Touch by Adania Shibli

Author:Adania Shibli [Shibli, Adania]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781566568074
Publisher: Interlink Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

3

When summers came, the green grass would wither in the fields, even though it was still rooted in the ground. Then the green machines would come to cut it. Although up close the yellow stubs looked soft as they shone in the sun, once feet began treading on them, their lack of softness became apparent. Even if the blowing wind turned into a violent storm, it would still be unable to move the yellow stubs like the velvety green fields.

The bales of hay were tossed onto the harvested half of the fields, and the shepherds headed there, with their flocks following behind, and dust behind the flocks, and behind that the road, the valley, and the mountain with all the balconies, observers sitting on them watching the entire outburst, which erupted the moment the harvesters left.

Everyone called the outburst revenge against the nature conservationists for prohibiting the free movement of the flock and the shepherds and sheepdogs.

The flocks dispersed across the harvested half of the fields while the children gathered near a bale of hay to decide when to begin moving, without involving the little girl, who stayed behind with the oldest shepherd boy to watch the flocks.

The sun was going down, and might disappear soon. Its trailing rays bobbed in the wind up into the big shepherd boy’s nose, then into his eyes, forcing them shut.

The sounds of the children disappeared behind the bales of hay, and all that could be heard was the sound of the hay stubs beneath her bottom and beneath the shepherd boy’s head.

The girl stretched her hand up toward the soft sky above her, but she could not feel it; it was too soft. Her feet, though, were crisscrossed with dry white lines that the coarse stubs had drawn on them as they touched.

The softness of the sky was above the softness of the sun, which was above the softness of the big shepherd boy’s nose, and beneath him the hay stubs bent. A piece of hay almost entered his ear; it would, if he turned toward her.

The whole place seethed with waiting—the sunset for the sun’s movement, the shepherds for the sunset, the herds for the shepherds, the big shepherd boy for the goats, and the little girl for the shepherd boy to turn his head.

The wait was over when revenge opened up onto the entire scene, with a secret movement.

The shepherd boy looked in the direction where the girl was not sitting, so the hay stub did not go into his ear after all. She moved to the other side and tossed her head very close to the golden nose. It was all she could see. Maybe the sun would push the shepherd boy’s head again in the other direction.

As the secret movement began, smoke started to rise. She lifted her head and saw the source of the smoke spreading over the fields, gobbling up their yellowness, while the children jumped and cheered as they fled. Everyone saw how the secret movement had turned into a raging fire, all while the big shepherd boy’s eyes remained shut.

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