The Missing Houbara Bird
All of a sudden, our car went down the hill at top velocity. Mansour,
as always, wasn’t even worried since he was confident in his
grandfather’s driving skills. On the other hand, Rashid was afraid,
clinching on the seat like a cat’s nails on a scratching post.
Grandfather Hamdan wasn’t afraid either, a matter of fact he
shouted out,
“HOLD ON BOYS!”.
Both of the twins were holding on to their seat, and in no time,
everything was normal again. However, the car broke down on top
of a hill and near a low-budget farm.
“Well kids, I guess this is our campsite for now. Can’t do anything
with a broken engine. At least we have a river near us for water.”
Mansour then responded,
“Aw man, I wanted to do that again, after all this is our summer
vacation gramps.”
“I don’t care what you say I WILL NOT do this again!” exclaimed
Rashid in a shaky voice.
Long moment of silence came with the blowing wind. Finally,
Rashid broke the silence by pointing at the farm and asking,
“Grandpa what’s wrong with that farm? It looks like a whole bunch
of spiders are crawling in every corner.”
The three family members quietly stared at the farm with a freaky
look then minded their own business. Taking out the camping gear,
Grandpa Hamdan asked,
“Do you boys want to start the with the campfire since its turning
late?”
Both of them responded with a nod. Two hours passed, and
everything was set. As Mansour turned around to look for his water
bottle, he noticed a dark figure creeping out of the farm with a wide
head and a thin body. He then calls out for his grandfather and
Rashid, and they took out a flashlight but were too late. Few
minutes pass by, they forget about it over a camp song. Next
morning, everyone was asleep except for Mansour. As curious that
little bug is he went over to his grandfather’s tent and grabbed his
flashlight. Sneaking out of his tent, Mansour felt someone grab him
from the shoulder which made him hunch.
“Where are you going?” asked Rashid yawning.
“I think you already know what I’m going to check out, that
wrecked barn,” replied Mansour.
While wiping off the grass on both his shirt and pants Rashid
implied to disguise his fear,
“If I were you approaching that barn would be the last thing I’d do.”
Mansour picked up on his scheme seconds after.
“You know you can’t fool someone who has lived with you for
years to come. Everyone that knows you also knows you are the
biggest wuss to have come on this planet known as Earth.”
Rashid was denying it but deep down he knew he’s right.
“You’re tagging alone or are you not? Which one will it be come on
I’m not wasting time with you any longer,” spoke Mansour
arrogantly.
Mansour starts wandering off in the direction of the barn. As he
starts moving Rashid followed behind him, hunching his shoulders
in fear. Mansour rolled his eyes toward Rashid with a smile and a
hidden face. Confidently they both cross the short gap between the
two hills and arrive at the small deceased corn field. Crossing the
field, they started hearing a constant noise of grunting coming from
the barn. Rashid froze in fear with a shocking face that looks like he
has been struck by lightning. Standing right by the entrance of the
barn Rashid spoke with a stutter of shock,
“What if it’s a monster that we are facing in there?! Please can we
go back right this second!”.
“I don’t mind if YOU go back but I’m not. I very much do care
about my pride and if you really want to go back then do it. I’m not
going to be responsible of someone as weak and scared as you,”
replied Mansour with a slight anger in his voice. Rashid took a gulp
and continued on into the barn behind Mansour. As they continue
step by step, the noise grew and grew. It got dark fast and there was
the point where the flashlight works best. Looking around they
notice how bad the barn actually is than what they thought.
“Who would live in this trashed place. There aren’t even signs of
animals that live here. Just that annoying sound coming from deeper
within the barn,” said Mansour with disgust. Rashid as usual was
squealing with fear which led to Mansour shushing him. Soon after,
Rashid noticed footsteps near a bunch of dead wheat piles where
coincidentally is the same place where the sound is the loudest. In
between two large wheat piles they noticed the same person with the
shadowy figure from earlier. They gasped internally and
investigated thoroughly through the things around him.
“Yuck, all of this man’s belongings are covered with soil and dust.
Looks like he hasn’t been eating much either, poor guy, quite
literally,” whispered Mansour about the fella. Rashid agreed with a
two noted hum. The guy suddenly stopped his snoring and slowly
rose from his place waking up. The two stood in their place not
knowing what to do as the man looked around witnessing them.
“Crap, we’re doomed!” exclaimed Rashid.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOME?! LEAVE THIS
INSTANT NOW YOU NINCOMPOOPS!!” shouted out loud the
man. The grandpa felt the scream but continued on with his deep
slumber.
“Yeesh old man calm down we were just interested with this place.
Anyways you creeped me out last night staring at us,” calmly spoke
Mansour.
As the two were talking back and forth, Rashid interrupted both of
them and said in a quick manner,
“Maybe both of you should try to resolve what happened and be on
with our merry ways.”
At the same time, they both responded with a “Hmph”. They started
with the man’s problem, it was weird but understandable at the same
time.
“I’m living here until the day I get to reunite with my beloved bird
which I grew up with. I’ve missed her for the longest time and I
want to see her even if it’s the last thing I do. Her white wings and
black and white body made her beautiful and pop out of any birds. I
don’t care if anyone comes here to annoy me as long as they don’t
stop me from finding her. All I do is live off of the last of my crops
and the water from the river” began to explain in a sad way.
“Oh, and to stop this unnecessary question, my name is Mahmoud.”
Mahmoud has finished and Mansour started to speak.
“I don’t really have much of a problem I just came here to check
this broken place out. I’d help you find this bird you love so much if
you would help us with our car. If you have anything that could help
we’d appreciate it.”
Mahmoud got a bit mad for how he described the place, but he
didn’t say anything but agree on what they would do. Moments past
of Mahmoud looking for things to help out the car, the two kids
heard their grandfather call their name out. The two kids excused
themselves to leave and stop Hamdan’s worrying.
“Oh thank goodness you both are ok. I’ll ask later about where you
were but look at what I found! It’s a bird that we could catch and eat
before we look for a way to fix this car.”
The two boys asked where was this bird and the grandfather pointed
at the river where they both saw the bird with the same description
that the Mahmoud has given them. They rushed back to the barn to
address the intel to him. With joy and a great rush of joy the man
ran out of the barn to the bird. As they had their great reunion, the
kids saw the tools that could help out with the car and handed them
to their grandfather.
“I guess that bird isn’t just any type of bird huh?” chuckled
Hamdan.
“Yeah I guess it isn’t!” laughed the two kids as both Mahmoud and
the family went on with their life.