To my multicultural children Daniel Achenefe Michael Fassil Yigal Tadele and Eyal Sunbetu N S
Chapter 1 Leaving I looked out my window trying to soak up the view If I craned my neck I could just about see the grassy tip of Mount Hermon where my sisters and I go sledding every winter I just couldn’t believe that tomorrow I would be waking up in a completely new bedroom In an apartment building In the city With a view that I could not even begin to imagine So on that morning when everybody else got up as usual I stayed in bed Meskerem get up You know what a big day it is today My mother’s anxious voice reached me from the living room or what was left of it The house was already almost empty All of our belongings were neatly packed away in dozens of cardboard boxes lining the walls and piled up in the hallway Even my room looked unfriendly The 1
bare white walls looked so shabby without all my cute animal posters I knew that other people were coming to live in our house people I would never meet Another kid would sleep in my room and I would be far away living living a different life a long way from all of my friends Macy you need to get up sweetie My dad gently patted my shoulder Only my dad and my American cousins called me Macy In Katzrin everybody everybody knew me as Meskerem Please get dressed quickly I need you to look after your sisters while Ima and I finish up the packing packing he said sitting down heavily beside me on the narrow bed His face was red and sweaty his thick blond hair dusty and disheveled I could hear my sisters sisters Abeva and Lemlem shrieking as they chased each other through the boxes I know this must be hard for you Abba started rubbing my back but I quickly yanked the sheet over my head and muttered angrily If you know it’s hard for me then why don’t you just leave me alone My dad said nothing more I felt the bed move as he got up and heard him walk quietly toward the living room Adise come and talk to your daughter he said 2
I waited for my mother thinking about all the things I wanted to say to her Not that it would help It’s not as if I hadn’t told her a million times already how totally unfair it was to make us all move because of some stupid job she got and how it was ridiculous that I couldn’t just stay in Katzrin with my grandmother grandmother But then I felt her hand gently stroking my braided hair pulling the sheet off my face I saw that like me she was crying Meskerem honey I understand how you feel It’s hard for me to leave our home too Her voice was soft and gentle her beautiful dark eyes shiny with tears Sometimes people have to choose between 3
