The War Garden

Ashe is in the safe country. Bakr is in the garden. The garden grows metal, in rows as neat as the olive picture we keep in the well. The well is the round silver disk that we thought could be a shield but  it is difficult to hold with one hand  so we left it lying flat on the ground and it became the well. Bakr says it came from a car.

We can hear cars sometimes. They have horns that honk. Mostly we hear voices from the other side of the world. Sometimes we hear the hate. Then the sky burns orange and black.

We are safe if we go  into the safe country. Our parents told us this.

The broken brick is desert, which we must cross to reach the garden, and the safe country has steps that lead down into the  dark where the air is old and thick. Only Ashe likes to stay in the safe country. He stays there all the time. He says it is better there because the hate is further away.

I like the desert when the sky is hot and I must dance on the stone. It makes Bakr laugh.