The Diaspora
My younger sister Theiba was walking heavily, her eyes full of fear, holding her infant in her arms and carrying a bundle of food supplies on her back. The baby kept crying ceaselessly.
She breastfed him and dandled him; but the baby continued to cry, as if he could foresee the difficult times our people would pass through on the road to the unknown. All of us were feeling nervous. After a while, the baby’s cries grew softer and softer until they stopped.
This caused my mother to worry. She called out to her daughters by name “Fatima, Theeba! You wretched Ameena! What has happened to the little boy? I don’t hear him anymore”.
What happened next was shocking! My sister had placed her baby on the roadside and moved on! We felt our world was crumbling around us! My brother, Abu Ali, hurried back to the baby and picked him up in his arms. After that we all took turns to carry the little one.
The baby’s mother fell into hysterics. This experience caused dramatic changes in her personality, which impacted her sanity for the rest of her life.
Trip to the South
The sun was about to jump into the sea. I left the taxi station, and I went to the beach. I walked by the sea aimlessly ruminating about my dilemma. Having resigned myself to the fact that “tomorrow is another day,” I started to look for a place where I could spend the night. After a while, I caught sight of an isolated, ramshackle hut made of cane, probably built for use by fishermen. I thought it was suitable for a night stay. I sat in the hut facing the sea and kept an eye on people as they passed right and left in front of me. I wanted to make sure that nobody would come to take shelter in the hut or kick me out of it on the basis that it was theirs.
One hour or so passed and no one came near there. I lay down to take some rest; but I fell asleep right away. In my sleep, I dreamed that I met a beautiful Palestinian girl as she and I were jogging along the golden beach in Haifa. The two of us were running back and forth in opposite directions. Every time we met halfway, we exchanged glances of love without saying anything. We drank orange juice from the street vendor and exchanged shy glances and smiles. Our love grew deeper day by day, like a wildflower on Galilee’s high mountain. One day, I decided to open my heart to her; but fate had ordained otherwise.
As I came closer to her, a sniper of the Haganah gang shot and killed her instantly. I screamed and screamed and woke up still screaming! When I opened my eyes, I saw a number of people gathering around me, I was so trembling with fear.