"TOMORROW is the Feast," which has been named as one of the ten most famous short stories in the Egypt and the Middle East, has been translated into Italian. Critic Maria Luisa Albano, a literature professor at Rome University, added my story to her book "Il Cavallo", which was shown at the prestigious Turin book fair. Professor Albano said that "Tomorrow is the Feast" highlighted the fact Egypt has creative writers, who deserve the highest ranks. Now I would like to tell you my story, which goes a little something like this: "Tomorrow is the feast... God. My brothers and I will go and play in the gardens. We will eat ice cream. We will play football, and take some pictures. We will ride the swings .. I will wear my new clothes. Have you seen my new clothes, which my father bought for me yesterday? They are great. Wait until I put them on. "I ran quickly to the wall closet. I grabbed a shirt and a pair of trousers. No, these are not mine. They belong to my brother, Omar. This is my sister Fatima's dress. Ah, here they are. These are my clothes. I will put them on now. "My mother came into the room and shouted at me: You have made a mess! Put everything back in its place! "I did as I was told. I jumped into my bed and I slept. I was dreaming of my new clothes. I was anxiously waiting for the morning. "In the morning, we prayed at the mosque. When we returned home, the door bell rang. My sister Fatima ran to the door. She opened it. Uncle Nasser, she joyfully cried. "Uncle Nasser stumbled because we all ran to hug him at the same time. He smiled at us and said: Take it easy kids. I will listen to you all. "No one talked. We ran back to the wall closet. We returned to him again. Each one of us were carrying the new clothes. "Uncle Nasser looked at the clothes with admiration and said: Beautiful. Put them on and let us go out together. "We cried with joy in one voice. Shall we ride the swings? Shall we take photos. Shall we do this? Shall we do that? "Yes, Yes, he said. We will do all that. Please hurry up and get dressed. "We raced back to our bedroom. We were in a race against time to put on our new clothes. "Meanwhile, my father, mother and uncle Nasser sat together. My father asked Uncle Nasser: Will you take the three children with you? Uncle Nasser answered him back with astonishment: Of course. I will take all of them. "We came back. We are ready to go out with you uncle Nasser. "But while we were ready to go, we heard my father saying: They are too many. They will get lost in the crowd. Then, he talked directly to my uncle: Take Fatima and Omar only. There is no need to take Ahmed with you. "My heart skipped a beat. Uncle Nasser told me to stay with my father and mother. "They will take you out and you will enjoy being with them more than going out with me," he said. "I saw uncle Nasser opening the door and taking Omar and Fatima with him. He told me that I was a polite boy because I did not cry or shout. It was painful to see the three of them go out and leave me behind. My father was indifferent to what had happened. But my mother, saw the sparkling tears in my eyes and took me into her arms. I began sobbing aloud. "My father said: stop it. We will take you out. Stop this noise. My mother kept soothing me. She was telling me: Do not cry my love. Do not cry. "Inside my chest, there was a burning question: "Why cangrown ups not appreciate young people's feelings and emotions?" Abdel-Fattah is an Egyptian writer for children [email protected]
