Free Home Is Beyond the Mountains by Celia Lottridge Page A

nothing to come home to.
Some of the villages far from roads were not so damaged.”
    Now Samira thought of Ayna,
her village. No one ever drove there in a truck, and it was a long day’s
walk from the city. Was her house still standing? What would she and
Benyamin do if they got to Ayna and the roofs of the houses were caved in
and the walls were crumbling?
    The truck slowed down. The
sound of the motor changed, grinding and struggling. Samira leaned out to
see around the cab of the truck. The road ahead was very steep.
    The truck stopped and Samira
stood up.
    â€œIt’s time to walk,” she
said, and all the children jumped down and began to walk beside the road.
    It felt good not to be
bouncing on a hard bench, and at first they ran and skipped ahead of the
trucks. But then the mountain seemed to be holding them back. They began to
trudge up the steep slope, and the trucks slowly passed them.
    As the last one ground its
way past the panting children, Miss Watson waved to them from the window,
pointing up ahead.
    â€œWe’ll wait for you at the
top,” she called.
    Benyamin came and walked
beside Samira.
    â€œWe’re going east,” he said.
“But if we went north and just a little west and kept going we would come to
Ayna.”
    â€œBenyamin, don’t think about
it. We can’t do it.”
    â€œI know that even better
than you,” said Benyamin. “But don’t forget. We did walk all the way
once.”
    Samira’s eyes opened wide.
Benyamin was right. They had walked all the way from Ayna to Hamadan that
long time ago.
    Benyamin reached out to
touch her shoulder.
    â€œI can’t help thinking about
it,” he said. “But you don’t have to. We’ll be safe in Hamadan and we’ll see
what happens next.”
    When the children arrived,
panting, at the top of the pass, Miss Watson said, “Our documents have been
checked and we can go on to our camping place. Tomorrow will be downhill
almost all the way.”
    The next morning the
travelers woke very early. They ate bread and hard-boiled eggs and were on
their way as the sun rose.
    Samira ached all over from
the bouncing. Anna wouldn’t talk and Elias complained about having to sit
down as the truck rolled along. But before the sun was overhead they began
to pass houses along the road. They were almost there.
    Suddenly there was a shout
from the truck ahead. “We have arrived!”
    The trucks slowed down and
all the children stood up to get a look at their new home. They were
approaching a high wall made of mud bricks. There was a wide wooden gate in
the wall, and a man appeared and opened it to let the trucks bump into the
yard.
    Most of the children sat
down so they wouldn’t fall, but Samira kept a firm hand on Elias’s shoulder
to steady herself. She had a good view of the orphanage before the truck
lurched to a stop.
    She saw a group of low gray
buildings with small windows like little blind eyes. The earth around the
buildings was bare and trampled. The whole place looked lonely and empty of
spirit.
    The moment the trucks
stopped moving, the children jumped out, and suddenly the space was filled
with life. The older children stood and looked at the buildings that would
be their home, but the younger ones ran and jumped and called to each other.
    Miss Watson appeared with a
key in her hand and unlocked the door at the end of the nearest building.
She turned to Samira and Anna who were standing close by and said, “You can
go in if you like.”
    â€œWe might as well see the
worst,” said Anna.
    Elias came and took Samira’s
hand and they walked through the door. Before them was a hallway that
stretched to the end of the building, with open doors on either side. Elias
let go of Samira and ran the whole length of the hall. Then he ran into
every room, zigzagging back and forth. She followed slowly.
    There wasn’t much to see.
Every room was