My uncle house

Summer vacation was finally come and I was so happy because the school homework and exams were finished. It was a time to go to my uncle’s summerhouse. I was only person in my family who loved to go there in and stay until the school will open. I packed up my staff and started to check them to be sure nothings were left behind, a fake golden necklace for Fatemeh (a girl), some kite glues for Hadi (my cousin, a boy), a pair of washing dishes glove for Habib (a boy) and some candy for others.
Next day I waked up early morning and took a shower and ready to go … this trip was my fourth trip to Temandar (small village in northeast of Iran near Russian border) and I couldn’t wait to see every body.
Five families lived in this small village; my uncle, Habib and Fatemeh’s family and three others. Hadi and Habib were my close friends and Fatimeh was elder sister of Habib and she was my privet friend.
My elder brother and me got in the bus and after one hour we arrived in the nearest station to the village and we walked for one more hour to get in the village. Flowers were grown up everywhere in our way and I was running all the way in the flat, vast and beautiful fields to the village.
It was near noon when we arrived to uncle’s house and we just saw Hadi’s mom and sisters. All men were working this time of day and we knew that they would come back for lunch any time soon.
Hadi was my good friend and by seeing him we hugged and we had a lot of things to talk. The summer was front of us and we had a lot of adventure to take care of. I gave him the glues that he asked me last year. He wanted it to make a kite. My uncle also came back for lunch. He was an old man and most friendly person I ever knew. He came and hugged me and told me that this summer I can have my own small land for farming … he promised me last year that if I come back next year he would do it for me and he didn’t forget it.
My small land was near the uncle’s apple garden and it was around 20 square meters. Directly the day after arrival day, I started to make my land look like a real farm. And after three hours working I almost was plowing a quarter of it. In the late evening, Hadi and I seated in the corner of the garden and looking to the road. We knew that Habib should come back from shepherding any moments. Habib finally showed up and we ran to him. All of us went to the house I wanted to give him the gloves. He needed them to make a stone shooter (a V shape wood with elastic rubber connected to each side and put the stone in the middle and pull it and shoot it). He was good to shoot with it even he could shoot a coin in 20 meters distance. Three of us talked several minutes and it was time to go to bed.
Next morning after I finished my breakfast, I went to the uncle’s house roof and from there I went to Habib’s family house roof to see Fatemeh. I promised to bring her a necklace. We had a privet-pack-fun-time between us. She usually gave me some money to buy a bottle of Pepsi. We were drinking it privately with some bread and cheese in the back yard. She told me that she mostly took the money from her father’s packet. But because she took a little amount each time, her father never found out. I was on her house roof and I saw her in the house. She was cleaning the windows and I hurled a small stone to the window and she saw me. After ten minutes we both met in the back yard and I gave her the necklace and she gave me bunch of coins. I think we could buy at least 20 bottles of Pepsi with them. She was taking and saving those coins whole winter. I went directly to buy our first Pepsi to celebrate new summer. Fatimeh was six years elder than me but I was completely comfortable with her more than any girls I knew in the city.
The summer days went fast and after a month I had the best small farm that have ever seen. I planted some tomato, red beans, paper, carrot and small branch of cherry.
One day when I was irrigating my farm, Hadi came to me to show a new trick that he just learned from his elder brother. He had a long fresh branch of plane-tree and he push a small beak side of branch inside an apple and took other side by hand. When he was whipping the branch like a fishing rod, the apple was flanged far away. We both were exited and we did it whole afternoon.
Habib always told us good stories about the shepherding. Hadi and I wanted to go with him at least once. We told my uncle hundred times but he never let us to do it. One day both of us decided to go privately. Habib usually left the house before sunrise and came back before sunset. In the summer time we were sleep on the roof and this time we brought our cloths and some paper, nylon string and glue. And in the early morning before sunrise we jumped from the roof to the street. We took the sheep in the wild area 20 kilometers north of village. We made a kite and played whole day. Habib taught us how to drink milk directly from the ewe’s nipple for breakfast and cook potato, eggs, tomato and pepper on the fire for lunch. We also swam in the river after lunch and that was really fun. On the way to go back home, Habib started to tell us some stories about the shepherds who were lost in the mountain and hunted by wolfs. Hadi was so scared and I was more scared from my uncle that we would meet in the one-hour.
Near the village, we heard people were calling our name and we found out we were in big trouble. When my uncle saw us, his face was changed from a hopeless person to angry one. He grounded us to work for him without resting whole next week. We worked whole the week so hard. I couldn’t even think about my garden anymore. Every night we went back home, we couldn’t even finish our dinner and we went directly to the bed.
Anyway, summer was finished much sooner that I expected and it was the time to go back home. For me leaving the uncle’s village was more difficult that leaving my family’s house. I had very nice time and good childhood there that I never will forget. My brother came to pick me up and in last moment the tears were in everybody’s eyes. I could keep it and start crying same as Hadi, my uncle and Habib. I looked on the roof, Fatemeh was hidden herself between some branch of tree. I moved my head slowly for her and she moved her hands for me. My brother and I were walking to the station. Everything was changed and none of the trees and farms were looked fun anymore. Probably they were crying too!
Written by Mohammad Hosseini