The next day when I encountered 'gorgon' , instinctively and out of need and hunger I looked at his hands to see if he had some piece of sugar or not . Gorgon , when he noticed my beggar eyes , realized what I was expecting ,and laughing sarcastically said to me :"another piece of sugar? Ok , lets see " , and the he picked a piece of sugar from his pocket and showed it to me and addressing to his followers and admirers said :" come on kids ! you will see how this 'baby' will eat with appetit and delectation this piece of sugar!" and we all followed him till we reached the end of the garden where few fig trees despoiled of all their fruits and leaves were there and on their foot there was some excrements . Gorgon , inserted a corner of that piece of sugar into that excrement and gave it to me . Gorgon and all his admirers looked with astonishment awaiting my reaction as if they wanted to know how their experiment would work , to see if I would eat that spoiled sugar or not .Although the smell of the excrement was disgusting and made me sick but I felt that all my fragil 'existence' needed that piece of sugar , also the childhood ignorance helped that situation and I put that sugar in my mouth and chewed it . Gorgon and his followers were cheered up of the positive result of the experiment and the whole 'assembly' expressed loudly and sarcastically :"wow ! what a wonderful kid!" .
It seems that in this world , for some people , the fulfillment of their crasy fantasy and diabolic tendencies was considerated a great achievement and procured for them an extreme happiness...
This 'program' of my sugar-eating with the conditions I described was repeated many times , but 'gorgon' after a while found it boring and was thinking to create some more exciting distractions. Someday when all his followers had digged a 'grave-like' hole to play their macabre game , suddenly 'gorgon' noticed my presence while I was watching them, approched me and proposed to me to lie down at the bottom of that hole . I was so afraid of the outcome of such a 'game' that I tried to go away from that hole , and before taking some other steps back , 'gorgon' excited by my refusal , took me with a fast move in his hands and tried to put me in the hole . I began to cry so loudly and struggling like a tiny helpless sparrow in the hands of a wild animal , which combined with all the laughing and amusement of the 'assembly', created such a tumultuous 'show' that attracted the attention and the curiosity of the people in the neighborhood garden . While my hands were tied strongly around 'gorgon' 's neck and struggling with him to avoid lying down in the hole , and his friends joined us to help him to put me at any cost in the hole , suddenly we heard a loud and threatening voice from the up of the western wall of the garden . This voice broke the current of the things and suspended the trend of that macabre game . Gorgon put me on the ground and left me alone and in a sort of surprise, accompanied by his admirers, moved in the direction of the place where the voice was heard . I could breathe easily and felt some comfort
Gorgon , with the attitude and gesture of the chief of a gang of thieves , followed by his admirers who imitating the same bold attitude and gesture , approched the wall above which a young boy of 15 or 16 , hanged on a branch of some fruit tree was seen . Gorgon , the hands at his waist along with his gang were looking at him with a sort of anger and mockery , then with his harsh and angry voice , addressed to the young boy said :" who are you and what are you doing here on the wall of the people, putting your nose into others business ?". The young boy who was a very good looking person with wide shoulders replied :"I have nothing to do with your business , but it doesn't seem good to mistreat and abuse a helpless and orphan kid !" . Gogon said boldly : " are you the owner of the kid or his tutor ? mind your own business and get lost !" . After expressing these words he took a broken branch of tree and threw it toward his opponent . In a wink the young boy or in another word my 'protector' lowered his head and the rough branch of tree passed behind , missing his head as target . The rudeness and the insolence of 'gorgon' , beside his gross and harsh physical shape were so impressive that none of the boys of his age dared confronting him in some struggle or fight . After the 'scene' which was occured , all the boys of the gang supposed with a sort of self-assurance that the boy of the neighborhood garden would never dare to show again himself and to confront 'gorgon' . But against all expectation my 'protector' , jumped in a wink into our garden and showed himself ready for a fight . Gorgon , surprised by such a boldness became so angry that he began to hit the boy's face and body with multiples punches, but my 'protector' replied all of the punches with such strong and effective fist fight techniques that 'gorgon' fell on the ground keeping his face in his hands . The blood was droped through his fingers from his face which was injured during the fight .
I thought that the friends of 'gorgon' after seeing such a humiliation inflicted to their 'chief' would react by continuing the fight , to take revenge and to defend the 'reputation' and 'fame' of their 'boss' , but none dared such an initiative , instead they began looking with envy and admiration to the young brave boy who seemed to them like a sort of new 'hero' . An awesome silence reigned for few minutes all around , then the young boy in a fast move with his hands scared all of them and they were scattered far from him and me . My 'protector' looked kindly at me and taking gently my little hands told me : " since then if someone intended mistreating or abusing you , just inform me " , he said that and disappeared ...
7
Gorgon , after his spectacular failure in front of all his 'admirers' , hid himself for few days . Then I felt some ease for some time .
One of those days , in a afternoon , sitting on the stairs , I was so hungry that I began dreaming about all the declicious meals which were imaginable for an abondoned kid who had never experienced the warmth of the family home , or the delight of the abundance of food on table ... Suddenly I heard a voice calling my name . I payed attention to the direction where the voice was heard and I noticed the presence of that brave boy above the wall of our garden, the one who could confront 'gorgon' . Joyfully I moved toward that direction . My 'protector' , after greeting me and asking how I was doing threw a big red apple on the ground before my feet and said :"take it and eat it" . I felt that I was in a good dream and I couldn't believe it , I took the red big apple and looked at it with astonishment as if it was not real . At this time , some eight kids after seeing that scene , run toward me and looked at me and at that big red apple with a sort of sigh , desperation and envy . My 'protector' whose name was 'sherven',( which I learned later ) , was still watching me with a kind smile , and with a great attention to be sure that I will eat the apple and the other kids would not harm me and catch the apple from my hand . There were many months that I didn't taste or eat a single fruit , because all that big fruit garden has became a desolated ruin which was the result of a war , the social unrest , and a chaotic circumstances . Eating that red big apple was such a delight that I could only have dreamed about it , but it was real and I began shewing the apple and swallowed it quickly with delectation . Only a tiny rest of it remained in my hand that one of the kids came close to me and begged me to give the tiny rest of the apple to him, and I did so ... I noticed that all the other kids looked with envy to their friend who enjoyed such a delicious offer . One of them approched me and with a gentle tone of voice said softly close to my ear :"dear friend, the next time that you are given an apple , give the rest to me ". I promised him that I will do so ...
Since then , each afternoon , 'sherven' appeared from above the wall and gave me a big red apple . All the other kids have known the exact time of the 'arrival' of the apple and they were gathered around me and waiting for the remaining part of that apple . I was faithful to my promise and each time I gave the rest of the apple to one of them .
Gorgon seldom appeared in the garden and even there , he was busy with other stuff and didn't pay attention to me . The kids who were his playmates or his admirers , now showed 'kindness' toward me because of the part of t
he apple they could enjoy . What was sure was this fact that they stopped making fun of me and sometimes allowed me to play with them and this not because I was a meek and obedient kid and not because they have been turned into kind and gentle boy but only out of need for that tiny part of that 'famous' apple . This feature of human nature has always puzzled me , sometimes because of a sort of need , people became your close and 'trustful' friends and some other times because of no ground for any interest , they became your 'sworn' enemies .
8
We were spending some relatively peaceful days , and meanwhile my only joy was the apple I ate each day which avoided me dying from starvation or undernourishment . Although I was somehow relieved from the wickedness of 'gorgon' and his horrible games , he used to come in our section and kept himself busy with his specific games or 'story telling' . Someday , when I was sitting on the stairs and played with the stones as usual , and was hearing the voice of 'gorgon' who was telling jokes and obscene tales , he noticed me and suddenly with a sort of anger and hatred which kindled in his eyes , picked a sharp and long knifelike tool in his pocket and addressing to me said :" did you imagine that you found a protector for yourself, to hit me and to humiliating me ? this very day I will collapse his head with this spear you see in my hand" , he said that and full of anger hit violently the trunk of the tree beside him with his swear which penetrated it profoundly.
Few minutes later I noticed that 'gorgon' was whispering something to the boys who were usually with him and was showing the wall of the garden where 'sherven' was living . In a wink they found some ladder and relied it on the wall of 'sherven' 's garden and descended into it . Then I saw a shirt which was full of apples and grappes but tied around a stick was thrown over the wall into our garden . They intented to share the loot among themselves but surprised by the cry of the gardener they jumped the wall and reached our section . Sherven , informed about the 'robbery' which happened in their garden , came into our garden with the company of the gardener . Gorgon and his 'friends' after moving toward a corner of the garden , were dividing up the fruits , but 'sherven' , furious , showed 'gorgon' and his gang to the gardener . The gardener threatening loudly run after the group , some of them fled with the shirt full of fruits to the farest part of the garden . Now 'gorgon' and 'sherven' were in front of each other like two fiery wild animals ready for a bloody fight . Sherven , out of anger , addressed to 'gorgon' and said furiously :" naughty boy , you annihilated the whole garden of the orphanage and that was not enough for you , now you want to destroy and to rob ours too , vile thief !" ... Gorgon who was already full of hatred and resentment against his opponent , pressed his jaws to each other and like a wolf roared :" bastard you don't know me yet , and you ignore with whom you have affair , I will crush you in such a way that you will forget your insolence and silly boldness forever " , while saying that he rushed with his swear on his opponent . Sherven , after seeing the shining of the metal which was tearing the empty space with ferocity and wildness , in a wink moved back , but the shot which was supposed to strike 'sherven' 's head , hit his shoulder , torning his shirt , wounded him . Sherven , furious by such a mean endeavour , took a gross stone on the ground and out of anger hit 'gorgon' 's feet so badly that he cried and roared like a wounded wild animal , left the swear , sat down and took his feet with his hands . Sherven grabbed the swear and without controlling his anger , wounded 'gorgon' 's left cheek . Gorgon under the effect of his burning wound cried loudly and fell aside .
I was shocked and my whole body was thrilling out of fear and I didn't know what to think or what to do , meanwhile I heard the voice of some people behind me who were talking very politely , my surprise was great when I recognized our familiar director with the company of a group who moved and talked with a distinguished manner and look . They were witness of the ferocious scene of fighting which occured . Our director , coming back to the orphanage after many months which seemed to me an eternity , said anxiously to one of the persons who accompanied her , someone who was apparently an influential personality :"sir , I'm really sorry that your arrival coincided with such a violent scene". Then she addressed to the two nurses and tutors who were in her company to bring quickly 'sherven' and 'gorgon' to the nursery and to disinfect and to band the wounds of the two boys .
9
All the remained kids of the orphanage , after seeing the gentle woman who was our director , began crying out of joy and comfort they felt after all those months of hunger , desperation and unsafety . We gathered around her and we were crying , because we remembered how miserable we were without tutors and caring teachers .
The director , by seeing our dirty and skinny face and our torn clothes , guessed what happened to us and what we had suffered . She said kindly :"my little children , don't worry anymore , I will be with you and will take care of you all" . Then she ordered to the nurses and tutors to managing everything and taking care of our hygiene , diet , clothes and our well-being in general . The director went along with the group of visitors , who were as I said earlier , influential personalities , because she talked with a great respect and discretion with them and explained things concerning our orphanage . After visiting the building they returned back to the garden and meanwhile I felt so happy about the return of our director that I followed her and watched that respectful group.The man to whom the director spoke with great discretion seemed very impressed by the desolated state of the orphanage and the ruined garden and expressed his sadness about that . Then they exchanged a philosophical discussion that I could not understand the point or its meaning . At the end, the influential personality told to our director that he would provide everything necessary for the care and well-being of all the kids remained there and also all the poor or miserable people who will come in this institution seeking refuge . Then accompanied by the few persons who were with him , he left and disappeared from our sight .
The evening of this same day , for the first time after few months , all the rooms in the building were illuminated and most of all, the smell of a warm meal coming from the kitchen spread all around could make all hungry person unconscious out of delight.The meal of that night was a perfumed rice prepared with sunflower oil that I could eat with delectation after some months of hunger and the time when we could just find a piece of dried rye bread once a week , some spoiled grappe and some water.That little dish of rice I ate that night was the most delicious meal I ever tasted in all my life , because it left an impact on my memory forever , I couldn't believe that and I thought that I was dreaming , but everything was real and I can never forget that I felt very happy that night and could sleep peacefully...
10
I will never forget that afternoon when one of the gentle nurses of our orphanage came toward me , taking softly my hand and moving me away from the other kids told me :"there is a very kind woman who wants to see you and give you some cookies". Then I have been led toward a group of people sat around a table in the garden near the door of the building. Automatically I recognized two of them I met few days ago who were apparently the supporters of our orphanage . A good looking woman was there among them . All of them by seeing me smiled kindly and looked at me with great compassion . Our director addressing to that group said :"yes , this child was the subject of that fight , those boys were ready to kill each other for his 'cause'". The good looking woman expressing her profound kind feelings said :" oh my god , what a cute child ! , I wonder how people are able to put aside such a good kid and depriving him from the warmth of the family home and leaving him alone to his fate!". The influential man who was re
spected by all the people gathered there , caressed my head and said :"unfortunately nowadays most people have lost their conscience and behave as they like following their lowest instincts without feeling the least responsibility in front of themselves and all the others". The kind good looking woman after kissing me offered to me a beautiful box of cookies tied with a satin ribbon and said :"this is for you my dear child , take it and eat the cookies and enjoy that ". The joy and happiness I felt at that moment and all the hours after that , which warmed my heart, was so great that I can't describe it . After many years , this was the first time that I experienced this feeling and learned the meaning of charity , compassion and love . When I went to bed I was still delighting the taste of the cookies and then slipped into a sweeter dream .