It was early spring, and the sweet sounds of birds, buzzing bees, and the smell of blooming flowers had filled the small neighbourhood located far from the city. Hassan and his friends were busy playing with their handmade clay toys. Hassan was a boy with big dreams. He wanted to become a pilot so he could travel to his favourite cities. At night, under their small clay house, Hassan would close his eyes and visualise himself as a pilot flying over the skies of those cities.
Hassan was in the sixth grade and one of the most intelligent students among his peers, scoring high marks in exams, which encouraged his parents to support him. One day, a heavy rain started in their small neighbourhood. Hassan and his brother, Rahman, looked out the small window of their room. Despite the worries of Hassan’s parents about the rain, he pondered whether a pilot could land the plane in the rain or continue to fly. He wondered how the clouds and rain would look from up so high. Lost in the world of unanswerable questions, he heard a voice from the neighbourhood shouting, “Run! A flood is coming! Run! ”
Hassan’s terrified parents jumped up, took Hassan and Rahman’s hands, and ran out of the house. All the neighbours fled their homes and went to the hills. Hassan, his brother, and their parents took shelter on a hill higher than their house. The flood had just appeared from the valleys. Hassan’s father decided to go back home to bring some water and bread before the flood arrived, fearing they might be hungry at night. Despite his mother’s repeated warnings, his father refused to listen and ran back toward the house. However, the flood reached the neighbourhood sooner than they had expected, damaging trees and everything in its path.
Seeing the approaching flood, Hassan’s mother screamed for his father to get out of the house. But the flood arrived so high that it destroyed their small clay house with all its belongings. Hassan’s mother screamed, and Hassan and Rahman began to cry. They were still waiting for their father to return, but there was no sign of him, nor was there any news of bread and water. Their father was gone with the flood, taking with him their little clay house and all they had.
Days passed, and there was still no sign of that small clay house. Hassan, Rahman, and their mother lived under a tent. They had to learn to accustomed to the absence of their father and rebuild their lives without him. Life under a two-meter tent was difficult, and Hassan no longer dreamed of becoming a pilot. He decided to become an engineer so he could build a new house for his mother and Rahman, who were now his father’s legacy, so they wouldn’t have to live in a tent anymore.
Years passed since that tragic flood, and Hassan was no longer the carefree boy he had been. Hassan was now a well-established engineer working on various construction projects. He had built a new house for himself, his mother, and his brother. A house that reminded him of the clay house he had built with his father. He had also decided to help flood victims and children, so they wouldn’t have to live in tents as he did.
One night, remembering those days spent in that clay house with his father, he turned off the lights and lit a candle, closed his eyes, and once again imagined himself as a pilot. That night, it was just him and the memories and dreams of his childhood.
