In no time, summer reached its peak. Amani felt glad to be back in a climate he had missed so much. Oddly, most seemed not to understand his love for the heat. When it became too hot for them, many people moved life inside again, where they enjoyed their air-conditioned homes.
-“This seems to be a life full of contradictions,” he concluded after careful observation. “Very few things seems to be just perfect. There is always the need to look for something else.”
On day, in the middle of a hot and humid day, a storm came and surprised everyone. The sky got dark, the wind picked up, and the rumbling of thunder invaded the afternoon. In no time, the impact of the tempest was clear. The electric power went off and with it, everyone’s enthusiasm for life because nothing worked.
Amani was stunned to see that, while situations like this had been the norm of life for him for years, here it was a paralyzing disaster for most. Hee realized that all his skill of surviving with almost nothing would come in handy if this went on for long.
♋
Summer was almost over in not time. Once again, the landscapes started to change in ways he had never seen. In a few weeks, the colours of the trees became spectacular.
-“With this scenery, people here should be the happiest on earth,” he thought many times.
However, with the change in seasons, new preoccupations came to the surface. Preparing his son for school became an all-consuming task. Finding out what was required took some careful investigation, in part because in his experience back home there were not a lot of requests of those going to school except for a pencil, a notebook, and ideally a pair of shoes. This time, Amani had to talk to other parents, not only to find out what was required, but also to know where to get it. At the end, he had a long list of “must haves”. In some instances, he could not understand why kids would need such things.
♋
The first day of school was an event in itself. Fortunately, his home was close to the school, so on that first day he walked with his son. There was a procession of parents and children of all ages walking early in the morning. It was a pleasing experience to realize how peaceful and free everything was, and so different from back home, where there had been long walks on dusty roads to reach the one-room school.
Here the school was a fortress, and the children, with immense backpacks half their size, lined up like tiny soldiers.
-“What do they carry in those bags?” he asked himself. “Some are bigger than the bag in which I brought all my possessions,” he thought.
Reaching the school entrance, his son recognized some kids from the neighbourhood and, saying good-bye to Amani, he ran to meet them.
It was then that he realized he had never felt as happy as now. It was a sign that there was a future ahead.
