I could not sleep all night. Every time I put my head on the pillow, I heard sound. I tell myself, it is probably a mouse, as usual. I would pull the pillow again and try to sleep again, but it kept coming back. I lifted the mattress to check if there was anything there. I did not find anything. This continued until almost dawn. All through these hours, the noise of nearby bombings continued and penetrated my ears.
In my heightened tension, I lifted the plastic sheet that covered the soil. There, was the surprise. A mouse has given birth to some pinkies in a small hole under my pillow. When I released the plastic cover, it fled leaving behind her pinkies. I carried them outside the tent, yet the sound continued. The mother came back, angry and loud. It searched for them. At that time, the sun had already risen.
I wonder how a mouse reacts when it loses its pinkies! Will it disturb my sleep again or try to find another place to hide?!
This is the photo of the pinkies. I took it for the record. A snapshot of our tragedy, our displacement and humiliation in tents. Then, and after all, there comes someone living in Turkey or Belgium and accuses me of being a traitor if I say, I want this war…this genocide, to end.
Tayseer Abed
15/7/2025
(Translated by Rana Ardaji Bishara)
