The Boy

He checked his bag again to make sure he had everything he needed, then he went to his mother, hugged her,

kissed her hands and said goodbye. Then to his father and brothers.

„It is not the first time you go to Aqaba, what is this big goodbye?” - his father asked.

„Take care of Ummi and Iman please. Two weeks and I will be back.” - he said and went out.
He did not hurry. He walked with calm steps, stopped and looked back to the house. He could see Iman's shal in the wind for a while, then disappeared all that reminded him of home. The wind got in his hair, played in it a little, he took his bag on his shoulder and smiled.
His name was Ameen, which means honest. This name was proper for him because he was gentle and caring. He paid attention to everybody and everything, to things that others did not even see. He was a student of twenty and something, just like Petra. And dreaming. He was not on this world for so many times, but far far away beyond the stars and the wonder rocks. And for a while his heart was indeed somewhere else, somewhere between Petra's mountains, where the wind was blowing differently, where the words had other meaning, where the whole universe was something else, where life never died just turned into something else, where the eyes saw, not just watched, at least he thought so.
The bus which would take him to Amman was at half past five. From there he would take another bus till Damascus, then another one to Turkey. He looked at his watch. It was only four o`clock. He wanted to hurry the time but he could not so he lit up a cigarette. A man went there and asked a fire then a woman with her baby. Ameen was looking at them, caressed the baby's face, then took a dinar from his pocket and gave it to the woman. She thanked, asked Allah to guide him on his way then they went away. He looked long after them.
He felt guilty for lieing to his family by saying he went to Aqaba. But it was the best this way. He could not say he was going to Turkey to meet the girl who fulfilled his existence for months. He could not say that he would live in the same room with a girl who is a stranger, who is not even a Muslim, but a Christian. His father would have never understood. He hoped that his son would marry Ghadeer, who was a beautiful and very smart girl, who went to the university with Ameen, who wanted to become a doctor and whose family was a very decent one. The girl was nice and quite and a very good Muslim. Her life was like every Muslim girl`s life should be. But Ameen saw in her only a friend with who is good to talk or walk or sit at a coffee, of course with other friends too. But the girl loved him very much. Her every sight was looking for him, he was in her mind all the time, and the pain she felt in her heart showed that she reached a high point of love, when the feeling is so strong that it hurts.
Ameen was talking to her about Petra, and the girl loved him so much that she was happy for him, though she could have kill Petra, who came into their life without shame just like that from one day to another and stole the one who could have been her husband if they remain like they have been.
He lit up his fourth cigarette when the bus arrived. It was full. The driver told him that he could not take him.
"What? It can not be truth. I must go. It is very important."
"I can not let you on the bus. Understand please. I am playing with my job. I have children at home and they need food every day. I can not take the risk. Do you know how hard it is to find a job nowadays? If somebody will catch me, it will probably take years to find another job. I can not do this." - said the driver, then got back to the bus and drove away.
Ameen was looking angry after the bus and throw his bag on the ground. The sign of desperation sat on his face, he was almost crying. He took his phone and wrote a message to Petra and told her that he could not be there before her because the bus did not take him. He planned to be there before her and search for a hotel and prepare the place for their perfect week.
He looked at the program of the buses and walked from here to there. He had to wait another 2 hours for the next bus which would take him from Irbid to Amman. 'It is a distance of 88 kilometers, and still, no buses" – he said to himself while eating a sandwich. Finally he saw himself on a bus going into the night what was just beginning. Everything was grey. He was looking at the houses, then all those disappeared and he was looking far away in the night. Petra was hundreds of kilometers away, but he saw her face smiling at him and whispering „come my love”. He tried to remain still, but his heart was telling him to scream loudly. Thousands of thoughts crossed his head, he was afraid of them, but he was happy in the same time, he felt that he was finally doing the right thing, that although there were persons who does not agree, he was on his way to a difficult but wonderful life.
The bus got into a terminal of the Tabarbour bus station. Ameen got down and lit up another cigarette. There were a lot of smells in the bus station. People sleeping on the benches, everybody was waiting for something. Ameen saw a few young boys and thought that it would be good some company so he went to them and ask them where they wanted to travel.
"Fee al Suriia" – they said. "Fee al Damascus."
"Great. I go there too."
"To visit Syria? Or somebody there?"
"No. I go to Turkey from there" – he said with shining eyes.
"Wow, you are doing a long road. What for?"
"I will meet my love in Istanbul. We never met before. Now is the time."
"Is she a Turkish girl?" - one of them asked while the others were just looking at him.
"No, she is European. We will just meet there."
"Do you really think she will come? God, you are so naive. You better go home and do something useful. The European girls never do what they say. They just want what is good for them. They do not care about anybody else but themselves. And they are not like our girls. You can not make them do anything. They walk free on the streets, they drive cars, dress improperly. Do you need that? A European girl is hell itself. Do you need that?"
"Stop it. Petra is not like this. I know her. She is different, of course she is different, but that is very good. You know, happiness goes sometimes beyond the borders of the Arabic world."