Barzakh: The Land In-Between by Moussa Ould Ebnou

Author:Moussa Ould Ebnou [Ebnou, Moussa Ould]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iskanchi Press
Published: 2022-11-05T03:00:00+00:00

When we left that morning, I said that I wouldn’t ride, but instead preferred to walk with the others. I wanted to stretch my legs and feel the cool sand beneath my feet before the sun rose. I walked near the Raving Logophile who wasn’t opening his mouth this morning. A sea of ocher was already drowning out the horizon to the east and the dunes had taken on the same color, like chameleons, and before long, the glorious sun appeared upon its ship of light, bringing order to all this nocturnal chaos. The dunes, laid bare, wept black tears that seeped away in long trails toward the west. The slopes were slightly dissymmetric, steeper on the northwest sides than on the southeast sides. The shifting dunes slanted away from the framework of the massifs. But most of the time, we followed wide, endless, parallel valleys that held patches of vegetation, predominantly sbot. Soon, my feet began to hurt. Ever since we started off, an abrasive paste made of quartz dust had rubbed the soles of my feet raw. Grains of sand got stuck in the abrasions and made walking more and more painful. I ended up sitting down and telling Ghostbuster that I could no longer walk. He ordered Galgala to let me ride with him. So Galgala jumped down to kneel his camel and fell awkwardly to the ground, crying out in pain— he had twisted his foot and they had to lift him up to help him remount.

At the midday stop, Ghostbuster called for me.

“You are going to replace Galgala in serving Vala,” he said distractedly, counting the shards he had gathered along the way.

I had barely started eating my bowl of dried meat when I heard Vala call.

“Matalla! Matalla!”

I lowered my face back to my meat, thinking she was calling one of the tirailleurs. But she continued to call and no one responded. So, I ran to her to find out what she wanted.

“Well, now! That took a while! Why didn’t you come when I called?”

“I thought you were calling for someone else!”

“No! It was you whom I was calling!”

“But I thought I heard you say Matalla.”

“You are not mistaken! Matalla, which means Given by God, is the name I have given you. Now hurry up and carry my bath water behind that dune over there and wait for me!”

I was behind the dune for a long time. Beside me was the bucket full of water, reflecting the sun. I heard no sound, only a sidereal silence. I no longer saw the camp; there was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see, everywhere, and fiery waves gliding swiftly across the surface. I started to doubt the reality of Vala, the camp, and myself. If it hadn’t been for the bucket full of water mirroring the sun upon its surface, whose reality I could test by dipping my hand in, I would have thought that it was all nothing but an illusory dream. Then, I saw her upon the crest and she quickly approached me.

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