by Gulrukh Tausif

Created on: November 24, 2009   Last Updated: December 01, 2009

TEARING DOWN THE WALL

A football sailed over the boundary wall and landed with a thud on the driveway. It bounced a little and rolled over the green turf before coming to a halt near the big oak tree. A black tire was swinging from the tree branch where Ali spent most of his afternoons alone and silent.

A dull look crept in Ali's eyes as he recognized the ball. It belonged to his cousin, Fawad. Ali made no attempt to pick it up but continued straddling the tire with both his arms wrapped around the thick cord.

A memory, unbidden and unwelcome, intruded upon his solitude. "If I ever catch you playing with him, I'll throw you out of my house. Do you understand, boy?" Ali could hear his uncle shout as he shook Fawad's arm in a fit of uncontrollable temper. "You are never to talk to him again. Do you understand me?"

Little Ali, bewildered and afraid, could only stare at his uncle as the adults around him continued to rant and shout at each other. Sniffling and gulping back tears, he sought the eyes of his childhood friend and companion, Fawad, who was three years his senior. But Fawad stood there equally mute and sad as he watched his father quarrel with his uncle.

Ali had never seen his father so angry. At the age of eight, he had been too young to understand about "grandfather's will" and "property dispute" but Fawad was wise beyond his years. He had understood that his father and his uncle were fighting over a piece of vacant land that their grandfather had left in trust to Ali's father for his two grandsons. His own father, in a fit of pique and jealousy, had taken the matter to court. Each brother had vowed to destroy the other and both had severed all family ties.

When their grandfather had been alive, the two brothers had lived in adjacent duplex houses. They shared a huge lawn where birthdays were celebrated with balloons and buntings and the kids played tag. Their grandfather would sit on the white wrought iron chair and watch his two grandsons fondly. Sometimes he would make the two boys recite the verses from the Holy Quran and correct their errors. Sometimes he would tell them stories as the golden sun bathed their house with warmth and contentment.

But not any more. With each court hearing the bitterness had grown and Ali's father would come home tired and grim and filled with anger. Three years had passed but there seemed no end to this dispute. Now an ugly brick wall, grey and cemented, marred the beauty of the lawn, cutting off any communication

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