Apeirogon

Bassam recalls a memory of Abir and her friends playing with an old wet tire in the street. They would roll it and try to get as close to it as possible as it wobbled over and splashed water onto those who stood too close. Bassam listens and notices that Abir is coming inside every so often to wash the dirty water out of her white dress.

At a checkpoint outside Anata, 30 or more people were with Bassam to help with a construction project. They mixed mortar and laid bricks, dug post holes, put up a wire fence, and dug an irrigation system. The next weekend, after the concrete and mortar had set, they finished the construction and hung a plaque for the new sanctuary: Abir’s Garden. The following weekend they performed a dedication. It was the only playground in Anata.

There is a digression on the riot control tactic of using SKUNK, colloquially called Shit, which is a sprayed liquid that smells of rancid meat, sewage, and decomposition. It stays with someone for three days and often causes vomiting from the malodors. Protestors have developed tactics to lessen the effect, such as rubbing strong vapors under their noses to mask the smell or taking tomato juice baths if they are sprayed.