The Inn At The End Of The Earth
Jamil glanced over his shoulder.
As far as he could see in the twilight, tufts of sunburnt, mostly dead grass cropped up like bad hair, windswept at an infinitude of angles.
“Amu was so sure it took him three hours... and he's sixty-five.”
He became aware of his pocket-watch ticking in the stillness that followed the odd breeze. He took it out and checked.
It read 7:37. He held on to it.
The sun had already sunk into the sands when he reached the sarai. Along the bleached mud wall outside, a shriveled figure wrapped in a white, crimpled turban and loose, flowing gown sat astride a sagging charpoi.
Clasping his smoke with sunburnt hands, he puffed into his sunken cheeks.While the low arch of the crumbling entrance swam closer, the old man appeared to spectrally levitate from within his ample garment, till he broke into a wide, toothless smile as soon as his feet descended into sight.
In silence, each held out his arms and embraced twice, burying chin into each shoulder, in effortless synchronism. The rustle of the nestle and flutter of the cloth that billowed across the elder's leathery legs carried into the passing breeze a peculiar hush.
Soon, both disappeared into the dark interior.
Jamil dreamt of sand that night.
High, chiseled dunes loomed on all sides. He shouted out his name several times, as if searching for himself. Then, as he shouted "Rimaal" and his own name returned as an eerily melodious will-o'-the-wisp, swirled around the crater he stood in several times before dissipating, mute horror passed over him.
As he wrung the cold sweat off the sleeves of his own caftan, his feet started to sink into the dry morass beneath him. He kept peering up at the bright ball inside the sun as he felt his limbs cocooned by the warm sands at first, then his neck swallowed whole by the bleached barren. A corona bobbed and slowly eclipsed along the edges of his feverish vision. And then the sieve filled up and couldn't sift anymore.
"In the name of Allah, rise, son.".
Sunrise peeped through Amu's eyepiece.
As far as he could see in the twilight, tufts of sunburnt, mostly dead grass cropped up like bad hair, windswept at an infinitude of angles.
“Amu was so sure it took him three hours... and he's sixty-five.”
He became aware of his pocket-watch ticking in the stillness that followed the odd breeze. He took it out and checked.
It read 7:37. He held on to it.
The sun had already sunk into the sands when he reached the sarai. Along the bleached mud wall outside, a shriveled figure wrapped in a white, crimpled turban and loose, flowing gown sat astride a sagging charpoi.
Clasping his smoke with sunburnt hands, he puffed into his sunken cheeks.While the low arch of the crumbling entrance swam closer, the old man appeared to spectrally levitate from within his ample garment, till he broke into a wide, toothless smile as soon as his feet descended into sight.
In silence, each held out his arms and embraced twice, burying chin into each shoulder, in effortless synchronism. The rustle of the nestle and flutter of the cloth that billowed across the elder's leathery legs carried into the passing breeze a peculiar hush.
Soon, both disappeared into the dark interior.
Jamil dreamt of sand that night.
High, chiseled dunes loomed on all sides. He shouted out his name several times, as if searching for himself. Then, as he shouted "Rimaal" and his own name returned as an eerily melodious will-o'-the-wisp, swirled around the crater he stood in several times before dissipating, mute horror passed over him.
As he wrung the cold sweat off the sleeves of his own caftan, his feet started to sink into the dry morass beneath him. He kept peering up at the bright ball inside the sun as he felt his limbs cocooned by the warm sands at first, then his neck swallowed whole by the bleached barren. A corona bobbed and slowly eclipsed along the edges of his feverish vision. And then the sieve filled up and couldn't sift anymore.
"In the name of Allah, rise, son.".
Sunrise peeped through Amu's eyepiece.
posted by viXos | 9:18 PM
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