The Accident

By: Fouad Merei
"Sami" kicked the ball to settle inside the net leaving "Asa'ad" unable to prevent the score. All children yelled together:
- Goooooole
The children were playing without a referee. Each one deemed himself a player and a referee at the same time. They were accustomed to playing on that piece of land during summer vacation. The audience was the passers-by and people who watched from their balconies while drinking tea or coffee. This was a traditional scene to which the people were accustomed in the villages of south Lebanon. Most of them arrived from the cities in order to spend their summer vacation.
However, the picture was about to change into an unusual event that took place on that day. One car of the passing-by patrol of the occupation army hit Samir as he tried to cross the road in order to bring the ball from the other side. Samir fell on the ground motionless. Within seconds, a huge crowd of people gathered at the place. On the other hand, the occupation patrol vehicle continued its route while its elements became alerted. One Israeli soldier looked out of the window of the jeep and started shouting at the people to stay away from the patrol's way. The occupation soldiers at that stage did not fear the citizens of the cities and villages, which they newly occupied all the way to the capital city of Beirut.
One civilian car arrived to the scene and transferred the boy with his uncle and other relatives to the hospital. The boy's father was not at home at the time of the event. When he was informed he went directly to the hospital.
A few hours later, the doctors announced that the boy was in coma due to brain hemorrhage, and that his condition required keeping him at the intensive care unit for an unknown period. The boy's parents were shocked for the news. He was their only son and they didn't have any other children. The family came from Canada to visit their mother homeland during summer vacation.
After three weeks of anxiety and distress, the boy was announced dead. His mother collapsed as soon as she heard the news. On the other hand, his father was in a state of shock. The boy's body was brought to his grandfather's home and was carried away in a procession to his final resting place at the town's graveyard.
The family received consolation and made the necessary arrangements to stay for "another week". Samir's father began receiving consoling telegrams from his friends in Canada and from the company's manager where he worked as an engineer. He became sleepier and would rise from his bed after everyone has slept. He would sit at the balcony, smoke cigarettes and sip coffee.
On the night before the weekly commemoration – at exactly 04:00 am (dawn) – he left his house with a gun in one hand and a medium sized bag in the other. He took the car, which he rented as soon as he arrived from Canada, and drove outside the town. After half an hour, he found himself right at the borders with Palestine. He parked his car inside a nearby orchard, climbed up the hill, hid between its rocks and thorns, and lied in wait for two hours until a bus appeared. The bus transported Israeli soldiers who were returning from service inside Lebanese territories.
Sami's father was very confident and certain because he remembered the time when he won several medals for sharpshooting. Moreover, his hobby as a young kid was hunting. And so, he aimed at the driver. As soon as the bus approached nearer and became in range, he fired his gun twice. As a result, he saw the bus divert from its usual route at a high speed, crash into rocks causing a deafening sound, and upturn several times to settle on its back.
The man rode his car calmly, switched the engine, played a cassette of the verses of the Quran, and drove returning to his town.
At his town, he sat with his wife and relatives to accept peoples' console for the death of his son. He was sure of himself more than ever and decided to contemplate on more plans for the future.