Gaza Dreams
Submitted by cfm on Wed, 2009-01-14 01:24.
Sharin slept. She and her father, alone of the family, alone of her brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents and cousins survived. She wasn't awake to see the tiny blue lights - new fireflies high overhead - circling in the darkness. She snuggled up to her father. "Baba," she whispered in her sleep.
Tue Jan 20 19:00:00 EET 2009
It grew quiet. Dusty, dishevelled Crow, standing guard on a shattered concrete wall, opened his one red eye to wrap the night sky, the stars, those tiny blue lights. He cawed, fluffed his feathers and fell silent. To sleep. To dream.
Tue Jan 20 12:00:00 EST 2009
| From the thrice-bent branch of an elm in my yard, Crow shadows me a daily widdershins swoop at the door. He'd flown over hot Three Mile Island well in advance of the Presidential helicopter. That during the reign of Jimmy Carter of Earth. A smoky moult and he refeathered like a sprung umbrella. He flew north to watch my farm. Crow hears the voices from the whispering winds and the offended leaves, from other crows spreading the news, from the chatter of his human enemies on the phones, on the radio, on the Internet ether. Voices. Meaning that infuriates him. He sinks his warped claws into my left shoulder and caws his neutron rage. He caws the infuriating voices into my ear, he caws them at me. Haywire cranky Crow - and I'm slow on the uptake. |
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States," President Elect Barack Obama says, "and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Tue Jan 20 17:10:00 ZULU 2009
Some final radio traffic. A navy supply ship interrupts a refueling at sea and breaks away. A few minutes later, she comes about on a new course together with a hospital ship and its companion helicopter carrier. Gray ships, blue-green phosphorescent wakes, dolphins and flying fish. All due speed.
"The United States Air Force has taken up positions over Gaza, over Rafah, Shati and Jarara," President Obama says. "In a few hours, when the sun rises over Palestine and Israel, the United States Navy will land food, doctors, medical supplies and fuel for the power stations. [1] 'I believe in recognizing every human being as a human being, neither white, black, brown nor red.' [2] Neither Christian, Muslim nor Jew."
Wed Jan 21 06:42:00 EET 2009
Sharin woke. She looked up to see her father already awake, sitting on the concrete floor, backed against the concrete wall. She snuggled up. Warm together they stared out the shattered window, through the splintered boards and past their neighbors' blasted homes. In the predawn quiet, they stared at the sunrise.
A crow cawed. In the distance, again, helicopters.
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[1] Barack Obama will not say this.
[2] Malcolm X, 1965, http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/int_pbert.htm
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