ترجمة قصة المنتقبة للأديب د. محمد محي الدين أبوبيه

 

شال امي الأخضر

بقلم: مهدي الجابري

ترجمها إلى الإنجليزية: عبد اللطيف غسري

 

يروح ويجيء بيننا متجاهلا كل من حوله مضطربا.

خلت  انه لا يرانا، غرته مبللة بالعرق جبينه يلمع تحت شمس الصحراء، يركض من حفرة على حفرة يركل الرمال بقدميه، يضع سبابته على صدغه وكأنه يحاول التذكر  كبير فريق حقوق الانسان يراقبه.. العسكر وفريق التنقيب توقفوا عن العمل وأخذوا يتابعون حركته البندولية التي لا تتوقف.

 

أحد المنقبين رفع يده بخرقة بالية وكأنها شال بهت لونه وتقطعت خيوطه.. انقض عليه كالصقر تلمس الخرقة نفض التراب عنها راح يبكي كطفل ويصرخ شال أمي

اقترب منه كبير فريق حقوق الانسان

هدئ من روعك..هل تعرفت على الموقع؟ هل المقابر كلها هنا؟

رفع اليه بكفه فاردا أصابعه الخمسة

ممتاز كل هذه الصحراء ونعثر على خمسة مقابر جماعية انجاز ... لكن كلمنا ماذا حدث؟

 

 جلس محتضنا الشال وراح يحكي بصوت خفيض ونظرات شاردة وكأنه يكلم نفسه.

 

كانت حرارة حديد العربات لا تحتمل، الشمس تحرق رؤوسنا وكانت أمي تمسح دموعها بطرف شالها الأخضر وتظللني بطرفه الآخر إختلط نضح عرقنا بالدموع ليرسم خطوطاً مع التراب على وجوهنا، سلاح الحمايات في صدورنا، سأل أحدهم: أين نحن ذاهبون؟ كانت الإجابة! أنتم عملاء  لدولة مجاورة عدوة ، لاكلام للخونة! لم أكن أعلم ماتعنيه كلمة الخونة.. ولا كلمة العملاء  ولا كلمة عدو

الأرتال تتجه إلى طريق صحراوي بعيد جدا، ولازلنا نرتطم ببعضنا البعض، وصلنا إلى بناء قديم في الصحراء أشبه ما يكون بسجن، أنزلونا والضربات بالعصي والهراوات تتلاعب على ظهورنا، بقينا على هذا الحال في المنفى، حتى زارنا مسؤول كبير قال: وكل هذه الاعداد من الخونة ولا زالوا يأكلون ويشربون من خيرات البلد؟!! نفذوا حكم إعدامهم جميعا.. أصعدونا بذات المركبات العسكرية إلى أبعد نقطة، كانت هناك حُفر كبيرة جاهزة، صاح أحدهم أرموا الخونة في قعر التراب وساووا بهم الأرض، قلبت العجلات أحواضها محملة بالبشر كما تقلب أكداس النفايات، تعالت الصرخات منا وأرعبت الموجودين، تقدمت الآليات الثقيلة لتساوي بهم أديم الأرض بالأحياء، أمي كان شغلها الشاغل انا أمسكتني من يدي ورمتني خارج الحفرة  تلقفني أحد الجنود خلت أنه سيعيدني إلى القبر لكنه على عجل ضمني إلى صدره  حتى خلت أن القلادة ستخترق جبهتي استغل انشغال الجميع  مسح دمعتي وطمرني بقليل من الأعشاب اليابسة كان مختلفا عنهم لم يضربنا طوال رحلة الموت وكان في  عنقه قلادة  تلمع تحت الشمس أنسحب الجميع، أخذت أصرخ وأرفس التراب بقدميّ و أخذتُ أبحث لعلي أصل إلى أمي ولكن دون جدوى، كأني للآن أسمع صراخهم، أخذني الخوف والتعب فوقعت مغشياً عليّ، حتى أيقظتني أشعة الشمس الحارقة، نهضتُ خائفاً اتلفت وأجول الصحراء ببصري لا ظل ولا ماء ولا طعام، حتى لاح من بعيد غبار  اخذ يقترب مني رويدا رويدا، تبينته وإذا بها سيارة قادمة غاب نظري تشوشت الرؤية وجف حلقي ورحت بسبات أسبح بالفضاء يظللني شال أمي الأخضر  أفقت في بيت السائق  على يد سيدة تسقيني الماء ..

قطع حديثه إذ رأى  الحفرة تتسع قفز فيها بين أكوام من العظام ... وأخذ يصرخ:  القلادة ... ذاك الجندي كان بينهم ..القلادة ...كان بينهم..

مهدي الجابري.. العراق

 

My Mother's Green Shawl

A short story by Mahdi Eljabri

Translated from Arabic by ABDELLATIF RHESRI

 

He went to and fro in front of us ignoring everybody around and being nervous. I thought he did not see us. His guard hair was wet with sweat and his brow glittered under the desert sun. He ran from a pitfall to another kicking the sand with his foot. He put his forefinger under his temple as if trying to remember something. The chief of the human rights team was watching him. The soldiers and the excavation team stopped their work and started following his pendulum-like movement that never ended.

One of the excavators raised his hand with a worn rag that looked like a shawl whose colour had faded and threads had been torn. He pounced on him like a hawk. He touched the rag and started dusting it off. He began crying and screaming; "My Mom's shawl".

The human rights team chief came closer to him.

:Calm down. Have you recognized the site? Are all the tombs alike here?

He raised his hand palm to him spreading his five fingers.

-Great! In all this desert we have managed to find five collective grave yards. That's quite an achievement. But tell us what happened?.

He sat down holding the rag tight and began to say in a low voice and stray looks as if talking to himself:

The heat of the carriages' iron was unbearable and the sun was scorching our heads. My mother was wiping her tears away with the edge of her green shawl and shading me with its other edge. Our beads of sweat mixed with our tears and drew lines with soil on our faces. The protectorate weapons were pointed to our chests. One of them asked; "Where are you going! You're agents of a neighbouring enemy state. No talk to traitors! I did not know the meaning of the word "traitors", or "agents" or "enemy".

Columns of military vehicles were heading towards a very far desert road. We were still bumping into each other. We finally arrived at a prison-like old building in the desert. They made us get down and beat our backs repeatedly with rods and sticks. We remained thus in the exile, until we were paid visit by a great official who exclaimed ; " All these agents and traitors are still eating and drinking from the bounties of the country!". Proceed with the execution of them all. We were then forced to get on the same military vehicles which headed for the farthest point. There were many craters ready. One of them shouted: "Throw the traitors into the bottom of the earth, and cover them with the soil". Then, the vehicles turned down their carriages full of human beings as if they were heaps of garbage. Our screams were released so loud that they terrified those present. The heavy vehicles proceeded with interring us alive. I was my mother's only concern. She held my hand and dragged me out of the crater. One of the soldiers grabbed me. I thought he was going to throw me back into the crater. But he quickly held me tight in his bosom until I thought the necklace would get thrusted into my forehead. He took advantage of everybody's preoccupation and wiped my tears, then covered me with some dry shrubs. He was different from them all. For he had not beaten us throughout the whole journey. He had on his neck a necklace that glittered under the sun. As everybody was withdrawing, I started to scream and shuffle the soil with my foot. I began to look for a way to reach my mother but in vain. As if I were now hearing their screaming. I got so frightened and exhausted that I fell unconscious until I was brought back to my senses by the sweltering rays of the sun. I got up scared, turning back and exploring the desert around me with my eyes. There was no shadow or water or food. Until there appeared from afar a dust that kept getting closer and closer. Then I saw a car coming. My sight got blurred and my throat dried. Then I fell asleep and saw myself drifting in space shaded by my mother's green shawl. I was woken up in the driver's house by a woman who was giving me a drink of water.

He cut short his speech when he saw the crater getting wider. He threw himself in it amid heaps of bones. Then he started screaming; "The necklace! That soldier was among them. The necklace! He was among them".