The Haj - Leon Uris [269]
... yes, Nada, I will escape ...
I will follow you ...
... the wadi leads back into the caves ...
... the sun is so bright ...
... I should have brought water and worn shoes ... but I had to follow Nada immediately, for fear she would disappear again ...
... I have come very far into the canyons... my feet are starting to bleed and burn ... I will rest ... damn these chains on my wrists ...
... Wait, there is Nada climbing up in the rocks ...
... ‘Nada! ... wait ... I will climb to you, my beloved sister ... oh, Nada, stop teasing me ...’
... climb ... climb ... get up there to her ... do not slip ... do not fear ... ‘Nada, take my hand and help me, my chains are so heavy ...’ Hot ... in the Prophet’s name it is so hot ... oh, Ishmael, you were foolish to come back here without water ... But I had to run or they would have taken me away to the fedayeen ...
... oh God, I think I followed the wrong canyon in ... I am lost ...
... There is Nada again ... she climbs like an ibex ... so graceful ... so lovely ... suddenly she sits on the edge of the ledge, taunting me and laughing ...
... ‘Nada, I am coming to you ... and from your ledge we can fly to the seven paradises ...’
... look how high I have climbed ... from here I can see the vastness of the desert ... the Dead Sea ... all the way across the river to Mount Nebo ...
... In Allah’s name, do I hear locusts? No, there is a thickness moving toward me, but they are not locusts ... they are ...
People ... yes, I see clearly, the desert is filling up with millions and millions of people! They see me! They are calling me.
‘Ishmael, save us!’
‘Go back, all of you, go back! Do not come any further into this wilderness! Go back! I command you!’
... Why don’t they listen! They keep coming, millions and millions ...
‘Ishmael, save us!’
‘Fools! Fools! Turn back. Turn back or the Day of the Burning will be upon us. In Allah’s name, turn back! This is Armageddon!’
... Oh my God, they do not listen ... they just keep coming ...
... I will speak to them again ... but the climb has made me tired and the chains have worn me out ...
... First I must rest ... I must lie down for just a little while ... my face feels too hot pressing on the rock ... I’d better stand ... I cannot get to my feet ... No, I think I will sleep for a while ... the sun is hot ...
... I am so tired ... so very tired ...
THE END
A Biography of Leon Uris
Leon Uris (1924–2003) was an author of fiction, nonfiction, and screenplays who wrote over a dozen books including numerous bestselling novels. His epic Exodus (1958) has been translated into over fifty languages. Uris’s work is notable for its focus on dramatic moments in contemporary history, including World War II and its aftermath, the birth of modern Israel, and the Cold War. Through the massive popularity of his novels and his skill as a storyteller, Uris has had enormous influence on popular understanding of twentieth-century history.
Leon Marcus Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of Jewish parents of recent Polish-Russian origin. As a child, Uris lived a transient and hardscrabble life. He attended schools in Baltimore, Virginia, and Philadelphia while his father worked as an unsuccessful storekeeper. Even though he was a below-average student, Uris excelled in history and was fascinated by literature; he made up his mind to be a writer at a young age.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Uris dropped out of high school to enlist in the Marine Corps. From 1942 to 1945 he served as a radio operator in the South Pacific, and after the war he settled down in San Francisco with his first wife, Betty. He began working for local papers and wrote fiction on the side. His first novel, Battle Cry, was published in 1953 and drew on his experience as a marine. When the book’s film rights were picked up, Uris moved to Hollywood to help with the screenplay, and he stayed to work on other film scripts, including