Chapter 1: Fallen Fundamentalist
With the passing of time, the warden softened and allowed inmates to socialize, eat and pray together. They even cooked in the courtyard after creating a sort of outdoor kitchen. They built an oven, which accommodated baking for some three hundred inmates. They set up a small garden in the courtyard. One prisoner attempted to escape, and was caught outside the prison but within the military barracks. This backfired on all inmates as the warden further tightened the conditions overnight after they had been relaxed. Unfortunately, after the attempted escape, the guards destroyed both the garden and the kitchen. Mohamed felt hopeless, as it seemed that conditions had returned to the unbearable starting point.
Chapter 3: Candide Child
Ali will never forget the sight of a child whose eye was bleeding and he recalls a moving brief conversation with his treating doctor at the makeshift hospital.
The doctor said, “Drink this juice.”
The child replied, “How can I drink juice when children are dying?”
After humbly declining the juice and patching up his eye, the child ventured out into the square where a bullet hit him in the head, killing him. This boy refused to drink juice in solidarity with the innocent lives only to join them a short while later.
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Chapter 6: Missing Man
Friday morning was quiet and solemn like the calm before a storm. Rania and Tarek were talking in their bedroom.
Rania said, “Watch out, it is rumored that mobile phones are
going to be cut off today.”
Tarek said, “I don’t think so, at 7 o’clock this morning I was just
talking to my friend in America.”
Rania replied, “Just check your signal now.” He told her that he
had a full signal.
Rania told him, “Switch off your mobile and turn it on again, maybe the signal is false.”
Tarek did as she asked and said, “You are right, there is no signal.”
He showered and wore his blue jeans, black sweater, and a dark blue jacket. Before the Friday prayers, he hugged, kissed and said goodbye to his wife and daughters as any other Friday and left, heading to the mosque and afterwards the demonstrations.
