War Memoir
A Mother and a Wall of Feathers
Before bedtime I stacked up the blue divan pillow blocks one over the other, placing the large ones on top in the manner of a fort. My son’s baby mattress leaned against this wall of feathers, and the cushioned roof sheltered him in his little blue bassinet.
The Day My Wartime Cat Went Missing
There is a local proverb that asks God for shelter from calamity, when all is lost in a blink of an eye, suddenly and irreversibly, during “saet al ghafleh” — the hour of oblivion — as you go about your day unaware of fate sneaking up on you from behind: a solemn figure that appears at your doorstep, a phone call that comes in the night, a beloved cat that goes missing.