Zodiac Story

Into The Murky Sea Green Depths We Dive Part 2

When she was younger and met enough Mohammeds that she could not distinguish between them, she asked her mama how she could remember every Mohammed.

"No one names their child only Mohammed. They usually give them two names to distinguish them from the other Mohammeds."

Nahla tried, but she forgot their names in time. Even with the second names attached did not help. Her solution was to ascribe to every person she met a set of characteristics based on their appearance, demeanour, and behaviour. It helped her remember everyone, like how Samir had eyes that laughed as he read his friend's latest letter or how Mama trembled as the waves splashed against the shore. Mohammed with the glinting eye for rare wares, Mohammed with the voice that promised breathless ecstasy, Mohammed with the delicate spider-like fingers...

Khalid was new, a breath of fresh air amidst salt and rocks. He looked through the world with eyes of glass, polished and sharpened with a clarity and focus that Nahla had not encountered before. Most of his photos were stored in scrapbooks kept at his home, or lovingly framed. He carried around both digital and film cameras that printed out strange images that absorbed colour the longer it was waved under the sunlight. Khalid mentioned something about a dark room to develop film at home as well.

He gifted her a bouquet of irises the next day. That resided on a shelf in a pot refilled with water daily. Nahla made sure it was freshwater. Samir was unimpressed with the bouquet and pointed out that the flowers would wither and die in a week.

The day after that, she performed a private dance for Khalid while Samir sat beside him. She didn't use the amulet; best to save it for a larger audience. Afterwards, Khalid congratulated her and showed her some action shots that he snapped while she was lost in the flowing currents of the dance. When he returned tomorrow, he promised he would have all of the photos printed.

He kept his promise and invited Nahla for a sojourn into a local souk in Casablanca. She accepted. Samir accompanied them, and Nahla bought a bracelet made of raw pearls that fit snugly around Khalid's wrist. Khalid admired the gift and sprinted off, ostensibly to find Nahla another gift. He returned with beef kebabs still smoking.

Nahla and Khalid were snacking on their fresh kebabs, with Khalid smiling as he took a bite. Samir positioned himself between them and alternated between keeping an eye on them, eating his kebab, and reading his book. The delicious taste of the kebab was savoured by Nahla.

"Have you lived here your entire life?" Khalid asked, looking over Samir's outstretched legs.

Today, they were at the coast, where the waves lapped the boys' pants and Nahla's skirt. Nahla was enjoying the fresh ocean breeze, Samir was intent on finishing chapter thirty-four of his book, and Khalid was taking landscapes and panoramas of the Atlantic coast.

"Yes I have," she responded, letting the saltwater tickle her feet.

"That must be nice. The last time I was here before this month was after I graduated the ninth grade. My baba...he's distant. We talk every four months." He took a snapshot of a passing bird.

Nahla looked at Samir and whispered, "Can I tell him?"

"About what?"

"About Baba."

"...no."

Nahla accepted the answer and watched Khalid take photos of the scenery. She felt sorry for Khalid and his distant baba. Did he have a mama? Or was she long dead like Samir's baba? She remembered nothing of the man. He would have been her baba, had he lived. Samir could recall a man with a talent for fishing and who was always willing to ruffle his hair whenever he pouted as a child. Samir's baba swam on occasion, but not at the skill where he would've survived a Calamity. A Calamity as fierce and raging as the one that the village was caught in, heaving heavy rain and driving massive waves tall enough to swallow date trees and buildings whole would have left no survivors. If it weren't for a select group of twelve, the village would not have evacuated in time. Samir's baba was among those twelve. One of his accomplishments during that time was finding a baby drifting amidst the roaring waves and diving in to save her. Paddling to shore, he found the baby a safe place in his wife's arms before being torn away by the currents in front of his family's eyes.