THE EID DAY

For the first time in his life, he went out without looking to the  palm trees, which were  planted by his first grandfather and looked after by his children and grand sons. He used to taste it's dates for many years, but now it didn't produce any dates, so his sorrow increased and his pain intensified. But he didn't lose the hope. He kept taking care of it, giving it most of his time except for this night, because there was no time and he should buy a lot of things, mostly important was the fruits, so he bought a lot of pomegranates, which his son liked most. And a lot of apples, which were mostly preferred by his daughter. He bought also some sweats and spent the night cleaning the house and preparing the table.                                  

      Unexpectedly, he got up early and awoke his servant, then returned back to his room. He put perfume, wore new clothes and got out proud of himself; leaning on his grandfather's stick.

      In the mosque, he sat down in the same place he used to sit   with his father and grandfather. He was staring at the coming faces and at the others, who sat beside him. Some of them greeted him and others asked about the secret of the sorrow, which appeared on his face. The place was full of prayers. They stood up to perform the prayer, so he imitated them. And while the Imam was giving his speech, he looked at the faces. Maybe he could see his relatives. The others started leaving for  their homes. He stayed in his place wishing to moan while he was staring at the passing faces.

       He returned back very sad and  rested his ear on the  palm tree trunk. He hit it with his hand once, twice and thrice until his body trembled. He was honest, the trunk was hollow.

     He was sitting alone around the table, cutting the pomegranates and the apples, when his servant entered the room. He tried to hide the tears on his eyes. His servant said," BABA, the Eid is over now, shall I go to sleep or wait for you? ". He didn't answer, and spent a long time staring at the apples and the pomegranates. Finally he pointed at his servant to approach and sit to eat with him on the table.......

 DOHA - FEBRUARY 1998