"The evening the goats ran away, the night the pumpkin was cooked and the jackal howled"

Somayeh held her breath. She placed her trembling hands on her stomach and hid behind a large boulder. At the bottom of the valley, not far away, a small spring bubbled, and next to it, a few gourd bushes with large, yellow fruits glistened in the sun. But that wasn’t all; three or four sturdy mountain goats with curved horns were grazing carefree. Her heart started pounding. The gourds meant food, the water stored in their thick skin, meaning new life for herself and the baby moving in her womb. But the goats could be a danger, or at least their presence meant there was no predator nearby. She remembered exactly how she had seen the footprints of a hungry jackal sniffing around an hour ago. Somayeh carefully pushed aside the pebbles and pushed herself down the rocks. Suddenly, one of the goats raised its head and pricked its ears. Somayeh froze in fear, but the goat resumed grazing. She reached the bushes and cut the stems of two large pumpkins with the small knife she carried. While panting, she tucked them into her torn skirt. At that moment, there was a clatter of hooves. The goats turned and fled towards the peak. Somayeh’s heart sank. She turned her eyes; she saw a long, thin shadow on top of a rock; it was the jackal who had smelled her. The jackal howled and came down. Somayeh’s maternal instincts took hold. Despite the heaviness of her stomach, she nimbly climbed up the boulders of the precipice. She picked up a large stone and threw it at the jackal with all her might. The stone hit the animal’s leg and it retreated with a long groan. Those were a few seconds for Somayeh Talay; she made it to her safe haven; under the roof of the same large rock where she had been sheltering for several days. She leaned back against the dry thorns and caught her breath. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, but this time they were tears of sugar. She hugged two pumpkins and said to her stomach with a wistful smile: “Look, my dear, mommy brought you food. We won’t go hungry today.” The sound of crickets and the cool evening breeze had calmed the desert. Somayeh knew that this was only a small victory, but that was enough to keep her going. With the pieces of stone she had collected, she lit a small fire to cook the pumpkins. The salvation she had found from the jackal had given her faith that maybe tomorrow would be a better day; Maybe these mountain goats will show him the way to the village. #Somaye #Pregnant_Woman_Story #Survival_in_the_Desert #Rescue_from_the_Jackal #Itchy_Gourd #Maternal_Instinct #Hope_for_Life #Iron_Will #Hard_Life #Loneliness_in_the_Desert #Fresh_Breath #Short_Story #Strong_Woman #Homeless #Fight_for_Life #Wild_Nature #Iranian_Desert #Motherhood #Courage