Read Online Dreams of Water by Nada Awar Jarrar - Free Book Online

starts to flit along the length of its perch and the hint of excitement in its insistent chirping. Until one day, as he dresses to go down to breakfast, Ramzi hears his own song coming from the cage on the windowsill, four notes repeated again and again as if to call him nearer. He peers into the cage and sings back to the bird in a low voice. La, la, la, la, la .
    Salah, whenever I think he is not looking, I observe Ramzi closely but all I see is a sorry child adrift in loneliness and misguided hope. Our elders here tell us that in the forward movement of our souls is certain salvation, limitless opportunities to stand nearer to the true nature of our selves and to a forgiving god .
    The village is very much as Aneesa remembers it: old stone houses alongside grey, concrete structures with balconies and rusty clothes-lines hanging from their balustrades. But the roads are better maintained and the umbrella pine forests are there on the outskirts of the village, visible and beautiful still.
    She drives into the souq and stops the car by the village spring.
    â€˜I’m getting us some water,’ she says. ‘Would either of you like anything else?’
    Waddad shakes her head.
    â€˜Can I come with you?’ Ramzi asks from the back seat.
    â€˜All right, come on.’
    The spring water comes out of the spout in a thin murky rope. A lone woman bends down in front of it, filling a large blue plastic canister. Aneesa and Ramzi step into a musty-smelling, dark shop.
    â€˜ Ahlan ,’ says a man from behind the counter.
    â€˜It’s difficult to see in here.’
    â€˜The electricity’s been cut off again,’ says the man. ‘Happens almost every day now.’
    â€˜I’ll have three small bottles of water,’ Aneesa says. ‘Ramzi, why don’t you get yourself some sweets?’
    Ramzi absently reaches for a bar of chocolate and hands it to her.
    â€˜Is that all you want?’
    He nods.
    Aneesa grabs a handful of chocolates and several sticks of chewing gum.
    â€˜I think I’ll get some for myself as well.’
    Once outside, she takes two bars of chocolate out of the plastic bag and gives one to Ramzi. They busy themselves with opening the wrappers.
    â€˜Is this where you grew up, Aneesa?’
    She shakes her head.
    â€˜No, I only came here in the summer as a child. It’s my father’s village. The rest of the year we lived in Beirut.’
    â€˜Your brother too?’
    â€˜Yes, Bassam did too. He didn’t much like it here.’
    They begin to make their way to the car.
    â€˜I’m from a village on the other side of the mountain,’ Ramzi says. ‘I wasn’t born in the orphanage.’
    â€˜I know.’
    â€˜Aneesa?’ He says her name softly. ‘Do you think they like me there? At the orphanage, I mean?’
    She hears a car start up at the other end of the square and the sound of running feet in the distance. She pats Ramzi on the arm and pushes him gently towards the car.
    â€˜Come on. Mama ’s waiting.’
    The drive up to the house takes only a few minutes.
    â€˜This’ – Aneesa points through the windscreen – ‘is our house.’ The green shutters are closed and the plants in the garden are all dry and brown. ‘Did you bring the key, mama ?’
    â€˜Yes, I did. But I don’t think we should go in.’
    â€˜Why not?’ Aneesa takes the key from her mother and walks up to the front door. ‘I want to show Ramzi Bassam’s room. There’ll be lots of things in there that he’d be interested in.’
    She steps inside. Waddad grabs hold of Ramzi’s arm as he attempts to follow Aneesa indoors.
    â€˜Ramzi doesn’t need to go inside,’ she says with urgency. ‘I don’t want him going in there.’
    Ramzi looks at Aneesa and then back at Waddad.
    â€˜I’ll stay out here with you,’ he says to the older woman. The house is dark and