ABSTRACT
The muezzin’s resonant dawn prayer came to an end. I had been awake all night. The children had collapsed into a deep slumber after spending most of the evening scuttling around their uncles, who were packing for the departure. Whispers coming from my in-laws’ room told me they were also unable to sleep. It was as though the flight had started from the moment they decided to leave Acre and move north to Lebanon. When the clanking noises reached my ears, I thought a heavy monster was walking through the dry weeds of our backyard. I even felt vibrations under my feet as I stood at the open window. A huge bus rolled cautiously beneath the orange branches. It was a battered military bus!
