The Book of Gaza by Atef Abu Saif

Author:Atef Abu Saif [Saif, Atef Abu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Comma Press
Published: 2014-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

-2-

‘Look! Look!’

Husam lay fast asleep. The day had exhausted him, though a smile still lingered on his lips: something he saw in his dreams. Did David still haunt him in his sleep? Not you, my boy. You’re here in my lap and let whatever may be be.

‘God, man, I had a gun pointed at my chest. I nearly passed out, I screamed, then thought, To hell with it! and escaped between his legs!’

Haifa gasped and said: ‘Get some sleep… God give you health!’

She sucked on her lips, her face aglow, and said: ‘Tomorrow, you’ll be a happy soul again!’

Two reluctant eyes closed. ‘Husam is so much like you, Mahmud…’

She buried her head in my chest, breathed me in deeply and slid her hand under my armpit. Her voice was hoarse: ‘Boys are little devils. They’re ‘curfew kids’, alright.’

She curled up in my lap. I stared at the tiled roof, through which a catapult shot had smashed a wide hole. Haifa had bunged it up with a piece of nylon. She pinched me, as tears ran down her cheeks, saying: ‘Cracking his skull open’s getting to you, huh? Well what about Husam?’

I curled around her like a snake. I hid my feelings in her. I sheltered within her and she within me. We became one, we writhed and bathed in the moonlight seeping through the holes in the tiles. The moon glowed brick white and we felt no shame in our nakedness as Husam lay in deep, peaceful sleep.

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