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George invited us to his house. I still could not believe he did that. I would have never done it myself. How could he trust us? His face, which we came to see after he decided not to kill us was the face of a student at twenty-four or five. His skin did not seem to be hardened enough for what he was doing with the other boys, but his eyes were toughened by the atrocities he must have seen, and his welcoming manner and smiling face could not conceal it.
The house had a stove, two worn sofas and two bamboo chairs of the traditional old-fashioned type. There was a kettle on the stove where his family gathered, his mother, father, and two sisters.
I was hoping they would invite us to drink whatever there was in the kettle. We all sat around the stove, and I felt as if there was ice thawing in my bones and I could tell Pam felt the same way as she was almost hugging the burning stove. After we drank tea, George's mother made us breakfast. I couldn't recall any more delicious cheese; the fried eggs were out of this world. I didn't mind their looking at me eating nonstop. Pam was not a lot more courteous than I was. We were both starving.
We finished our breakfast and tea, and this time it was George's father's turn to ask us.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here? George told me how he found you. You are lucky to be alive. These boys could have shot you."
I looked at the man's eyes. He seemed to be trustworthy, but I knew what kept us alive so far was not the amount of trust we placed in the people around us.
"First, let me thank you for having us here and for the wonderful breakfast. I suppose I should thank George as well for not killing us and for bringing us here to get to know good people like you. All I can tell you about who we are is that we were wronged in this life as you were. You do not deserve to live your lives hiding as much as we do not deserve to live our lives running, but that's the way it is, and I can see you have decided to be strong, to stand up and fight, as we have. We cannot go back to Lebanon. People there think we did something terrible which I swear by the bread we shared with you we did not. I cannot ask you to believe us, but we want you to know we will always be in your debt for the kindness you showed us here."
"My son. You owe us nothing. You are welcome here, and nobody will ask you any more questions. It is a shame you have come to us in such terrible times. This village used to be full of life and people like you coming here to have a great time, but now all life deserted this village and this country. We don't have a lot to offer, but consider our home yours, too." I could not stop myself from holding the man's head and kissing it, I kept thanking him and Pam did until these good people were ready to shoot us this time just to shut us up.
I asked George's father if we could stay for a couple of days just to shake off the exhaustion of the road. Pam and I felt safe for the first time since the accident. We gathered at all meals and shared them with those good people who amazed me by talking about happy things all the time. I felt we were hopeless preys running away for the past two weeks and I almost lost hope and belief in everything, but these people had been trapped and hunted in their own homes for nearly three years, and they still had the guts to laugh and kick life in the face. For a moment, Pam and I thought this might be a place we could stay in for the rest of our lives.
They gave us food and clothes before we were on our way to Tartous, one of the few places on the Syrian coast which was still not plagued by civil war.
"I hope our roads cross again, and if that happens, I will tell you everything about us."
"Go in peace my son and don't be afraid of anything as long as God is on your side."
We said our goodbyes and got in the only taxi in the village going to Tartous.
"Did you give her the money?" I asked Pam
"She gave me hell before she took it."
"At least she did. I am sure George's father would never take it."
The journey took about an hour, and we were both so happy looking at the beautiful nature outside and above all because we were not on foot. The short ride made us forget even for a little we were still fugitives.