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Miss
Moppy and the red rainbow
A look at what is left of the beauty of nature, through the eyes of a five year old.
We live a little way out in the
We live a little way out in the desert. As we drive towards the city, we can actually see a gray mass hanging over it. When we first moved out here, Moppy looked up at the sky at night and asked,
“Mum what are those balls doing up there? Did Allah put them there?”
“Yes, Allah s.w.t. put them there, but they’re not balls. They’re called stars.”
“Why did Allah put them there?”
“To make the sky look pretty and to help people find their way if they’re travelling.”
“Oh.”
She continued to look around the sky for some time. I watched her quietly. She hadn’t seen stars before because living under the smog of the city, their precious light just doesn’t always get through.
As the seasons change from winter to spring, there are usually dust storms. After you’ve been here for a while, you can smell them coming. Everyone buttons down the hatches. Houses usually have shutters at the windows to keep the dust out. But at this particular time my nose hadn’t yet become accustomed to their arrival.
At a time when we were still living in the city, we went out for the day and left the windows wide open, to let some ‘fresh air’ in. While we were out, the dust storm hit and as I was driving home all I could think about was that my windows were wide open! Wind came and simply scooped up piles of papers and plastic bags and swept them along the streets. It pushed people around and sent spirals of dust scattering around the tattered city. I tried to prepare myself for what the house would look like. No amount of preparation would ever be enough.
The building smelled of dust. Everything smelled of dust! I took a deep breath and opened the front door. Everything looked pretty much the same, except for a fine, but rather thick, layer of dust on every single thing in the house. I decided not to clean anything until the next day, to give the dust a chance to settle. Everywhere we walked left footprints on the floor. I tried to see the funny side of it, but well, it was a trifle difficult. We shook out the bedding and I prepared the children to sleep. Moppy went to the front window and looked at the sky that is one of her favorite things to do. As sunset approached the sky took on varying shades of color. She knew all about rainbows but they come after rain, don’t they?
“Mum! Is there such a thing as a dustbow?”
“I never heard of that sweetie.”
“Cause it’s not a rainbow cause it hasn’t been raining, right?”
“Nope, it hasn’t been raining,” I said, as I looked around the house.
“Come and look at it, I don’t know what to call it Mum.”
I went to the window and there sure enough, was a streak of bright red sky.
“Probably some kind of acid rain,” I shuddered.
“It looks really pretty doesn’t it mum?”
“Yeah, it looks pretty,” I said, not completely convinced.
“What kind of pollution is hanging down in that sky?” I thought to myself.
“What do you want to call it Mum?” she asked innocently.
“Why don’t we call it a red rainbow?”
“Yes, that sounds nice.”
She gave me a big hug. She was so pleased to have sorted that out.
I didn’t feel comfortable looking at the sky that night. Its redness looked frightening. A little bit of dust could upset a whole day. Nature is capable of so much more.
Moppy’s red rainbow wasn’t as innocent as she thought.
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