Read Online The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye - Free Book Online Page B

transparent tent, keeping off flies. The watermelon man seemed to be sleeping in his plastic chair. He jumped up and offered them samples, which were sweet and ripe and juicy. Sidi bought a watermelon and placed it on Monsieur’s little backseat.
    â€œSeen anything interesting lately?” Sidi asked.
    The watermelon man told him some giant white cranes had been gathering behind the village at a pond, at sundown. The babies had already hatched, but the nests were still there.
    â€œYou think there might be any around the pond right now?” Sidi asked.
    The man shrugged. “Don’t know. You could go and look.” He pointed behind him to a small road Aref hadn’t even noticed. Aref and Sidi took a little hike that way.
    Down the road lay a village of a few scattered houses, brown as putty or mud, and behind those houses was a shining pond as round as a coin. Some people stepped out of their houses to wave at them.
    At the pond, Sidi spotted a few large nests of woven reeds and sticks tucked by the banks. Sidi motioned Aref to come over and said, “Look! Maybe they’ll use them again for their next eggs.” But not a crane was in sight. Sidi glanced around the bright sky. “Bet they’re off having lunch like we did. Or maybe they’ve gone to another country too. Did you know that sometimes the father cranes sit on the nests just like the moms? They share the job. Have you ever heard a crane making wild trumpet sounds at dusk?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWell, we’ll put that on our agenda. To come back here someday and hide in those tall reeds over there and wait for them. Good idea?”
    â€œVery good.”

Almost Lost

    T o get to the Night of a Thousand Stars camp, they had to drive through more brown mountains, green valleys and curvy passes, then off the paved road into a huge desert. There were still mountains all around. Sidi paused for a moment, looking out carefully, to make sure this was the place to turn. Then he drove straight onto the uneven golden sand. It felt strange driving without a road.
    â€œThis looks like the moon,” Sidi said, as he steered with mighty effort, turning the wheel hand over hand. Monsieur careened forward.
    â€œHow do you know that?” asked Aref.
    â€œIt’s how I dream of the moon,” said Sidi. “No signs. No roads. Just a huge blankness.”
    Aref stared at him. “I look at the moon, but never think about being there on its surface. Do you really dream of that?”
    â€œOf course,” said Sidi. “I am secretly an astronaut. Except—oh right, I don’t like to travel. Never mind.”
    The jeep seemed to be slipping and sliding in the sand.
    Sidi turned the wheel hard to the left. He held it tightly.
    â€œAre we okay?” Aref asked.
    â€œI remember this strange part of the trip from the other time we came here,” Sidi said. “It goes on for a few miles.”
    â€œIt seems really long,” said Aref. He was gripping his door handle, jostling side to side.
    Monsieur stirred up a big sandy dust cloud—some of the dust came in through the windows, which made Sidi cough. He stopped driving till he finished coughing. “We’d better close these windows all the way. Sorry, I know it feels as hot as a stove with them closed.”
    Sidi looked to the right and the left. Then he stared at his compass with the big black and white face attached to the dashboard.
    Aref couldn’t see any camp anywhere. “Are we okay?” he repeated. “Where are we? What direction do we want?”
    â€œSouthwest. We might be lost.”
    The sand stretched out like a giant sea—rumpled and brown and deep and entirely empty of trees or other vehicles or people. A ring of mountains still surrounded them. “It’s huge,” Aref whispered.
    â€œAnd it’s not dead, either,” said Sidi. “Some people act as if a desert is dead, but it’s