What with everything going on, I knew it might happen. Half expected it could. And I didn’t. Because when I heard the sound, it came as a complete surprise.<\/p>\n
For a second or two the shock gets you. What to do? Where to go? Then instinct takes over. Put on shoes, grab phone, call Bella the basset hound. Who is epically excited about the unexpected walk this late at night. On our way down Bella and I stop at the couple\u2019s flat below us. They have three little ones. I grab the oldest. Her tiny face is terrified. For the first time I realise that I might be terrified too.<\/p>\n
It’s an odd little procession flopping down on the bomb shelter’s floor – three adults in their pyjamas, three children, an ecstatic dog and two cats who didn’t want to miss any of the action. Seconds later there are four dull thuds. I fight the urge to giggle hysterically past the lump in my throat. Where did they fall? On what? I have never, in all my life, heard rockets explode. It’s surreal. I mean, where I come from we have grown kind of used to violence happening all around us. But this is something different. Something that is supposed to happen only in movies.<\/p>\n
The rules are as follows: hear air-raid siren, proceed to bomb shelter. Wait there for 15 minutes. If another siren sounds, stay put. If not, resume daily life. Because really, what else can you do?<\/p>\n