mhmary
04/02/2006, 06:15
Two months ago I was waiting to go on a one day trip that took me over to the center of my native country Syria, in the city Hims. This is the old city that took care of me until the age of seventeen, And the city that makes my heart tremble as soon as I get off the plane.
It is Christmas time, cold with rain, and every main street is decorated with yellow lights that make the city so bright at night. Counting from downtown, the fourth street to the north of the city has in the middle of it three floors building. It contains three small apartments, made of cement and painted white. The only entrance of the building is a black iron door that is not easy to open because of the old oxide hinges. I am climbing the narrow stairs carefully trying to avoid the broken pieces in it and passing the first two floors to the third one where my house is located.
In the middle of the door, a small Santa is hanging and a series of yellow lights is surrounding it. The bell on the left hand side of the door has my father's name, and has some white paint on it by mistake.
When you hit the bell button you hear the lovely chatter sound that does not let you take your hand off. Then you hear another sound coming toward the door and opening it. As soon as my mom opens the door you feel the warmth coming out of the house and entering your body, while the big smile goes right into your heart.
Just behind my mom's smile is a huge wine color library, is leaning on the wall. It has three shelves and a lot of old books that belong to my parents. They are hardly loaded as the penthouse is filled with junk stuff. Actually, the house is really small so they had to put a white divider door taking a little piece of the living room to make it my brother's bedroom. To the left of the library the divider door is hiding behind it a tiny room that belongs to my little brother. The little boy who is in sixth grade, posted over his bed pictures of soccer players randomly, and filled his room all around with every kind of toys. A two sided door is away from the divider door about the length of the bed. It is ending the tiny room and starting a small porch where you can see the main street from the top. There is a computer to left of the bed; which makes the room smaller, and painful to get to the porch if someone using the computer because it is very close to the bed.
The living room is to the right of the library; the fancy heater is located in the center of it. That is about three feet cylinder and six inches wide, made of heavy steel. There is a steel ball above it connected by a thin tube to the bottom of the heater, and this ball gets filled every while with oil so the heater stays on. Three old couches are surrounding the heater, one in the middle facing the heater and the other two are facing each other. At least two heavy blankets on top of each other are covering my Dad, who is laying on the couch reading his book and trying to get warm while the rain drops are frozen from cold out side.
The brazen tea pot is always on top of the heater and ready for anyone who likes to have a cup of tea. It is Blowing light fume all over the room creating some kind of comfortable sound while boiling, and making everyone feels warm. While the canella is giving out that smell which makes my dad get form under his blankets to have cup of tea every half an hour.
On that corner to the right of the heater and behind the couch, there is an entertainment center which has the same wine color as the library. A brand new TV is inside and it has on top of it two green plants hanging toward the TV. The news is always on TV when my dad is home. He listens to it while he is reading his book, drinking his tea, playing with his mustache and trying to find the best way to lay on the couch and do all of these things together.
A huge Christmas tree is right next to the TV; giving everyone in the house the feeling of Christmas that you get once a year. My brother is around it all the time trying to make it looks better and being part of it. It has a big golden star on top and red balls on all over its body. It has two different colors of light series, red and yellow flashing all the time; trying to attract your attention and moving my dad’s eyes away from the TV once a while. The lights are hitting every thing while flashing, reflecting on the steel heater and the brazen pot. To make them two Christmas trees inside the house. Like the full moon reflects on the sea creating a white different planet on the earth. As soon as you open the door next to the Christmas tree, you feel the fume coming out of my mom’s tiny kitchen, and you smell the delicious meat mixed with rice. The sound in
that sink is coming from my mom’s boney hands cleaning the dirt plates. She is moving all around the kitchen not letting anyone in.
The brazen pot is boiling, Christmas lights are flashing and all the sudden the chatter sound come out and someone is knocking
It is Christmas time, cold with rain, and every main street is decorated with yellow lights that make the city so bright at night. Counting from downtown, the fourth street to the north of the city has in the middle of it three floors building. It contains three small apartments, made of cement and painted white. The only entrance of the building is a black iron door that is not easy to open because of the old oxide hinges. I am climbing the narrow stairs carefully trying to avoid the broken pieces in it and passing the first two floors to the third one where my house is located.
In the middle of the door, a small Santa is hanging and a series of yellow lights is surrounding it. The bell on the left hand side of the door has my father's name, and has some white paint on it by mistake.
When you hit the bell button you hear the lovely chatter sound that does not let you take your hand off. Then you hear another sound coming toward the door and opening it. As soon as my mom opens the door you feel the warmth coming out of the house and entering your body, while the big smile goes right into your heart.
Just behind my mom's smile is a huge wine color library, is leaning on the wall. It has three shelves and a lot of old books that belong to my parents. They are hardly loaded as the penthouse is filled with junk stuff. Actually, the house is really small so they had to put a white divider door taking a little piece of the living room to make it my brother's bedroom. To the left of the library the divider door is hiding behind it a tiny room that belongs to my little brother. The little boy who is in sixth grade, posted over his bed pictures of soccer players randomly, and filled his room all around with every kind of toys. A two sided door is away from the divider door about the length of the bed. It is ending the tiny room and starting a small porch where you can see the main street from the top. There is a computer to left of the bed; which makes the room smaller, and painful to get to the porch if someone using the computer because it is very close to the bed.
The living room is to the right of the library; the fancy heater is located in the center of it. That is about three feet cylinder and six inches wide, made of heavy steel. There is a steel ball above it connected by a thin tube to the bottom of the heater, and this ball gets filled every while with oil so the heater stays on. Three old couches are surrounding the heater, one in the middle facing the heater and the other two are facing each other. At least two heavy blankets on top of each other are covering my Dad, who is laying on the couch reading his book and trying to get warm while the rain drops are frozen from cold out side.
The brazen tea pot is always on top of the heater and ready for anyone who likes to have a cup of tea. It is Blowing light fume all over the room creating some kind of comfortable sound while boiling, and making everyone feels warm. While the canella is giving out that smell which makes my dad get form under his blankets to have cup of tea every half an hour.
On that corner to the right of the heater and behind the couch, there is an entertainment center which has the same wine color as the library. A brand new TV is inside and it has on top of it two green plants hanging toward the TV. The news is always on TV when my dad is home. He listens to it while he is reading his book, drinking his tea, playing with his mustache and trying to find the best way to lay on the couch and do all of these things together.
A huge Christmas tree is right next to the TV; giving everyone in the house the feeling of Christmas that you get once a year. My brother is around it all the time trying to make it looks better and being part of it. It has a big golden star on top and red balls on all over its body. It has two different colors of light series, red and yellow flashing all the time; trying to attract your attention and moving my dad’s eyes away from the TV once a while. The lights are hitting every thing while flashing, reflecting on the steel heater and the brazen pot. To make them two Christmas trees inside the house. Like the full moon reflects on the sea creating a white different planet on the earth. As soon as you open the door next to the Christmas tree, you feel the fume coming out of my mom’s tiny kitchen, and you smell the delicious meat mixed with rice. The sound in
that sink is coming from my mom’s boney hands cleaning the dirt plates. She is moving all around the kitchen not letting anyone in.
The brazen pot is boiling, Christmas lights are flashing and all the sudden the chatter sound come out and someone is knocking