The Eyeglass

By: Katia Nassar
The rain was watering the earth. The clouds were carried along by the wind with great goodness. I, on the other hand, remained in my place on the shop shelf, waiting for a buyer that can move me from one situation to another. I miss freedom. I want to leave this boring place!
My colleague (another eyeglass) said, "Here is a girl entering the shop!"
I answered her, "I wonder who she is going to choose."
A few minutes later, the salesman showed her different models. My college and I were eager to know the result.
As she held me in her hands my heart almost exploded while the seller was asking her not to try another pair. Suddenly, I lost hope and my usual frustration returned because she set me aside. After several attempts of looking for a suitable pair of glasses, she chose my colleague, the pink colored glasses.
I desired at that very moment I was pink in color! Anyhow, I wish a good and happy life for my colleague. I, on the other hand, remained in my place that became depressing after my colleague was gone. What was left was a lonely and gloomy eyeglass.
During the late hours of the night, silence overwhelmed the place. Pitch blackness was all around me, darkening my heart. I implored the almighty God to bestow his mercy upon me and make me move from my strangling world to a spacious world where I can find freedom, tenderness and love.
The next morning, the sun struck the shop's door. "The storm seemed to have receded," the shop's owner said as he sipped his coffee with his neighbor Abu Mohammad who replied, "Praise be to God in all cases."
Abu Mohammad's words moved my heart like the morning dewdrops that wash and refresh the face of earth. "Yes, Praise be to the lord in all cases," I reiterated with Abu Mohammad. A new hope grew more inside my heat, hoping that someone will help me someday cross the bridge that will take me to a better condition.
Later, I heard them talking about some Israeli bombardment that reached the house of Abu Mohammad at night and hit the top floor. He explained how the family escaped miraculously because it was hiding inside the ground floor.
"It looks like I am going to move from my home to another one. The city is safer than the village," Abu Mohammad said.
At the end of the day that was long and boring as usual, and after the owner closed his shop and left, I heard a conversation taking place outside. It said:
- Oh, we are late, the shop is closed.
- Ok, we will return tomorrow.
- Does that mean you are going to stay without glasses the whole night?
- I will manage.
It was like two young men having a conversation outside the shop and I understood from there words that they were going to return tomorrow.
I spent that night hoping that they will come back and that I will be the glasses that they will buy and make me leave the shop.
In the morning, I waited for them. I did not know why my heart was attached to them. I was overwhelmed by a strange feeling that made dream I was going to move today with them to another world, full of strolls, picnics, and happy times. I imagined myself on the beach for example, enjoying the sunlight and the blue waters that extended all the way to the horizon. Perhaps I will be riding a small boat, riding the high waves. No, I think I will be on an airplane carried by the clouds to several distant countries, where there are wide plains and vast mountains on the edges of cities.
- Oh, there they are, entering the shop.
They seem so young. One of them was wearing sport clothes. The other one was wearing military boots, which made me think he was a soldier or a policeman.
The owner of the shop ruled me out and showed other glasses to one of the two young men. But it did not meet his satisfaction, hence he offered me to him. I lost hope when he returned me to the owner. But suddenly, I heard him saying: - This is the one, it suits me.
I did not believe my ears. At last, I began stepping forward towards my happy dreams.
He paid the money and left with his friend. On the way, I heard them setting a date to move at 02:00 pm. As soon as my new owner reached his home, he set me aside with the rest of his belongings and entered the kitchen to help his mother making food. So I returned to my old grief. Why is he treating me this harshly? We newly met. He should give me some consideration.
Suddenly the telephone rang. "It is your friend Ibrahim," the mother said. "I am coming," her son replied. He ended the call in a hurry. His mother noticed that he was not wearing the glasses and asked him, "Did you buy a new pair of glasses?" Yes, he replied. And he introduced me to his mother who reminded him of the first glasses that she bought him.
- Do you remember my beloved son the first glasses?
- Of course my mother.
- It made you look like a doctor.
- This is why I did not like them.
- Since the age of nine you have suffered this condition. Do you remember how many glasses you lost?
- I do not remember my mother.
- Son, why don't you go ahead with the surgery and save yourself all the trouble?
- When I finish my next mission I will do the surgery. I promise you my mother.
The mother bid farewell to her son with great emotions and compassion that she treasured inside her heart for her son. He, on the other hand, kissed her hand and departed in a hurry. My soul almost departed me as he exited. I wondered about the tenderness that I dreamt off. It has become reachable for me, but still I cannot reach it. All my rosy dreams have gone. My owner moved me from a cold shop to a warm house. However, its warmth cannot touch my cold aching heart.
Suddenly the door was knocked strongly. It was her son. He returned to take me with him saying to his mother: "The glasses." I almost fainted from happiness and for hearing these words. He carried me in a hurry giving his mother a glance of goodbye, a glance of piety and care with other secrets that were far from my knowledge.
At the entrance of the building, his friend Ibrahim was waiting. He initiated saying: "Two thousands ready."
After sometime, we reached a wild area where a group of people was waiting for us. We all moved forward with slowly and carefully towards a target that was strange for me. The place was quiet and lonely with an eccentric silence.
The men reached their anticipated destiny. It was an ancient olive tree, where green bags are hung inside, camouflaged by green leafs and branches of the same tree. The place was so serene. One can only hear birds' songs everywhere coupled with the murmurs of the running waters of a nearby canal. I - being amazed - suddenly heard my owner explaining to them the plan for penetrating the enemy outpost, showing to them the sides from where they will cross. I wondered who these men are.
As soon as my wondering ended, bombs targeted us from all sides. Suddenly a great explosion took me away to rest on top of the olive tree. I looked around and saw my owner swimming in his blood. I remembered the words of Hajj Abu Mohammad: "In the morning, the Israeli enemy was shelling the village." This was the enemy that targeted my owner and his companions. I heard Ibrahim asking them to spread and take shelter away from the bombardment.
After the shelling stopped, the companions of my owner came to carry his body. One of them collected his belongings that scattered all over the place. I thanked God because he looked up and brought me down from the tree and gave me with the rest of the belongings to his mother who as soon as she saw the blood on me (the glasses) she began crying for her son and murmured saying: "Now you can rest from your eyeglass forever my son."
I, on the other hand, was no longer a colorless and aimless eyeglass. I was stained with a sanguineous color and what became of me was a precious item of memories that I can be proud of for the rest of my life.