159 4 Walls and bridges Every now and again, the current or the wind or the waves threw us back towards the coast of Turkey – or so we assumed, because when we were tossed about like that, we weren’t really sure which way was Turkey and which way was Greece – and little Hussein Ali, still collecting the water that was filling the dinghy, started whining. I know why we can’t get to Greece, he said. We can’t get to Greece because the sea goes uphill in that direction. Our point of reference was a lighthouse on the Greek coast. But after a while we stopped seeing it. The waves were so high they covered it, and at that point Hussein Ali started screaming, We’re only as big as a whale’s tooth. And the whales will eat us. And if they don’t eat us the crocodiles will, even though you say there aren’t any. We have to turn back, we have to turn back. life preservers – björgunarhringir to swerve – sveigja skyndilega a current – hafstraumur to assume – ganga út frá tossed about – hent til og frá to whine – væla a point of reference – viðmiðunarpunktur Fabio Geda (left) is an Italian novelist and journalist. His novel In the Sea There Are Crocodiles is based on Enaiatollah Akbari’s (right) retelling of his long and painful journey from Pakistan to Italy, a journey that took him six years.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjIxNzc=