“We won’t go much farther,” she said. “It’s too late to camp properly but luckily it’s not going to rain. We’ll see that you all get sleeping mats and quilts and food. I know it’s hard without the boys, but we’re doing fine.” She got back on her horse and went on to the next group.
By the time they stopped it was very dark. There was no moon and clouds covered the stars. Samira knew that somewhere out there two hundred and seventy children were trying to find the places were they should sleep. She was glad she only had to think about the ten in her family.
She was so worn out that she didn’t care whether the mat she lay down on and the quilt she pulled over her were hers. She just lay there, not even feeling hungry, but when someone came and put raisins and a piece of cheese in her hand, she ate them and felt a little better. She fell asleep knowing that the Rooftop Family was around her in the darkness.
In the morning Miss Shedd came around just as Samira was waking up.
“I’m making sure that everyone is here,” she said. “It was such a rush yesterday that a few people fell asleep before they found their families. But no one is missing.”
“Malik made sure no one wandered or got left behind,” Samira told her. “He was always watching.”
Miss Shedd looked at the lumps of quilt that were all that could be seen of most of the children. She located one of the bigger lumps and walked over to it.
“I see that you’re awake, Malik,” she said. “You did a good job of keeping your family together yesterday. Now, do you know which chavadar has the Rooftop Family’s supplies?”
Malik sat up. “Yes, Miss Shedd. I’m in charge of loading and unloading.”
“Good. Go and talk to him now. Make sure he knows who you are. Nobody got the right bedding last night so you’ll have to get that sorted out. And, Malik, ask others in your family to give you the help you need.”
As Malik went off, Samira thought he was probably more scared of asking the family for help than of talking to a strange chavadar.
She stood up and looked around. Now she could see what nearly three hundred children looked like scattered around a bare pasture. Most were still asleep but a few were sitting up and stretching or standing and shaking themselves to straighten their clothes. Last night they had simply lain down in what they were wearing so now there was no need to get dressed.
She could see steaming basins of hot water set up by the doctor’s wagon ready for children to wash their faces and hands. The privies were farther off.
There was a big samovar sitting on the table folded out from the cook wagon. A samovar meant tea, and Samira suddenly wanted tea very, very much. Hot tea. She took her cup out of her bag and went to stand in the line of children waiting for breakfast.
While she waited she looked beyond the camp. Empty land and mountains stretched in one direction, and she could see the wide dirt road they would travel that day. In the other direction was the Hamadan Orphanage. She couldn’t see it but it had to be there because Benyamin was there, waiting to join them.
She took her tea and some bread spread with stewed apricots back to where the Rooftop Family had been sleeping. The younger children were awake with their quilts pulled up to their chins. They were waiting for her to tell them what to do.
“You can all get up,” she said. “Monna, give that Anna a little poke. She’s the only lazybones here.”
Anna snorted. “I’m awake. I just don’t want to open my eyes and see where I am.” She sat up. “You’re already drinking tea. That’s not fair!”
“It’s a little reward for waking up early,” said Samira. “But it’s Malik who really deserves a reward. He’s already gone to meet our chavadar. He’ll make sure that we have our own things tonight.” She looked around and saw Malik making his way through the children and sleeping mats scattered around the field.
He looked at the Rooftop Family and said clearly, “Time to get up!”
Everyone stared at him. None of them had ever heard Malik speak so loudly before. He went on more quietly, “Well, it is. We have a long way to walk today. That’s what Miss Shedd told me.” He stopped and looked at the ground.
“Malik is right,” said Anna, and she scrambled up and shook out her skirt. “I hope I won’t have to sleep in my skirt again. Too lumpy and look at it now.”
“We’re all just the same,” said Maryam. “I’m hungry.” She walked off toward the cook wagon and came back a few minutes later with a stack of bread and apricots for everyone.
“Mr. Edwards will come around with tea. Get out your cups and he’ll fill them,” she said.
“After you’ve eaten take the cloth that’s in your bag and wash your face,” said Samira. “Anna and I will brush your hair if you need help.”
“And you’d better hurry,” said Anna. “Malik’s rolling up the mats and quilts. We’ll be starting soon.”
Samira helped Malik carry the bedding to the place where the mules were tethered. The bedding they had used had green tags. This meant it really belonged to the Mountain Family, so they found the chavadar in charge of supplies for that family.
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 gr
oup 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.
Home Is Beyond the Mountains Page 14