City of Sparrows by Eva Nour

Author:Eva Nour [Nour, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

22

EVERYDAY LIFE WAS not much different from before, and yet so much was different. Some changes were obvious, like the army’s building more checkpoints in Homs. Heavy armoured vehicles drove into the city, leaving sunken tracks in their wake as though the frosty asphalt were made of chocolate.

Other changes were subtler. Sarah had cut her hair short and there was a new fire in her eyes. If the shooting at demonstrators had scared her at first, it now seemed to have made her more convinced. She talked about the revolution the way she used to talk about novels and poetry. Aside from participating in the protests, she also collected testimonies and published them online. At first they had organized demonstrations at the university, but now the Shabiha or the Mukhabarat patrolled the hallways and almost only Alawite students dared to attend. Instead, they organized smaller protests across Homs on practically every street.

Sarah wanted to introduce him to a friend, who was a role model and leader among the protestors.

‘You have no idea how brave she is,’ Sarah said. ‘One time, she walked right up to a checkpoint and handed one of the soldiers a flyer – just like that. You should have seen the look on his face. I thought he was either going to shoot her or propose.’

They gathered at dusk in a small square. People arrived in small groups, excited and nervous, pulling their scarves closer and rubbing their hands to keep warm. Sami remembered again the intoxication of his first protest and the feeling of an extended siblingship, of being brothers and sisters. Sarah checked her phone repeatedly.

‘She said she was going to be here…Wait, there she is.’

Sami turned around and it was as though the world turned white, illuminated by a bright light. She pushed through the crowd and was stopped several times on the way because people wanted to say hello and pat her on the back. She didn’t seem to make a big deal of it, just pulled up the hood on her baggy top – which only partially concealed the camera underneath – and pressed on towards them.

‘Yasmin, is it really you?’

‘Sami! What a great surprise.’

It was his childhood love, older and without braces and a hijab covering her hair under the hoodie, but unquestionably her.

Yasmin embraced him like when they were little, like before Haydar.

‘You know each other?’ Sarah asked. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’

‘It was a long time ago,’ Yasmin said and smiled. ‘We took English together, didn’t we?’

‘You were top of the class.’

‘Don’t know about that…’

That was all the talking they had time for because the music was turned up and the flags raised. Yasmin handed Sarah and Sami a placard each, while she herself took out her camera from time to time to take pictures. He glanced at her and thought about how keen she’d once been to abide by the rules. How she’d kept reminding him that the walls have ears.

After the demonstration Sarah had to leave, but she suggested that Sami stay with Yasmin to catch up.

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