Black Foam by Haji Jabir

Author:Haji Jabir
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Published: 2023-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

(17)

At the end of his third month in Tel Aviv, Dawit received a letter telling him to prepare to move to his permanent residence in Jerusalem.

He was just starting to get used to Tel Aviv—to his wild nights with Yaqub and to Neve Sha’anan, the piece of Africa in the heart of Israel. The announcement that he was leaving left him a little downhearted. He wanted to stay in Tel Aviv, in his new circle of safety, in the place where he was able to plunge into the depths instead of paddling around at the surface like he had all his life. Here, he had finally stopped paying attention to the others who’d come on the same flight from Gondar. They could still hurt him, sure. But at the same time, he wasn’t afraid of them anymore. He had beaten them—he was the first to reach the soil of Tel Aviv, to mix with it.

This feeling put him so much at ease that he even dared tell Yaqub his forbidden story. He told Yaqub how he’d left Eritrea with one name and entered Ethiopia with another before heading out with a third name on the journey to Israel from the Gondar refugee camp. He hesitated, unsure whether to tell his friend that before all this he’d had a fourth name, which had nothing to do with all the others. Yaqub could hardly believe his ears. At some points in the story, his eyes bulged out, and at others he would cry out and clutch his head, while some of the details made him laugh.

Dawit considered telling his friend the story of Aisha, but then he stopped. That story, he realized, was hidden in the deepest part of him. He could peel away layer after layer, but he would only reach those depths by destroying himself. Still, he wasn’t sure whether he was hiding the story from others or whether he was hiding it from himself.

“Man, show me how to join you. Should I say we’re brothers? Should I go to Gondar and ask Saba for help? What do you think?”

Dawit now saw the mess he’d gotten himself into, as he could see his story ricocheting back and creating unforeseen complications. He tried to be vague about it, but his friend intensified his siege and Dawit found no escape except to give his friend the hope he wanted.

“Maybe if you move to Gondar, sure, you’ll find the right opportunity. Just tell Saba that you’re with me.”

Yaqub’s face filled with joy at what seemed to be the salvation he’d been waiting for. Dawit wasn’t sure how he felt—whether he was happy to be out of his predicament or whether he despaired at having given his friend false hope. But what sealed it, in the end, was that he knew Yaqub’s personality. His friend wouldn’t really do anything more than seek out short-term pleasures. Let him have them, then. The problem would end right here.

Dawit knew his friend avoided the things he wanted as soon as difficulties cropped up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.