Shadow of Resistance

Chapter Nine

After we eat, my aunt and mum go to make some tea, while me and Omar start walking around in the house. As I stroll, I notice a huge attractive key hanging on the wall of one of the rooms. It looks so old and rusty. I don't know if it is okay to do that, but I hold the key and go to my grandmother with it.

"What is that, is this just an antique or does it open a huge treasure chest?" I ask her while holding the huge key with both of my hands.

She laughs and says "call Omar and sit down, I am gonna tell you a story." I love the stories that she tells us, it is always interesting and she has an incredible storytelling talent that keeps everyone captivated from the start to the end. I yell at Omar and we sit beside her.

My aunt and mum come with the tea and we all listen to the story while drinking tea.

" I will tell you the story of my origin and how it ended up with me staying here." she says. " I wasn't born here, I was born in 1940 in a village called Qatra. Yeah I am old, but I don't look that old. Right?" She looks at Omar and smiles.

"I remember being a child that had a lot of friends." She continues. "And the thing that I loved the most was running and playing hide and seek with my parents in our farm. We had a huge farm with everything you could imagine. We had apple trees, banana trees, and even prickly pear cactus. I remember getting injured by those cactus spines." She says, laughing.

"You can't imagine how beautiful it is to eat from what you plant. I remember the apples' taste, it is not like any apple you go and buy. I had the perfect childhood, until my whole life was turned upside down overnight. In 1948 the Israelis besieged us, and several Palestinians started resisting and fighting back." She says and I can see her face filled with sorrow and pain.

"We lost a lot of people in this war. I can remember the day when we were in our home hearing their bullets just a few metres away. I ran to hide in my mother's arms and started crying. I remember her hugging me and brushing her hand on my head and whispering to me everything is going to be okay dear." I can see tears welling up in her eyes while she continues.

"We heard a strong knock on the door, my father went to open it, while me and my mother were hiding behind a wall where we could see the door. We saw Israelis holding guns. We heard them saying you have thirty seconds to go out or we will kill everybody here. My father nodded and ran to collect the money that was in the house in a bag and took this key with him. I remember when we ran out of the house with some few clothes and this bag. I remember hearing gunshots and bombs falling from planes. I remember seeing them shooting a pregnant woman in her belly, murdering her and the foetus in cold blood. I.... I remember my father crying and this was the only time I saw him crying. He held the key and told me and my mother that we will return to our home and our farm, we will live here again. We have to keep this key until we return." She says and tears are falling from her eyes, while all of us are silent looking at her with our hearts getting torn apart. I don't know what to say or do, but seeing her crying makes me feel a deep ache inside. The room is heavy with emotion, all of us struggling to hold back our own tears.

She wipes her tears off and says "We kept getting displaced from a city to another until we reached Gaza. My parents bought this beautiful house that we are in right now."

She takes a deep breath "This is why I keep this key" she looks to me and says "It doesn't open a huge treasure chest Kareem, but it opens what is much more valuable and wonderful. If I don't live to the day we return to our land, I want you to take this key and keep it and promise me to return to our farm when that day comes."

"I promise you," I say to her without hesitation, smiling to hide my worry. I can't believe she just told me this. Why didn't she tell mum or dad? Maybe because I am her oldest grandson. I am worried about this responsibility, but I am also glad she chose me and sees that I am responsible enough.