The Crisis
“A miles-long cloud of tangerine dust drifts shadows across slopes dotted with the tormented yearning of acacias. The very sky’s orange, the glaring sun a brilliant bronze.
Standing erect in a mufflerless cut-down Land Cruiser, gripping the windshield frame, Ghedi sweeps his arm in the signal to advance. His bare chest is coated with dust like bright rust. He wears goggles and camouflage pants and a Chinese tanker’s helmet with earflaps. He carries a shortened AK over his shoulder and wears boot...s taken from an Eritrean soldier after a skirmish thirty miles south.
From that border to the southern river, the Waleeli hold sway.
His men have cleared the mountains of anyone who opposes them, all but one village to the west, which had enough rifles to drive them off. The rest have fled to the camps. The few families left offer water and what little food they have. Ghedi accepts the water, but executes any man who accepts food. He executes any man who offers insult to a daughter, disrespects an elder, doesn’t pray five times a day, or is found drunk.MoreLess
Standing erect in a mufflerless cut-down Land Cruiser, gripping the windshield frame, Ghedi sweeps his arm in the signal to advance. His bare chest is coated with dust like bright rust. He wears goggles and camouflage pants and a Chinese tanker’s helmet with earflaps. He carries a shortened AK over his shoulder and wears boot...s taken from an Eritrean soldier after a skirmish thirty miles south.
From that border to the southern river, the Waleeli hold sway.
His men have cleared the mountains of anyone who opposes them, all but one village to the west, which had enough rifles to drive them off. The rest have fled to the camps. The few families left offer water and what little food they have. Ghedi accepts the water, but executes any man who accepts food. He executes any man who offers insult to a daughter, disrespects an elder, doesn’t pray five times a day, or is found drunk.MoreLess
Read book The Crisis for free
Write Review:
Guest
Read Also
8 / 10
10 / 10
User Reviews: