Coals

Her eyes stung from the smoke of the fire as if the smoke had engulfed her vision and she only had a few minutes of sight left. She calmly unbent her knees and weakly stood up and stretched. She had been kneeling for the past 15 minutes on her little mattress next to the fire in the communal tent, and was ready to move. She excused herself and walked on the cool sand of the tent, pushed away the heavy carpet door, and stepped out into the moonlight. The ripples in the sand glistened in the luminous moonlight that lit up the sky like the sun. She walked across the sand away from the tent, her eyes coming back to life. The cool desert air felt moist and fresh compared to the stuffy smokiness of the tent. She walked up the small rock cliff and stared out at the moonlight desert. The camp was situated in the conversion of the red desert, white desert, and the black desert. In the moonlight they swirled together in different shades as the towering rock cliffs loomed above. She took in every moment of her quiet minute in the desert. Her eyes took in the inspiring sights like a telescope sucks in light. A gust of wind signaled that time was up and she wrapped her scarf up tight around her face. The smell of the scarf was a mix of fire smoke, shisha, and cigarettes, and she wished she could wash it in perfume. She looked down at her clothes and saw the sand stains on her pants, the slight brown tint of her jacket, and she then felt her face and the smooth yet grittiness of the sand on her face. She walked over to the communal tent and glanced up and saw that the tourists had gone to bed and sighed. It was time for her to enter the eternal darkness of her dreams and she was ready. Her body was sore, knuckles sunburned, hair messy, clothes dirty, and her mind tired. She pushed open the door of the tent and walked inside. She made her way to her mattress that was piled with 5lb blankets and struggled to lift them up. Once she was snug in her covers her whole body relaxed. Ferris went out to turn the generator off and the soft buzzing in the desert was gone. Everything quiet. He came back into the tent as the moonlight burst though the door as he pushed it aside. She was quite scared the sleep in the desert because this was her first night being away from her mother in Wadi Rum. That anxiety drowned quickly in the sleepiness of her eyes and the darkness of the room. Sara, Ferris, and Ziad whipped their cigarettes out and searched for a hot coal. Then, Ferris prodded the coals and swished them around and they became alive. She imagined them like sleeping maggots in a vegetable, then some visitor comes and opens it up and they start moving and fighting. The coals laid on a bed of gray and the darkness of the room erupted with a quick glow of orange light. The light of the coals pulsated like drums and together they formed a band of beating light. She tried to comprehend this simple thing that was occurring, and she remembered her Christmas tree in North Carolina. They had gone to Lowe’s and picked up a fiber optic Christmas tree that throbbed with light just as the coals were doing right now. Her mind was wrapped in this simple yet magnificent moment. Ferris, Sara, and Ziad dipped their cigarettes into the sea of coals and lit up. In the air it looked like tiny orange balls of light that would occasional turn into a blaze and reveal a face. She rested her head on her pillow and was unexpectedly happy. She was calm, perfectly content. She wished that every night would be peaceful such as this one. Even if they did not, she would always remember this moment as an amazing simple night in her life. Thank you universe.