WHEN DREAMS BURN...

Abstract

JANFA DID NOT GO OUT every night as his father did. On many nights his father slipped out while he was deep in sleep. He did not know whether it was to urinate or for some other reason. When he asked, his father said that elderly men emptied their bladders every night and sometimes more than once. “Why, Father?” ‘You will know the reason when you get to my age.” That ended the matter. But any day he was pressed, his father accompanied him— the invincible protector over his little boy. He started sharing his father’s bed from the time he could speak. They had many conversations and his father told him many stories. Many of the conversations and stories faded away as he grew up, but many things that happened stuck with him. One night when he was four, his bladder was full and they came out. The moon, a bright and perfect circle, lit up the ground, making the night look like day.