Home Is Beyond the Mountains (13 page)

But what Samira noticed most
was a photograph of a man with dark eyes and a dark beard.

As Miss Shedd sat down at
the desk she saw Samira looking at the picture.

“My father,” she said. “I
like to think he knows about my work.”

Samira nodded. Miss Shedd's
father must be gone, like Papa. His eyes in the picture looked sad and kind.

Miss Shedd was speaking to
everyone. She didn't sound angry.

“Please sit down,” she said.
“There's room for all of you on the rug.”

When they were all sitting
she went on. “Some of you have been in this orphanage for nearly two months.
We know each other and we've learned how to get along together. Those of you
who arrived yesterday don't know me yet and I don't know you. But I do know
that we cannot live here with any happiness if people fight or are unkind to
each other. Tell me what happened just now. You must have had a reason for
chasing that boy.”

She waited. The silence went
on and on until it seemed to be stealing air from the room.

Then the smaller boy who had
chased Malik spoke.

“It's that kid,” he said.
“Malik. He won't talk to us. He always runs off by himself. He never plays
ball with us. I think he hates us so we hate him.”

“But he doesn't harm you and
he always comes back.”

“Yes,” said the
boy.

“Then leave him alone. We
don't know why he runs but we'll never find out if people chase him. Or
worse. I want you two to forget Malik. Do you understand?”

Both boys nodded, but Miss
Shedd said, “I want to hear you say yes.”

“Yes,” they said. Samira
could see that they were ready to leave.

But Miss Shedd was not
finished.

“Good,” she said. “Now we
can get on to what's really important. We have three hundred children here.
The children who were in the Baqubah camp know each other well, but the rest
of you have come from several other camps. We all have to get along so we're
going to have rules that everybody knows about. I'm going to read you a few
rules that some of the children here have suggested.”

They listened. No fighting.
No hitting. No lying. No stealing. No calling people names. Be friendly to
strangers. Be responsible about work.

When Miss Shedd was finished,
Avram spoke up. “If you have rules, you have to have punishment. People who
break the rules should be punished.” He said it in a flat voice, as if he was
reciting something he had heard many times.

Miss Shedd looked away from
the children for a moment. Samira thought that she was looking at the
photograph of her father.

When her attention came back
to Avram she said, “I don't want to waste my time thinking about how to
punish thoughtless children. We all have more important things to do.” She
was silent for a moment and then added, “Of course, punishment is always
possible, but we won't discuss it now.”

Avram almost looked
disappointed.

Miss Shedd went on, “We will
have rules here and each one of you will have to find the discipline to abide
by them. That is your responsibility.”

She stood up and went to the
door and opened it.

The children filed past her
silently. They didn't speak until the door closed behind them.

Avram looked around
defiantly. “Is she always like that? Why can't she just punish us? It would
be easier.”

Samira felt a flare of anger.
“Easier for you,” she said. “You could get punished and then go off and
break any rule and get punished again. You don't want to be
responsible.”

Avram stared at her for a
moment. Then he turned from the group and stalked away.

For the next few days no
fights broke out. No names were called. But most of the newcomers kept to
their own groups. They walked to school together, played together, even
managed to sign up to do chores together.

Malik stayed apart from
everyone and walked alone at the back of the line. Samira looked for his
skinny figure there every day. He reminded her of the days she had spent
sitting on her sleeping mat in the Baqubah camp speaking to no one, thinking
there could be no friends in such a place.

“He doesn't see us,” she
said to Maryam one day. Malik had just hurried past without speaking. “We
are just a bunch of faces to him. Not separate people he might
like.”

“You people who were in the
Baqubah camp are lucky,” said Maryam. It was Sunday right after lunch, and
they had time to sit on a bench and talk. The air was cold but the sun was
warm on their faces.

“Lucky?” said Samira.

“You've been together for
such a long time. You really know each other. The rest of us have been in
many camps. Every time I got to know another girl she was moved out or I
was. I never had a good friend the way you have Anna. And the boys always
had to stand up for themselves among people they didn't know. None of us
learned to be very friendly.”

She frowned a little and
then looked at Samira.

“For me, this orphanage is
better than the camps. I know you now and I don't think they're going to
move us. But some of the others, they just hate being here and they don't
even want to try.”

A few days later Samira was
in her room counting dry beans into groups of ten. Miss Shuman said this
would help her with multiplication.

Suddenly she heard shouting
and running feet out in the hall. She went to the door and in the dim light
saw a boy holding a girl by her long braids with one hand and raising the
other to strike her in the face.

The girl was Shula, one of
the new members of Samira's class at school. The boy was Avram.

Shula was staring at Avram
with wide eyes, screaming, “Coward. Coward. Coward.”

Other girls were coming out
of their rooms and moving closer to the two, who seemed to freeze. Avram's
hand upraised. Shula's mouth open. But she stopped screaming.

Samira called to a little
girl standing near the door of the building.

“Run, Alma,” she said. “Run
and find Miss Shedd or a teacher.”

When Avram heard Samira say,
“Miss Shedd,” he let go of Shula's braids and turned to run out the
door.

“Stop!” Avram paused and
stared at Samira, who was astonished to realize that the loud command had
come from her mouth. Before she could speak again or he could move, Miss
Shedd was standing in the doorway.

“Tell me what is going on
here,” she said in a calm voice. She looked at Avram. “To begin with, what
are you doing in the girls' dormitory?”

Avram said nothing, but
Shula said fiercely, “He chased me in here. I came here for safety and he
followed me.”

Avram glared at her. “You
spoke evil of me. You insulted me.”

Miss Shedd glanced at all
the girls gathered in the hallway.

“Go back to your rooms,” she
said. “Nothing more is going to happen. Samira, you stay here.”

She waited until the girls
were gone. Samira knew that most of them would be standing with their ears
to their doors, hoping to hear what happened next.

Miss Shedd looked at all the
closed doors and smiled just a little. She knew, too.

“We will go to my office,”
she said. “Samira, you can come and tell me what happened.”

Shula folded her arms tight
across her body and walked near Miss Shedd. Avram strode a bit ahead, trying
to look as if he had nothing to do with the others.

Miss Shedd shut the door of
her office firmly and sat behind her desk. She did not invite the children to
sit down.

“Samira,” she said, “what do
you know about this?”

Samira had only a little to
tell, and she ended by saying, “Shula was screaming, ‘Coward.' It made Avram
very angry.”

Miss Shedd looked at Shula.
“Why did you call Avram a coward?”

“He's my cousin,” said
Shula. “When they shut down the Mosul camp my brother went with the men to
go back to their villages. Avram was afraid to go with them. Now he acts
tough with the little boys but I know that he is not brave. He is…” She
broke off as Miss Shedd shook her head.

“How old are you?” she asked
Avram.

“Fourteen.”

“How old is Shula's
brother?”

“Sixteen.”

“Shula, how old are
you?”

“Fourteen.”

“Did you think of defying
the rule that said children under sixteen must go to an orphanage to be
cared for? Did you think of trying to reach your home with a group of people
you did not know? You are as old as Avram.”

“But I'm a girl. I couldn't
do that.”

“I see. For a girl there is
a reason to follow rules. For a boy, no reason. Shula, your brother had to
do what he did or he would have been forced into the army. It is wrong to
compare Avram to your brother. And it is wrong to call anyone by a hurtful
word. We do not allow that here. I hope you understand because it will never
be allowed.”

Shula said, “Yes, Miss
Shedd.”

Then Miss Shedd fixed Avram
with her bright eyes.

“Shula was wrong. But you
were wrong, too. Shula is the same age as you. She can make you angry. But
could she defeat you in a fight?”

Avram stared at the floor.
After a moment he shook his head.

“You are the stronger one
and you can hold on to her and hit her. That's not even a fair fight. It's
beating up on a smaller person. Avram, I said that hurtful words are not
allowed. Hitting, punching and fighting are not allowed, either. Do you
understand?”

Avram nodded and then he
said, “Yes, Miss Shedd.”

“That's good.”

Miss Shedd said nothing more
for several moments. Samira knew that Shula and Avram were waiting for her
to tell them what punishment they would receive. But Miss Shedd looked as if
she was thinking about something far away.

Finally she
spoke.

“Shula, I suspect that
you're worried about your brother. He set off on a dangerous journey and
until you get back to your village you will hear no news of him.”

Shula stared at her. “How
could I go to my village? My brother went with men who know the mountains.
He had a chance. I'm stuck in an orphanage with no one to help me make the
journey. I'll never get there.”

Miss Shedd looked from Shula
to Avram and then to Samira.

“You're wrong about that.
For one thing there are people here who can help you. For another you can do
many things for yourself. Samira's brother pointed out to me some time ago
that all of you walked to Hamadan when you had to flee from your homes. I've
been thinking about that. I am sure that all of you could walk back. But it
will take planning and organizing.”

Samira felt almost dizzy.
Ever since the day she had found the umbar, she had been waiting for Miss
Shedd to say something about making the journey back to the villages. Now
she wasn't sure whether she was afraid or full of hope.

Miss Shedd got up and came
around her desk to stand in front of the children.

“Are you interested in going
home, Shula? Are you, Avram? And Samira?”

Samira decided she was more
hopeful than afraid and answered, “Yes.”

Avram nodded but looked
unconvinced.

Shula said, “Of course,
but…”

Miss Shedd shook her head.
“We'll have time later to talk about any problems you can think of. Right
now, Shula, I have a job for you. I want you to make a list of all the
things we will need to take with us on a long walking journey. Not food, but
other supplies. Ask other people what they think. I want the list next
week.”

She turned to Avram.
“There's a job for you, too. We'll be walking for several weeks and camping
at night. We'll have a cook and a few other adults with us. I need to know
what jobs you children can do to make this journey possible. Think about it,
Avram. Ask your friends what they are prepared to do and make a list of all
the jobs.”

She went back and sat down
behind her desk. “I'll see you here in one week, with your
lists.”

Samira waited until the
other two were gone, her heart jumping in her chest. She had to ask.

“Do you mean it, Miss Shedd?
Can we walk back to our homes?”

“What Benyamin said is true.
You older children already made that walk so you know you can do it. But you
don't want a journey like that one, again, do you?”

“No,” said Samira in a low
voice. “My sister and my mother — ”