Leaving the Small Town Page #3

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was a mirage.

Suddenly they saw

water in the middle

of the desert.

One soldier walked

towards the water, and..

- Son! Forget about other

people's troubles

and let's worry about us.

I'm still grieving for

my poor son's death.

That's right.

But there is

nothing we can do about it.

He was always reckless and

he never liked working.

He insisted on going away

and we couldn't stop him.

And he loved you a lot, Saffet.

- What kind of love was it?

It was my mother who

brought me up. What did he do?

He wasn't here

when we were in trouble.

He visited us once

or twice a year.

- Am I right?

- And you take after him.

You want to go, too.

You've turned out to

be a rebellious lad.

You still haven't got

a proper job.

I can't understand

why you resigned

from the registry office?

- I changed jobs.

I was condemned to work

all my life. It was too much.

- I know the registrar.

He's a fine man.

Yes, he is really

an easy going man.

If you can't get along with

him, there's no one you could.

He said you're here for the sake

of your grandfather

otherwise I would have

flown away.

I told him he overestimated..

my abilities to fly.

- And what did he say?

- "Take the mister away. "

We arranged all possible

jobs for you in the town.

Either you were fired

or you quit.

You went into the army but it

didn't make a man of you.

What else can we do?

What do you want?

I want to tell you this.

Yes. Maybe I am a looser.

You are fed up with me

being discontented.

I think I've got no

talent for anything.

My youth is being wasted

like a useless cigarette end.

I've got no home,

no friends, no job.

I wasted my best years

stuck in this town.

My manhood and my heart are

melting away before my eyes.

Let me add this, too.

I thought of nothing but

leaving this town before military service.

On that particular morning..

I felt there were deeper ties

binding me to this town.

There was the scent of

pines in the air.

That day I felt

I saw the pines

and the oaks for the first time.

So early in the morning,

there are usually..

only stray dogs out in the

streets, wandering aimlessly.

I love these quiet mornings,

the dogs, the smell of the soil.

I don't understand the

people's petty concerns.

I find them alien and

offensive.

Now tell me.

What's wrong with wanting

to go to some place where..

something serious is going on?

Mother do you remember

when I was at highschool we were

living in that damp basement?

One night he suddenly came.

We were very poor, then.

We were eating the

provisions from the village.

We used to secretly collect

pieces of soap.

We were eating porridge when

there was a knock at the door.

It was him.

- Is there any corn left, grandma?

Well dressed as usual.

He came inside..

and saw the porridge

on the crooked table.

Turning up his nose he said..

- Son, stop

"What's that? Are you

eating wheat porridge?"

Emin! Stop it!

Whatever.

He was an interesting man.

He lived and died.

without ever getting tired,

carrying any burden.

- You have contributed,

and look what happened?

You had a channel built and now

the villagers talk about you.

- I don't care what the

villagers say.

Whenever I go

past that

channel I feel very proud.

Didn't your field happen to be

at the end of the channel?

Wasn't your goal to bring

water to your field?

Didn't it make all

the valley get greener?

A channel with no water.

- Even so, it doesn't matter.

Even this small sapling has...

wonders of nature

hidden in it. Look at

these branches.

A new branch every year. This

one is short because it rained less.

So what?

Nature holds the answer

to all our questions.

You have to feel yourself

as part of the whole.

Your father

abandoned this place.

Let's get

somethings straight.

Not everyone is lucky

enough to go to college.

Luck? You call this luck?

What else could have

my father done?

You feel strong.

But the reality is that you

have to live in the town.

There is nothing

but the trees.

Maybe he was right.

- Listen.

- When your father left...

- He was your brother.

You played together

in these meadows.

You have laughed

in the same streets.

But I haven't once heard you

say anything good about him.

People should have a little

compassion or tenderness.

How can you be so

distant and insensitive.?

But Saffet, what about..

Why I'm the only one

suffering for my father's faults?

Aren't you his

relatives, too?

Why am I the only one

suffering?

- Saffet, son..

- How can you shrug off...

responsibilty like

water off a duck's back?

Certainly not.

What makes you

think that?

Maybe I'm ignorant.

I don't know about Alexander...

But what use is knowledge

if you don't share it?

It's not enough

to read books.

Did you learn all that

for yourself alone?

Now this is absurd.

What do you know?

It's easy to talk

and hard to do anything.

I started with nothing.

I was determined to study

and I never gave up.

I went to school on

a donkey back all winter.

I know what I went through.

I worked in the fields.

Do you think it was easy?

Do you?

I worked hard on my own

and made it into university.

My back saw its first

coat at the university

I learned English by myself,

and went to America.

And how did I do all this?

While the others discussed..

football matches all night.

What was your father doing then?

Dressed in fancy clothes he was

running around after deputies.

Wasn't he?

Yes, maybe I live

a secluded life

and my best friends

are my books.

I don't believe

in people anymore.

Only in nature.

Your father thought

I had wasted my life.

He used to tell people

I didn't know how to live.

Isn't there any corns left?

- No.

Dad. Shall we go and

pick some corn?

Why do you stare at me like that?

- Nothing.

Stop crying, woman.

Now why did you bring

up the subject again?

Do you think

you are perfect?

Saffet, you've got the same

troubles as your father.

You still haven't

got a proper job.

Now your military service

is over, make up your mind.

Get married

and have kids.

You are the only person in our

village who has gone to college.

You went abroad, learnt

foreign languages.

but in the end you came

back and settled here.

Didn't you study to get

away from these fields?

I don't understand what all

that education was for.

One of us is under

the earth, and..

that's where we

are all destined for.

I have an absolute faith in

God, but we come and we go.

Where is my mother, father and

uncles? They have all gone.

We're all older now.

But why does God take away

an innocent child's life?

What sin could a two year

old child have committed?

Take Kezban's child,

for instance.

No one can know.

No one but God.

We shouldn't know

everything.

Just know what you need

that's enough.

What's the point

in knowing more?

God gave us two ears

instead of four.

Because you can hear

with two ears, too.

Yes woman, we've lost our

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