Home Is Beyond the Mountains (17 page)

He looked at Malik and said,
“You'd better give me a hand loading up.”

Malik went over to one of
the mules, and Samira heard him talking as he tied bundles to its saddle.

“It's not going to be so
bad. You're strong. You can carry this load. It'll be easy.” The mule
twitched its ears and seemed to be listening.

Samira felt as if she was
eavesdropping on a conversation between friends, so she went back to the
family.

She said to Anna, “Malik
talks to the mules and they listen. I think he said more to a mule in just a
few minutes than I've heard him say to people in a year.”

Anna wasn't paying much
attention. She was checking to be sure that the younger children had packed
their bags carefully and that the wet washing cloths were tied to the strap
to dry.

Miss Shedd came riding by.
“Everyone up and ready to start, please. Don't leave anything behind.
Remember the order of travel.”

Samira remembered. The
outriders had left before anyone else was awake. They would go ahead and find
a camping place and maybe a village where they could buy fresh
bread.

After today the three wagons
would also leave early. That way the cook would have time to warm up the
food he had cooked the night before and have it hot when the children
arrived at the camping place. He would leave behind breakfast bread and
fruit and a packet of lunch for each child.

The walking children would
start out next, each family taking its place in the line. The Rooftop Family
traveled between the Mountain Family and the Sun Family. The Sun Family
would lead today. Tomorrow the Rooftop Family would go first. The day after
that they would move to the back of the line of children. Miss Shedd had
explained that this way each family would have at least one turn at setting
the pace for the whole caravan.

The mules carrying the
bundles would come after the children, and last of all the mules carrying
the small children with Mr. Edwards to look after them.

Samira had heard Miss Shedd
explaining this plan to Mr. Edwards.

“We'll let the walkers get
well ahead before the mules start. If the walking children see the mules
they might want to ride, too. It's better that they don't even see
them.”

As the Rooftop Family set
out, Samira looked back. She could see the long line of children walking.
But the big boys were not there.

What was Benyamin doing
right now? How had the night been for him?

She turned to Anna who was
walking just behind her.

“We took all the bedding
with us. How did the boys sleep last night at the orphanage with no quilts?
It's cold there, too.”

“Don't worry about those
boys,” said Anna. “They have the teachers and Near East Relief people to
look after them. We have to be thinking about the children right here.
They're going to get tired pretty soon.”

It was true. Before long
some of the children were dragging their feet and beginning to grumble. At
least they were staying in a group and not straying off the road. That was
mostly because Malik would run down one side of the group and up the other,
keeping everyone on the road. Would he be able to keep it up all
day?

Samira began to sing a song
everyone knew. Some joined in and they all walked a little faster to the
rhythm of the music. As they rounded a curve she looked at the road ahead of
them. It was downhill now but she knew it would be uphill before long.

Suddenly she remembered the
road over the high pass from Kermanshah. They had made a steep climb then.
They could climb another mountain now.

When the sun was high in the
sky they stopped for a rest. Miss Shedd came by on Sumbul.

“I went ahead to check on
the place the outriders have found for our camp tonight. It's a threshing
floor near a village. It's nice and flat and the village women are baking
bread for us. So we have fresh bread to look forward to. We'll be there in
time for rest and games.”

Samira wanted to ask for
news of the boys but she knew that was silly. What could Miss Shedd know? So
she said nothing.

The day was still bright
when they got to the camping place, but all the younger children just sat
down on the ground. They were too tired for games so Anna and Maryam settled
down to tell them stories. Everyone else had jobs to do, too. It was Shula
and Avram's turn to help the cook, and Samira and Malik went to get the
family's clothes and bedding.

The chavadar who had the
Rooftop Family's supplies scowled at Samira and spoke only to Malik. Even
when Samira asked him whether she could take some things out of the bundles
instead of taking the whole bundle, he answered by speaking to
Malik.

“You open the bundles. She
should take what she wants and go. But you have to help me tie them up
again.”

Samira thought, “He wishes I
wasn't here at all but he'll have to get used to it. I'm going to help Malik
whether this man likes it or not.”

She quickly found socks so
that all the children could wash their feet and wear clean socks to bed. She
also found the long sleeping shirts. Tonight the children could take off
their shirts and trousers and skirts and sleep more comfortably.

Dinner was hot soup made of
lentils and onions, along with fresh rounds of bread baked in the nearby
village. After the Rooftop Family's bowls were washed, Samira and Maryam
took them to the cook wagon. The cook was busy filling baskets with bread and
dried apricots for breakfast the next day.

“We're putting the samovar
in the supply wagon so that you can have hot tea for breakfast. And you can
take lunch for tomorrow away with you now. Hand it out to your brothers and
sisters.” He gave them a sack of hard-boiled eggs, some dates and some bread
that was dry and crisp.

“What about dinner
tomorrow?” asked Maryam. “Do you have that ready, too?”

“It will be on the fire
tonight,” said the cook. “Lamb stew with yellow peas and rice. Tomorrow
night it will be good and hot when you all come trailing in.”

SAMIRA NEEDED THE
thought
of that stew as she trudged along the dusty road the next morning. The
Rooftop Family was first in line, so they had to set a brisk pace for
everyone following.

“I keep thinking that it
must be almost time to stop for the night,” said Shula as she walked beside
Samira. “Then I remember that we haven't even had lunch yet. And we have to
get all the way to Tabriz. Do you think we can make it?”

“We have to forget about
Tabriz,” said Samira. “It's too far away to think about. I do believe we'll
get to the next camping place. That's enough for now.”

When they did arrive at the
camping place the cook wagon was there as planned, but before anyone could
have supper the beds had to be laid out and any blistered feet or upset
stomachs seen to by the doctor.

Anna went to collect Monna
as soon as the small children came in on the mules.

“I was worried that she
wouldn't be safe with those mules,” Anna told Samira when they came back.
“But there's no way she can fall out of the carrier. I'm going to make her a
little cushion out of a couple of extra washing cloths. I think it's a
pretty bumpy ride.”

Monna didn't complain about
the bumps.

“I could see all around,”
she said, “but I didn't have anyone to talk to.” She hurried over to Sheran
and David and Elias who were lying flat on the ground, resting. For once she
had more energy than even Elias. She sat down and began to toss a ball from
hand to hand — a very special ball she had made out of cloth and stuffed
with sawdust. Elias watched the ball and soon said, “Throw it to me,” and in
a minute the four of them were playing a game.

That night Samira lay on her
back looking at the stars. They made the same patterns her father had
pointed out to her from the roof of the house in Ayna. She thought of
Benyamin. He could be on the road looking at the stars, too. Or maybe he was
still stuck behind the walls of the orphanage.

At least the weather was
calm and clear. The boys should be able to travel fast.

The calm weather lasted a
few more days. Then a strong wind came sweeping across the open land and
blew dust into every fold of cloth and skin. If Samira opened her mouth to
say a word she could feel grit between her teeth. She wrapped her scarf over
her mouth and nose and trudged along with her head down, trying to see
through squinted eyes. There was a lot of stumbling and complaining.

Only Malik said nothing as
he moved among the children of the Rooftop Family, touching any stragglers
on the shoulder to lead them back to the group.

By the time they stopped to
eat at midday, the wind had died down, and Samira used her first drink of
water to rinse the dust from her mouth.

Malik came and sat near her,
and she decided to ask him a question.

“Are you counting us as we
walk, Malik?”

For a long time Malik just
chewed his bread. Then he said, “I don't exactly count. I just know how many
should be there. It's like sheep.”

“Sheep,” said Samira,
feeling foolish.

“You know. When you have a
flock to look after you just know how many big ones are there and how many
small ones. It's like a pattern. If a piece is missing, you
know.”

“Your father had sheep?”
said Samira.

“Not my father. The village.
I took the village sheep up to the hills. My father was… gone.” Malik shut
his mouth in a way that told Samira he would say no more.

She said, “Would you like
some of my raisins?” He held out his hand and took them.

“Thank you,” he said. Then
he got up and walked away.

Samira watched him go. As he
walked she could see him casting his eyes over the group of children,
checking to see that they were there, but not stopping to speak or
smile.

Where had his father gone?
Maybe he was dead. But then Malik would surely have said, “My father died.”

Suddenly she remembered a
boy in Ayna. A boy whose father was never named. His mother looked after him
but she seldom came out of her house. The boy had a donkey. He would help
bring the harvest in from the fields or take a load of melons or grapes to
another village. Sometimes she would see him walking through Ayna, talking
to his donkey.

What had happened to that
boy when the whole village ran away from danger? She would never
know.

That night they put up the
tents to shelter them in case the wind came up again. Everyone struggled
with canvas and poles, and Samira thought of Benyamin as she pounded fiercely
at a peg with a heavy rock, trying to force it into the hard
ground.

Miss Shedd suddenly appeared
with a big mallet in her hand.

“I'll do that,” she said.

She gave the peg several
whacks, then straightened up and rubbed her back for a moment.

“I was counting on those big
boys to take charge of a lot of this sort of work. But the rest of us will
learn how to do it. When they finally arrive, the boys will find we can do
everything ourselves and they can just laze around.”

She looked up at the sky. It
was full of clouds, moving fast.

“I almost hope it rains.
That would settle the dust. The doctor will be around to check on everyone's
eyes. The dust can cause problems.”

She gave the peg one more
whack that drove it in and went on to another tent.

The next day there was no
wind and the sun shone, but the children were tired and their eyes were
still sore. They wanted to stop and rest much more often than Miss Shedd
would allow.

In the middle of the
afternoon the Rooftop Family came across a boy lying in a ditch beside the
road. He seemed to be asleep.

Samira poked him gently in
the shoulder with her foot.

“What are you doing?” she
said. “Don't you belong to the Vineyard Family? They're up ahead of
us.”

“I'm resting,” said the boy.
“I'll get up and come along when most of the line has passed.”

The boy was not very big,
and Anna reached down and lifted him up by the shoulders.

“You'd better get up and
walk now,” she said. “You're practically asleep and you might wake up and
find yourself all alone. Would you like that?”

The boy shook his head. “But
I'm tired. Why won't Miss Shedd let us stop and rest?”

“We have a long way to go
and winter is coming. That's what she'd say if you asked her,” said
Anna.

“I don't want to hear about
it,” said the boy. But he walked off to find his family.

Samira knew that Miss Shedd
was right. They had to keep walking even though it was hard.