this is a short story that contains some of my childhood memories in Juban, it’s two parts and I used some Yemeni Arabic words that are dominant between us here in the U.S and I wish you like it
(Important: Before reading click view (menu)- Encoding: Left-to-right Document)
Part 1 of 2
Inside their cube-shaped window of their first floor Dewan, sat young boy Mohammed. He was leaning his back to the wall of the window, bending his legs and folding them with his hands, and simultaneously watching with great astonishment the drops of rain falling upon Juban city, the madina, enormously and intensely...
“It’s raining strongly today, grandmother.”
His grandmother, an old woman in her nineties, was sitting quietly in front of the other window not saying anything, but whispering faithful words that Mohamed had never heard before.
“Supplicate, Mohamed, this is a time of supplication” she said instructionally.
“how? I mean… what should I say?” he questioned.
“Say: Oh Allah, may it be a beneficial rain”
Mohamed turned his head back and repeated the words several times for he was known for his constant interest to learn and for his obedience to those who teach him. He, although in an early age, was recognized for his leadership traits and will to be unique, which distinguished him from all other children at his age.
He started thinking about how he will go after the rain stops and challenge his friends to say the rain supplication and how they would beg him to say it after realizing that they don’t know it since it was said in formal Arabic. He thought about how he would tell his father and what will he buy with the money his father will give him as a reward…. and while he sunk in his deep imagination, the fading ticks of rain and the shouting voices of children outside awakened him to notice that the rain have abated greatly.
He got up and ran to the outside of their house with excitement to see the state that the rain had put the neighborhood in. Like other children neighboring him, Mohamed loved such unusual moments for he was able to do everything he usually does differently.
He got out of their house’s door, which opens to a balcony and a stairway leading to the front yard, and found the pleasant scene he had expected: delectable rain smell, quietness filling the air, children playing with mud, water streams running close by, and mothers sitting together watching children and talking about the rain and how it covered Da-men (a huge mountain located in the far east of the Madina). However, Mohamed was ceased, that time, by drushing noises full of nature coming off the waterfalls descending from the top of the mountains lying in both sides of the madina.
“Wow! Subhan Allah! I wonder where that waterfall ends?” he said looking at the korain which is the mountain that lies closer to his home.
“I should go watch it from a closer distance”
He ran down the stairs halfway and suddenly stopped as he remembered his mother’s warning that he should never walk up the mountain without an escort of an older person to take care of him.
“What should I do now? No one is ever gunna take me there.” He thought
“It’s after asr (noon prayer) and they’re all khazening now. In addition, the waterfalls happen only after such strong rain and if I wait any longer it’ll finish and I won’t be able to see it again”
His curiosity to see that waterfall from a closer view overcame his fear of the consequences following the decision of going there lonely.
However, making sure that none of the neighbors see him, Mohamed sneaked to the back of their home and from there, he took a path toward the mountain without anybody knowing. He walked up the mountain and found no risk in doing so. When he reached the waterfall, he found out that it pours to a deep pool-like place carved through the abdomen of the mountain. This pool-like place known as Magel Alserari was capable of holding all the water of the waterfall. Mohamed was amazed, however, by the waterfall’s greatness and thus, stood watching it till it weakened. Then, he turned around and saw one of the most amazing scenes he had ever seen in his life. He saw the entire madina as one piece. He saw the many houses scattered everywhere, the masajid or mosques with their distinctive white paints and the Manarat standing beside everyone of them, and also saw the beautiful green colored plantations, peaces of natural beauty, put in the far east close to Da-men and in the far west close to mountain of Hangar (the other mountain located in the far west). He was very pleased to see such remarkable scene.
Yet, Mohamed’s curiosity to explore more didn’t stop him there. He decided to go up to the top of the mountain and touch the sky.
“Today is the time when I can do what I’ve been wishing do so long” he said to himself.
He walked around the upper half of the mountain looking for an easy way up and avoiding climbing. It was not easy task to do, of course, because he had to walk a very long distance in order for him to reach the mountain’s summit without climbing, and in every step he took, he saw his mother’s punishment in a different way.
Finally, Mohamed reached the mountain’s summit. He was deeply disappointed because he discovered that he will never be able to touch the sky. But then, became very happy when he saw other parts of Juban that he had never expected to see by just turning around at his place. He saw other villages such as Nawah and Awable and other mountains extending far away to places that end only where his imagination starts. He walked few steps forward and saw his home as small as the stone under his feet. He also saw his friends and other children playing in between houses. Mohamed became fascinated with that scene. He noticed that the mountain was empty of people, a good place for him to sit alone. From that time on, he befriended the mountain and was to visit it every time he would feel the necessity of lonesomeness.
It was not so long, however, before Mohamed noticed that it was time to go back home. He, then, became concerned about his mother and what lie could convince her that he didn’t really break her word. He walked down with fear heightening more and more as he approached home. Then, all of a sudden he finds one of his older cousins on his way…
“Mohamed, where have you been? Your brothers are looking for you. I heard that your mother is really worried about you, so go…go home fast.”
“Yaaaa gelli, what am I gunna say now?” Mohamed said in trembling voice.
He then, walked with fear pushing him forward to his home, and when he approached the door he sneaked in to his grandmother’s room and told her everything.
“No, Mohamed, you shouldn’t have done that. Do you know that there are snakes and wolfs and many wild animals living there”
“But I didn’t find any”
“What if you did? It could’ve eaten you and then we wouldn’t have Mohamed any more.”
“Alright, now what am I gunna say to my mother”
“Don’t wary, I’ll tell her not to hit you”
She took him to the Dewan where his mother was waiting anxiously beside the window and as he approached her, she grabbed him, hugged him, and reproved him for a while.
“Does that mean you’re not gunna hit me, mother”
“Why should I? Your coming back is better for me than the whole world and everything inside it.”
“Can I go play outside, then”
“As long as you stay in the front yard”…..
(Important: Before reading click view (menu)- Encoding: Left-to-right Document)
Part 1 of 2
Inside their cube-shaped window of their first floor Dewan, sat young boy Mohammed. He was leaning his back to the wall of the window, bending his legs and folding them with his hands, and simultaneously watching with great astonishment the drops of rain falling upon Juban city, the madina, enormously and intensely...
“It’s raining strongly today, grandmother.”
His grandmother, an old woman in her nineties, was sitting quietly in front of the other window not saying anything, but whispering faithful words that Mohamed had never heard before.
“Supplicate, Mohamed, this is a time of supplication” she said instructionally.
“how? I mean… what should I say?” he questioned.
“Say: Oh Allah, may it be a beneficial rain”
Mohamed turned his head back and repeated the words several times for he was known for his constant interest to learn and for his obedience to those who teach him. He, although in an early age, was recognized for his leadership traits and will to be unique, which distinguished him from all other children at his age.
He started thinking about how he will go after the rain stops and challenge his friends to say the rain supplication and how they would beg him to say it after realizing that they don’t know it since it was said in formal Arabic. He thought about how he would tell his father and what will he buy with the money his father will give him as a reward…. and while he sunk in his deep imagination, the fading ticks of rain and the shouting voices of children outside awakened him to notice that the rain have abated greatly.
He got up and ran to the outside of their house with excitement to see the state that the rain had put the neighborhood in. Like other children neighboring him, Mohamed loved such unusual moments for he was able to do everything he usually does differently.
He got out of their house’s door, which opens to a balcony and a stairway leading to the front yard, and found the pleasant scene he had expected: delectable rain smell, quietness filling the air, children playing with mud, water streams running close by, and mothers sitting together watching children and talking about the rain and how it covered Da-men (a huge mountain located in the far east of the Madina). However, Mohamed was ceased, that time, by drushing noises full of nature coming off the waterfalls descending from the top of the mountains lying in both sides of the madina.
“Wow! Subhan Allah! I wonder where that waterfall ends?” he said looking at the korain which is the mountain that lies closer to his home.
“I should go watch it from a closer distance”
He ran down the stairs halfway and suddenly stopped as he remembered his mother’s warning that he should never walk up the mountain without an escort of an older person to take care of him.
“What should I do now? No one is ever gunna take me there.” He thought
“It’s after asr (noon prayer) and they’re all khazening now. In addition, the waterfalls happen only after such strong rain and if I wait any longer it’ll finish and I won’t be able to see it again”
His curiosity to see that waterfall from a closer view overcame his fear of the consequences following the decision of going there lonely.
However, making sure that none of the neighbors see him, Mohamed sneaked to the back of their home and from there, he took a path toward the mountain without anybody knowing. He walked up the mountain and found no risk in doing so. When he reached the waterfall, he found out that it pours to a deep pool-like place carved through the abdomen of the mountain. This pool-like place known as Magel Alserari was capable of holding all the water of the waterfall. Mohamed was amazed, however, by the waterfall’s greatness and thus, stood watching it till it weakened. Then, he turned around and saw one of the most amazing scenes he had ever seen in his life. He saw the entire madina as one piece. He saw the many houses scattered everywhere, the masajid or mosques with their distinctive white paints and the Manarat standing beside everyone of them, and also saw the beautiful green colored plantations, peaces of natural beauty, put in the far east close to Da-men and in the far west close to mountain of Hangar (the other mountain located in the far west). He was very pleased to see such remarkable scene.
Yet, Mohamed’s curiosity to explore more didn’t stop him there. He decided to go up to the top of the mountain and touch the sky.
“Today is the time when I can do what I’ve been wishing do so long” he said to himself.
He walked around the upper half of the mountain looking for an easy way up and avoiding climbing. It was not easy task to do, of course, because he had to walk a very long distance in order for him to reach the mountain’s summit without climbing, and in every step he took, he saw his mother’s punishment in a different way.
Finally, Mohamed reached the mountain’s summit. He was deeply disappointed because he discovered that he will never be able to touch the sky. But then, became very happy when he saw other parts of Juban that he had never expected to see by just turning around at his place. He saw other villages such as Nawah and Awable and other mountains extending far away to places that end only where his imagination starts. He walked few steps forward and saw his home as small as the stone under his feet. He also saw his friends and other children playing in between houses. Mohamed became fascinated with that scene. He noticed that the mountain was empty of people, a good place for him to sit alone. From that time on, he befriended the mountain and was to visit it every time he would feel the necessity of lonesomeness.
It was not so long, however, before Mohamed noticed that it was time to go back home. He, then, became concerned about his mother and what lie could convince her that he didn’t really break her word. He walked down with fear heightening more and more as he approached home. Then, all of a sudden he finds one of his older cousins on his way…
“Mohamed, where have you been? Your brothers are looking for you. I heard that your mother is really worried about you, so go…go home fast.”
“Yaaaa gelli, what am I gunna say now?” Mohamed said in trembling voice.
He then, walked with fear pushing him forward to his home, and when he approached the door he sneaked in to his grandmother’s room and told her everything.
“No, Mohamed, you shouldn’t have done that. Do you know that there are snakes and wolfs and many wild animals living there”
“But I didn’t find any”
“What if you did? It could’ve eaten you and then we wouldn’t have Mohamed any more.”
“Alright, now what am I gunna say to my mother”
“Don’t wary, I’ll tell her not to hit you”
She took him to the Dewan where his mother was waiting anxiously beside the window and as he approached her, she grabbed him, hugged him, and reproved him for a while.
“Does that mean you’re not gunna hit me, mother”
“Why should I? Your coming back is better for me than the whole world and everything inside it.”
“Can I go play outside, then”
“As long as you stay in the front yard”…..