{"id":330,"date":"2007-11-16T14:51:58","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T14:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/nucleus-import\/?p=330"},"modified":"2007-11-16T14:51:58","modified_gmt":"2007-11-16T14:51:58","slug":"in-the-mist-ezzat-goushegir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/in-the-mist-ezzat-goushegir\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Mist—Ezzat Goushegir"},"content":{"rendered":"
null<\/div>\n

\nIn the Mist<\/b>
\nA play in three episodes
\nBy: Ezzat Goushegir
\n…<\/p>\n

MY ROOM IS EMPTY\u2026THE MAIL BOX IS EMPTY\u2026
\n NOBODY KNOCKS ON THE DOOR\u2026THE PHONE <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Episode 1 <\/b><\/p>\n

\n Loneliness <\/p>\n

\nCharacters:<\/p>\n

Woman<\/p>\n

A voice <\/p>\n

\n Mirror\u2026Mirror\u2026I don\u2019t want to ask you who is the fairest in the world\u2026No one is the fairest in the world\u2026Mirror, tell me what JONAH did inside the whale? Tell me\u2026 <\/p>\n

MY ROOM IS EMPTY\u2026THE MAIL BOX IS EMPTY\u2026<\/p>\n

NOBODY KNOCKS ON THE DOOR\u2026THE PHONE <\/p>\n

NEVER RINGS\u2026 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m ready to go to work\u2026It\u2019s still down\u2026I\u2019m in the street\u2026The river froze motionless\u2026There is not a soul in the street\u2026Not even a car passes by\u2026Not even a bicycle\u2026Even the sparrows don\u2019t fly\u2026It\u2019s only my feet that move on the pavement silently\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -Hello\u2026Good morning\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nMy voice stops motionless. There is no wave that can transfer it far away.<\/p>\n

I go upstairs\u2026I open the door\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -Hello Good morning\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nThere is no answer. The glassy eyes don\u2019t turn in the eye sockets. The colorless eyes don\u2019t convey any meaning\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nI\u2019m standing behind the table, holding a knife in my hand. I must split open the watermelon\u2019s belly\u2026must slice open the tomatoes\u2019 stomach\u2026must cut the lettuce into pieces\u2026must arrange the strawberries on the plates\u2026I must work very fast\u2026only a voice cracks the glassy air\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -WORK FAST\u2026FAST\u2026FASTER\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nI split open the watermelon\u2019s belly\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -Hello\u2026Good morning\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nLittle black seeds jump out from the red shallow skin\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -Good morning seeds\u2026colors\u2026blacks\u2026reds\u2026greens\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nOne thousands voices answer me\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -HELLO\u2026BOOG MORNING\u2026<\/p>\n

-Tell me black seeds\u2026What JONAH did inside the watermelon? <\/p>\n

No\u2026don\u2019t splash water on me\u2026not on my eyes\u2026not on my skin\u2026not on my<\/p>\n

clothes\u2026don\u2019t\u2026don\u2019t\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nYou are laughing cheerfully at me! <\/p>\n

-WORK FAST\u2026FAST\u2026FASTER\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nI\u2019m standing behind the table\u2026holding a knife in my hand\u2026I slice open tomatoes\u2019 stomach\u2026Their blood paints my hands\u2026Their little seeds play hide and seek in the narrow streets of my fingers\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n-Good morning SARA\u2026HAGAR\u2026MUHAMMAD\u2026ISMAIL\u2026<\/p>\n

-GOOD MORNING\u2026<\/p>\n

-Would you like to play a game with me? O.K\u2026Are you ready? One\u2026two\u2026three\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nWhere are you? Where are you SARA? Where are you HAGAR? Where are you MUHAMMAD? There you are! Ollie, Ollie, ocean free \u2026 Where is SMAIL? <\/p>\n

\nISSSSMMMMAIIIIL\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026WHERE AAAARE YOUUUU?<\/p>\n

What happened children? <\/p>\n

\nSuddenly the narrow streets are empty\u2026All the children hide under my nails\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -ISSSSMMMMAIL\u2026Where Are You?<\/p>\n

ISSSSMMMMAIL\u2026 <\/p>\n

\nTwo soldiers are coming\u2026They are playing soccer\u2026with\u2026ISMAIL\u2019S head\u2026His head is smashed\u2026bloody\u2026ISMAIL\u2026ISMAIL\u2026My son\u2026My dear son\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -WORK FAST\u2026FAST\u2026FASTER\u2026! <\/p>\n

\nI\u2019m standing behind the table again\u2026holding the knife in my hand\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -IT\u2019S TIME TO CUT THE MUSHROOMS!<\/p>\n

-No\u2026I don\u2019t want to touch the mushrooms\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -I SAID CUT THE MUSHROOMS\u2026YOU HAVE TO\u2026<\/p>\n

-No\u2026I don\u2019t want to touch the mushrooms\u2026I don\u2019t want to mushrooms\u2026<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to touch the mushrooms\u2026 <\/p>\n

A mushroom grows in my mother\u2019s chest\u2026Mother, mother, I know you suffer from the pain\u2026I know it! <\/p>\n

I root the mushroom out of her chest\u2026I throw it on the ground\u2026crush it\u2026crush it\u2026I crush it under my feet\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n Suddenly, thousands of cockroaches crawl out from the heart of the mushroom\u2026They are creeping towards my feet\u2026climbing up my body, entering my mouth, my eyes, my ears, my hair\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -Go away, go away, I need my eyes, I need my ears, I need my mouth, I need my tongue\u2026my tongue to scream\u2026.. <\/p>\n

******************************* <\/p>\n

The sun is setting in the west\u2026<\/p>\n

I say goodbye! <\/p>\n

There is no answer\u2026The glassy eyes never turn in the eye sockets. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m coming down the stairs. The sun is pale\u2026No trees shovel their hair in the wind\u2026the river doesn\u2019t flow. There is not a soul in the streets, not even a car passes by. Nor a bicycle\u2026not even the sound of feet shuffling on the pavement\u2026my footprints are still on the ground from dawn\u2026all the windows are shut\u2026there are no lights in the houses\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n -open your windows\u2026someone must talk to me\u2026I want to talk to you\u2026Something must happen\u2026A color must be scattered on the gray walls\u2026Somebody must break the icy air\u2026somebody must cry out: <\/p>\n

\n -HELLO\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Perhaps the glass of the windows would shatter, and suddenly heads would sprout out of the holes and\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

THE WORLD IS FULL NEWS! <\/p>\n

\n ***************************************** <\/p>\n

\nI\u2019m in my room. My room is empty\u2026 the mailbox is empty\u2026Nobody knocks on the doors\u2026Nobody calls\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n ***************************************** <\/p>\n

\nMirror, Mirror\u2026I don\u2019t want to ask you what JONAH did inside the whale\u2026I want to tell you: YOU ARE THE FAIREST IN THE WORLD. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Mist A play in three episodes By: Ezzat Goushegir … MY ROOM IS EMPTY\u2026THE MAIL BOX IS EMPTY\u2026 NOBODY KNOCKS ON THE DOOR\u2026THE PHONE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":546,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/546"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}