Call Me Ibrahim Chapter 3

Story
Al-Ladhiqiyah, Syria, 2016 The New Year is always a bustling and busy time at home. The house was a disaster zone, still littered with Christmas decoration and holiday lights. Ibrahim was happy that he could eat as much helwa as he wanted. His parents did not hold a separate birthday party for him. He was more excited about receiving money and gifts from the relatives, who had gathered to visit for the holidays.

It didn't matter if there were no cake or candles. That was for little kids, like Anan. He looked at his gifts one by one. This year also coincided with his coming-of-age ceremony, which means higher quality gifts. Ibrahim opened and closed the Bosch tool set his father had given him. He liked the cold and heaviness of the shiny metal within. He thought about what he could create with them, and his future felt very bright. The bicycle from his mother was not in use at the moment. It's too cold to go bike riding, these days.

Father asks why didn't she buy it in the summer, to which mother replies that she's buying it now instead of spending more money in the summer, as she clutched the American Eagle. Anan did not give him any money, but wrote him a letter full of love. He put the letter in his pocket, thinking that he should read it again and again throughout the day.

He very much liked the gift from his uncle. It was an ark, carved from wood. In addition the ark was full of a great variety of animals, all in pairs. Ibrahim never tired of looking at them all. The Indian elephants were the biggest; there were tigers, alligators, monkeys, and all manner of birds he had never seen before. The human figurine at the top must be Noah, the human who rebuilt the world and civilization after it was destroyed by God. He played day in and day out with that ark. He seemed to find a new animal every time he peered into the ark.

The holidays were spent toys in hand, running with cousins around the house. Afterwards, he went to his room and fell fast asleep. ''I had a dream! The entire world was submerged under water. The West Coast of the United States was covered by blackened ocean water. Nothing remained in the area that was once Japan. Dark clouds rolled in over the early morning skies, and thunder could be heard throughout all the lands. I could see people dying below me, as I flew through the sky! Mothers, daughters, grandfathers, grandsons, their faces were all obscured. I saw the faces of the people living high up in the Andes as they succumbed to the waves. I saw Tibetan monks breathing in their last underneath the water. It was all so vivid. I could almost feel what they were experiencing! I dreamt about the arks, too. They traveled to Sydney, the Yellow Sea, the Strait of Dover, New York, Johannesburg, and the Strait of Gibraltar. I also sent them to Vladivostok and Santiago. I built a couple arks in the Mediterranean Sea. That's why so many white people survived! I'm not a racist. A boy that age doesn't know about too many places around the world. I floated down to Cusco, the navel of the world. I created a small piece of land above the waters covering the earth and woke up. Thankfully, I could dream my dream to the very end.''

' Please forgive me. '