"Scenes
were unfolded and images rolled with speed. He saw a broken man on a
metal bench and he recognised himself. A man overwhelmed by
surging worries that engulfed his whole being. A man, tired and
lost, standing yet again at the gates of yet another exile and waiting
yet again to drag himself to a dark corner to nurse his bleeding soul."
Inspired by a true story of a Palestinian refugee who was briefly
known in the early 1980s as the "Flying Palestinian".
"The
stillness was so complete and overwhelming, words would have sounded
too alien in the surrounding and the serenity too perfect to be
disturbed by human worries. But then the dhows disappeared and he
suddenly felt frail and lonely.
He tried to force out of his mind his gnawing fears but, like waves
wanting to have their brief rest on the sands, they kept surging mercilessly to be admitted. They
finally triumphed. They were too serious to be ignored any more; too
real to think they could not be happening to him, and too menacing
to pretend they do not exist."
She turned and faced Abu Nadim. "I will wait outside to take my
daughter to her grave. I will let my tears roll because I'm her
mother, but they won't be tears of grief. They will be the tears of
relief. Do you want to know why?" she addressed Abu Nadim. "Because
her real grave was in her own house right here."
“The loud
ring of the bell broke the prevailing stillness of that
early part of the night and for the first time in four years they
didn't respond immediately. Nizar would have preferred to stay on
the cold marble stairs of the college building forever but he wasn't
going to miss the last lecture because he would be missing the last
chance to save his love."
“Nader closed his eyes as if to get that extra strength he needed to
dare look at his heart again. Whether he did, I can't say but that
brief try was tormenting and his face screamed in silence. "That
is what I said to Nada two evenings ago. I have no control over my
heart and my heart is telling me it's too late. Go ahead," I told
her, "go ahead and marry Ibrahim. Most women love the wrong man and
marry the right one. You won't be blamed by me for anything you do."
10,100 words
Translated by Menamedia
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