大象传媒

When I was nine years old, the War was still on in Malta where I was born.
In the end corner of our road, there was a big garage where some Arab soldiers were billeted.Ali was one of the Officers in command and he used to play the guitar and we the children who lived in Garden Street used to sit near him on the garage steps and he used to sing for us. Because the Arabic language is very similar to the Maltese we used to giggle with amusement .
Ali was the officer`s name .
One particular moonlit evening, he sang for us `Ana u il kamar girien` which means `m`e and the moon are neighbours` and he told us to sing with him and when he raises his hand we all say `We love you, Moon ` .

The air raids came back that night, I was sleeping at the edge of the bed with my mother, the reason was I was very lazy and slept deeply, so my mother soon as she would hear the siren she would wake me up. That particular night we woke up as the siren called out end of air raid.
thinking it was an air raid warning we went downstairs and as I opened the door, there was Ali`s corpse, he had been killed on our doorstep.Our door had marks of his hands with blood, it seems that he had hurried to our door for help, but was too late.
it was a great shock for us, my mother and I suffered from yellow jaundice because of the shock.
I often wonder if any of those children have grown up now and who knows they still remember Ali and his songs. Often when the moon is full on a clear night sky I recall Ali and sing to myself `We love you Moon you and me are neighbours.

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