Dusk was falling and the last of the evening’s radiance showed itself in the soft glow of the orange sky. Afif looked across Grandma’s backyard and admired the open beauty of the tall trees and shrubs that spread yonder from the road at the back of Grandma’s house.
“May I take a short walk, Grandma?”
“It’s almost Maghrib, Afif, children aren’t encouraged to wander out of the house when dusk falls,”
“Oh Grandma, it’s still early. Please, Grandma?”
“Very well, but be quick, Afif, it will get dark even before you realise it,”
“I will Grandma,”
As Afif headed toward the back road, a gentle wind stroked his cheeks. Everything was pleasing to him here in Grandma’s home. He stopped at the dried-up drain separating the dead-end back road from the old forest. Afif thought the ground looked a lot like the faces of unshaven men he had met-coarse hair grew here and there unevenly, rough and unkempt. Unsightly weeds covered the earth, dried clumps of mud stuck to dead branches, and even the branches of the remaining trees were sparse and cracked. Afif felt suddenly aggrieved. He remembered how the backyard forest was once clothed with green shrubs and healthier looking plants, why, even the creeper was thriving on the tall trees.
“Afif! Hurry home now,” Grandma’s tired voice called out to him.
“I am coming Grandma!” Afif called out, but something suddenly caught his sight and brought a deep tremor in his stomach. He froze, transfixed to the ground. He stared into the bushes again. He heard the leaves rustle faintly, then a whimper. He blinked and squinted.
Afif whirled back and ran as fast as he could. Inside the house he went and got ready for his Maghrib prayers with Grandma. As they sat for dinner afterwards, Grandma found Afif to be unusually quiet.
“Are you all right, Afif? You are very quiet tonight,” Grandma asked, reaching out for his hand.
“Grandma…” Afif said softly, “I don’t know whether I was imagining this, but I think I actually saw a mouse deer in the forest just now, and I also heard a painful cry from it…” he continued, gazing unseeingly into his plate of rice.
“You are not imagining it, Afif. I have seen one or two in the last few months, coming out in the darkest of night out from the woods looking for food. It began when those developers from the city came here and began to clear up the forest,” Grandma spoke in a quavering voice, her eyes looked very sad. “They are building a hotel or something like that,”
“So I really did see the mouse deer then, Grandma. It must be looking for a place to hide from those men with the tractors…but Grandma, it is in pain,” it was Afif’s voice now that shook and he bit his lips. “Can I go and look for it, Grandma?”
“You cannot go now, Afif, it is already dark, in fact, the mouse deer must have fled by now, it must have been just as frightened of you as you were shocked by it,” Grandma said to him, drawing out a long breath.
“It is so cruel, Grandma, so unjust to rob the animals of their homes like that. Don’t these developers realise that they are killing these animals by depriving them of a place to live?” Afif said in choked voice.
“You can do something one day, Afif. You can help people to understand that all creations have a right to justice too,” Grandma smiled at Afif, squeezing his hand warmly.
-Written by M. Hanif Abdurrahim Ar-Rafai