Mud City

Mud City — page 5 — compound’s children Tell us about the wolves She opened one eye and used it to glare at the group of youngsters in front of her I said go away She never should have been nice to them Now they wouldn’t leave her alone What are you doing I’m sitting We’ll sit with you The children dropped to the dirt closer to her than was comfortable in this heat A lot of them had shaved heads because of a recent outbreak of lice in the compound Most had runny noses They all had big eyes and hollow cheeks There was never enough food Quit butting into me she said pushing away a little girl who was leaning on her The orphans Mrs Weera was always finding and bringing into the compound were especially clingy You’re worse than sheep Tell us about the wolves One story then you’ll leave me alone One story It would be worth the effort if they really did go She needed some quiet time to plan out what she was going to say to Mrs Weera This time she wouldn’t be put off by a request to do one of those little jobs

Mud City — page 6 — All right I’ll tell you about the wolves Shauzia took a deep breath and began her story It happened while I was working as a shepherd We had the sheep up in the high pastureland in Afghanistan where the air is clean and cool I can make Afghanistan with my fist So can I A dozen grubby fists were thrust into Shauzia’s face The thumbs were stuck out to represent the skinny part of the province of Badakhshan Don’t interrupt Do you want to hear the story or not Shauzia said waving the hands away We were up in the pastureland where everything is green grass bushes pistachio trees great oak trees a beautiful green Shauzia looked around for something to compare it to The compound was all yellowish-gray mud Most of the children had spent their whole lives there Look at Safa’s shalwar kameez Up in the high pastureland the whole world is green like that There was green under the dirt of Safa’s clothes The water supply was low and no one had been able to do laundry The children oohed and aahed and started babbling about colors Shauzia had to shut them up so she could

Mud City — page 7 — finish the story Then maybe they’d leave her alone She pictured the pastureland in her mind and for a moment she was taken away from the noise dirt and smell of the refugee camp I was sitting up with the sheep one dark night guarding them because sheep are so stupid they can’t look after themselves The other shepherds big grown men were asleep I was the only one awake I sat by a small fire watching the sparks fly up into the sky like stars There was an eerie silence in the hills All I could hear was the sound of the shepherds snoring Then suddenly a wolf howled Shauzia howled like a wolf Some of the children gasped and some of them laughed and the women in the embroidery group nearby stopped chatting for a moment That was followed by another howl and then another howl There was a whole pack of wolves in the forest wanting to gobble up my sheep I stood up and saw the wolves begin to creep out from the shelter of the trees They wanted to eat the sheep but first they had to deal with me I counted four then five then six seven giant wolves coming toward me tense on their haunches ready to spring I bent down and grabbed two burning sticks from the

Mud City — page 8 — fire I held them up just as the wolves jumped at me They were hungry and strong but I was angry that they had disturbed my quiet night so I was more than a match for them I kicked at them and waved the burning sticks until they were so tired out that they collapsed at my feet and fell asleep In the morning they were so embarrassed they simply slunk away back into the forest grateful that I didn’t laugh at them Hello children Mrs Weera swept into the compound like a strong wind Every time you tell that story you add another wolf she said whooshing past her into the hut Shauzia jumped to her feet and followed her inside Mrs Weera I need to talk to you Another one of our secret girls schools has been discovered by the Taliban Mrs Weera was saying to her assistant We must see what we can Mrs Weera But Mrs Weera ignored Shauzia Shauzia felt Jasper’s solid dog-body beside her and it gave her strength Mrs Weera I want to be paid she shouted That got Mrs Weera’s attention You want to be paid For telling stories Whoever heard of such a thing Not for telling stories

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