I have a story to tell. It's about a little boy who lived in Palestine . In his eyes his house was very very big and his fathers orchard in his eyes was enormous. He believesd that in that orchard grew all the fruits in the world. Big fat oranges. Plump figs that oozed sweetness. Small sharp clementines, pomelos, melons and watermelons, prickly pears, back and green grapes and of course pomegranates.. These were his absolute favourites. He could never decide which type he preferred. The sharp red sour ones that made him scrunch his face when he popped the red seeds into his mouth and the juice hit the back of the fruit or the silvery pale red ones that tasted better than honey. This dilemma of which was his favourite caused him many many days of pondering. He would wander through the orchard staring at the two different types of trees trying to decide which was better. One afternoon having spent it lying on the ground amongst the trees he came with the perfect solution. Both types of pomegranates were perfection. He decided could love them both equally. The sour ones he reasoned complimented the sweet ones and the sweet ones complimented the sour ones. Perfection
In his eyes his world was both perfect and complete. One day he thought, when he was grown up he would travel and explore the world but he was certain that he would always return home. Then one day and he remembered this so clearly, a foreigner came to visit his father. He came in a car alone. A studibaker. They sat on the verandah drinking coffee and smoking argil under the jasmine trellis beside the gardenia pots. He could smell that heavy but soft complex scent that cocooned you .
He was eager to hear what what the foreigner had to say but his father, unusually shooed him away. As he ran to play in the orchard. He turned back. It seemed to him as if his heart had stoped and an overwhelming fear enveloped him. To this day he doesnt know why or how but he knew something had changed. He could neither hear what they were saying or see their expressions. But he just felt and sensed that his world was about change.
To get rid of this unwanted thought that was beginning to crowd his head he ran and ran as fast as he could through the orchard in order to outrun these thoughts that had no place in his world............
