By Saleh al Shaibany — The rustle of dry leaves as the wind swept them made me walk to the window to look down at the dark garden. The branches of the tree swayed side by side and they cast long shadows on the paved floor. I could not sleep. It was one of those nights when all you could manage was toss and turn. Since it was not fair to my better half, I crept out of the bedroom and made my way downstairs. Switching the TV on was not an attractive option so I decided to walk out to the garden. I turned the lock carefully so the clicking sound would not travel all the way up. I stepped out to the unknown entity of my own front yard.
The dark figure of the stray cat coiled like a furry, grey ball made me jump. The lizard on the wall lifted its head, its beady eyes reflecting the fluorescent light under the car shade. As I walked barefoot towards the plastic chair, the sounds of the crickets grew louder. The wind had died down a little and my unexpected presence under the tree caused a small commotion as a couple of bats ruffled the branches in a hurried flight.
As I was settling myself on that chair, I realised that I was invading the privacy of the night creatures. My sleeplessness was a bad excuse to them and I had no right to show up so rudely the way I did. However, I could not allow myself to feel guilty since the creatures of darkness were simply taking too much liberty of my garden. There was nothing else to do but listen to the crickets singing.
I was not allowed to enjoy the stillness of the night long. Silent mosquitoes, raining down on me like unseen little phantoms, threatened to suck me dry. I went inside to get my car keys. Suddenly, perhaps because of the nasty mosquito bites, I developed a huge thirst that only a fizzy drink can quench. I drove to the all-night shop at the nearby petrol station. I saw a couple of men who probably could not sleep like me.
They did not know each other because they arrived there in separate cars. The lone shopkeeper used the counter to pull himself up and it was not difficult to know that he was trying to catch up with his sleep before I turned up.
I normally avoid cold drinks but I welcomed that one. I was not in a great hurry to return home. The clock behind the shop’s counter showed it was close to three in the morning. It was irrelevant to me.
I actually enjoyed being out there. By the time I left the shop, one of the men had left. The other one decided to walk towards the beach. I was not brave enough to venture alone in the dark that far. I waited long enough to watch him disappear under the blanket of darkness.
It was then I started to miss my bed. The cat was still there but the lizard had gone.
The crickets were silent and the wind started to ruffle the leaves again. I slipped under the bedcovers and I would like to think my wife never really realised I was missing for nearly two hours. The mercy of sleep was almost immediate and the wife’s pottering woke me up well after the lights of the day had descended.
“You are sleeping too much these days,” she told me as I staggered to the bathroom.
I shook my head and she whipped out a single question, “What?”
I decided to keep the encounter of the night to myself.
— saleh_shaibany@yahoo.com
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
