FICTION
Arabic Literature / Arabic Fiction
___________
My Father’s Warm Coat
— FLASH FICTION by
Careem Abdullah
___________
In a faraway village, the houses were small but filled with love. There lived a boy named Nadim. His laughter was like a bird’s trill and his eyes sparkled whenever he saw his father returning home from work.
Every night, Nadeem sat on the wall of the house, waiting. When he saw his father’s shadow approaching in the distance, so he ran to him, clung to his neck, and they laughed heartily, as if the world knew nothing of sadness.
But one day, his father came home late… a long time later.
Nadeem sat on the wall for a long while until a neighbor arrived, wearing a large brown coat that he knew well.
It was his father’s coat.
“Where is my father?” Nadeem asked. His gaze fixed on the man’s back.
But the man did not reply. He simply bent down, placed the coat in the boy’s small hands, and said softly, “This is with you, and it tells you: Don’t forget to always dress warmly…”
Nadeem didn’t understand.
But, he smelled the coat… it smelled as if his father had been there just a moment ago.
He took the coat and went back to his room. He hugged it like a pillow. And waited.
That night, Nadeem dreamed that his father had arrived, but this time he didn’t say anything. He only smiled and then disappeared into the clouds.
In the following days, Nadeem carried the coat everywhere he went.
Whenever someone asked him, “Where is your father?”
He simply placed his hand over his heart and said, “Here… with this coat.”
And at night, he whispered to the dust outside the house, “Please keep him… Don’t let him get cold.”
And, when Nadeem grew up he began telling his friends that some parents never leave, but hide in warm things; in memories; in the smell of coats, and in every unspoken word.
….
(Self-translation from ARABIC)
::::
Kareem Abdullah
Full name Karim Katea Abdullah Al-Akeili but he uses pen name as Karim Abdullah. And he lives in Iraq – Baghdad. As he has Diploma in Public Health, so he works as Psychological Rehabilitation Therapist. Also he is member of the General Union of Writers and Authors in Iraq.
Work:
Poetry:
So far he has published Diwan (Love in a Time of Exile) – 2013; Diwan (Love and Myth) – 2014; Diwan Nayat Al-Wajd (joint collection) – 2014; Diwan (Gray Pain and the Palm of a Virgin) – 2015 & 2018; Diwan (Baghdad in its New guise) – 2015 & 2018; Diwan (Pictures of You Bathing Naked behind Velvet Curtains) – 2016; Diwan (Streets menstruate, wiping the shoes of invasion) – 2016; Diwan (Lumbering Stares with Your Wet Pictures) in Arabic & Spanish – 2017. Furthermore, his complete works has also been published in two volumes in 2021. Moreover, Love about Darmten – 2021; Hamrat Schwarzkopf’s collection of poems – 2021. Also, the collection (The Orange Lily) is a joint collection with the Palestinian poet – Rahma Annab – 2021.
Plays:
Besides poetry, Abdullah has published plays: Diwan Sotiank Al-Ahmar – 2021; Karim Abdullah’s book and psychodrama – 2017; Psychodrama plays – 2019. And, he has written more than a dozen playwrights. Also, he filmed and directed dozens of plays and documentaries.
Novels:
In addition, his novels are: Betrayal in the Circles of the Mind – 2021; What Sisyphus Didn’t Say in His Crazy Memoirs – 2022. Presently, he has manuscript of 4 novels in his hand. The Fruits of Psychosis; The Last Jewish Shuhit; Al-Idbara; and The Journey of the Mad Traveler.
Kareem has also published many books of criticism.
Translations:
Also, he translated his poetic works into English, Spanish, French, Italian, Taiwanese, Portuguese, Greek, Bengali, Hindi, Persian, and Kurdish.
___________