The Orphan’s Dream

Ouled Teima, Morocco

From above the hill fell some pieces of clay and small lentil like stones which were approximately the same size. Suddenly, he thought of a danger approaching. He felt a horrible fear filling his heart which started to beat unprecedentedly. His feet started to shake, and his hair took a spiky form on his forearms. The quick drift to and fro of which his eyes caught a glance raised his anxiety and fear. Above the tree next to him, a bird was enjoying its freedom enchanting all forms of melodies which were usually shared among bird species.  Suddenly, he thought of an escape from that plight of his. To his misfortune, he felt he couldn’t move nor could he look above to make sure of what had happened. He thought of sitting down to refresh his mind a bit for the sake of restoring his trust in his frequently pretended courage. He took a flat stone and hesitatingly had a seat. The stone was cold enough to treat his nerves and reduce his anger and hesitation. ‘What could this terrifying sign of clay and stones be?’ He asked himself.

The fragile teenager couldn’t be at ease, and his mind started pondering a way to escape the danger. He thought of running away. However, he soon recognized that he couldn’t move a single step because he sat in a squatting position contemplating the scene which blocked his motion. He preferred to draw a line of thoughts and set a series of probabilities of what he had seen. He recalled one of his memories with his dearest grandmother. She had been eager to draw picturesque worlds for the poor gipsy to alleviate his orphanage. He was then sure that the signs must be attributed to one of his grandmother’s fascinating stories. She used to sit on her usual homemade sofa addressing the boy with her shaking wrinkled hands telling him about some of the myths in which she believed. One day the old lady said, “If you are stabbed from the back, you are already at the front”. He was clever enough to associate such a lentil like stone and drops of clay with his grandmother’s assertion. However, at that moment he couldn’t find any new possible good herald.

He always remembered his cute cat with its twist in the tail with which he had been always playing. The image of the sofa with the old story teller haunted his mind and pushed his tears to fall. The boy had been familiar with tears since his early days. He lost his father and mother in a car accident at the age of five. The loss engraved such an everlasting sadness in his heart. A boy of his age couldn’t have made such an incident possible. Unfortunately, his lovely parents had been driven to say farewell to life. He then recognized that it had been time to say farewell to tenderness, affection and love.  Yet, his grandmother’s day to day escort reduced the impact of the loss and made him brave and courageous at an early age.

From among the fluctuating leaves of the tree came the early morning sunbeams which embellished the scene of the high mountains next to him. The bitter cold of the morning left him speechless and his lips quivering. A group of birds which had recently sat on a bough made the boy’s loneliness diminish. Suddenly, the boy remembered his grandmother’s message to bring some errands from the village humble shop. Also, he thought of his cute cat which he was accustomed to feed. A simple vibrating call from his grandmother for breakfast was enough to awaken the boy’s consciousness and realize he had been in an unforgettable dream.