"Muslim"

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Zahia Rahmani. "Muslim"

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I became a Muslim. I had to leave for the desert.

So I left. I walked there. Soldiers accosted me. “What are you doing here?” they asked. “Where’re you from?” “A country where I couldn’t remain.”

.....

“What are you doing out in the hallway?” my mother asked in a language that I refused to speak. No longer. No, no longer. I was sitting in front of my bedroom door. I knew that there was something dangerous on the other side. I thought I had locked it. The sun was just about up. I was sweating, trembling. I remember saying to her, “Elephants.” I said, “Elephants,” but it wasn’t in her language. I was scared. I couldn’t tell her. I had nothing to say. Algeria was behind us. I’d just got to France. There were elephants in my room, and my brother and sister were still inside. I’d left them with the elephants. I’d fled the elephants, I’d left everything behind. My brother, my sister. My mother, my language. Everything was upside down. I no longer had a name.

I’d forgotten this dream. Were it not for the new terror that threatens the world, I would never have remembered it.

.....