Illusive normality

She wanted to believe so badly, needed to hope so much, that briefly she believed and hoped


"Things are much better, places previously deserted have became accessible, relatives unseen for so long are now being visited, just come and see"

And they did, A went to see his mother, S went to see the house, and Aunt J went to see her brother


"Life has a normality to it, people getting on with their lives, what else can we do?"

We wanted to believe her so badly, needed to hope so much that briefly we did


And when we read about the occasional explosion we, like her played down the news, we all continued to pretend everything was going to be fine



"Gunmen killed three people and wounded five at a currency exchange shop in central Baghdad on Sunday, a police officer said.

The gunmen used silencers in the raid, which took place at midday (0900 GMT) in the al-Wahda neighbourhood, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity"


CORRECTION


THERE ARE NO LONGER FIVE WOUNDED, ALL BUT ONE ARE DEAD


The fifth is 27 and he is in a coma, his face swollen, bleeding, black and blue, he lies motionless in what used to be a prestigious hospital

The bleeding in his brain was stopped by surgeons who could do nothing about all the shrapnel still in his skull, surgeons who somehow manage to function without a working scanner



She wanted to believe so badly, needed to hope so much that briefly she believed and hoped, and with her so did we


Because when a family somehow survives the darkest years, survives the unpunished attempted kidnapping, survives the unavenged murder of a twenty year old with the wrong name, survives countless daily battles in this cursed lawless non-country with its cursed non-government, they need to believe, they need to hope, even if it is all an illusion

Everyone is praying for you M

But those in the know are already praying for your parents