A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

Author:Randa Jarrar
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781590513279
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2008-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

The night before we left, I stayed up, refused to fall asleep as a form of protest. At around three in the morning I heard the voices of women on rooftops, chanting. A few minutes later I heard gunshots. After that, I fell asleep and I dreamed: I was in Saddam’s palace on the Tigris. I was wearing a beautiful gown and was being escorted to dinner by Saddam. He seated me next to his son, who was reading an English-language book. Saddam ate his meal and told me to make him laugh. I did my best, tried some funny stories, and he laughed. Then, he led me to the back gate, a gilded collection of fake gold and iron. We swam in the Tigris, and just as I lay on my back and watched the green scenery, I heard a loud sound and the river turned red. Terrified of the bloody river, I looked at Saddam, but he reassured me and pointed to a man with a lever at the bank of the river. The man pulled the lever and the loud sound came back, but this time the river turned purple. The man pulled the lever over and over and the Tigris turned orange, white, green, and so on and so on, and Saddam stayed alive and I stayed alive and I woke up shaking because Mama was shaking me and telling me it was time to leave home.

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