Idea Development:: Fountains and Deserts.

“Fountains and Desserts.”

“If you are a Muslim girl, you disappear, until there is almost no you inside you.”

- Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The Role of the Ancestors

The ancestors rule The Dessert, and it’s many tribes. It’s a dry, desolate land clouded by thick humid air, and a tense cautiousness. The ones here are pure, perfect conceptions of the Holy Ancestor. They can contract no diseases, because they are virtuous and moral. The ancestors make sure of that. They do this, by punishing those who are not. They also make sure, that those who are, witness these punishments, as a reminder of their purity.

The punishments are justifiable.

Those who are not pure, are treacherous and disgusting. They have no morals or respect for the Holy Ancestor, therefore they deserve their fate. That is why the Dessert people love the ancestors. They protect them from the others who live off the fountains.

The Land of the Fountains

The land of Fountains was a land of plenty and leisure, for the fountains would pour out a continuous supply of everything one needs. Therefore, it was the keepers of the fountains who ruled here. The people would sit and watch them, mesmerized. They would feed from them all day, even after they were full, and they loved them.

The keepers of the fountains taught the people how to live, explained why everyone needs fountains, and warned the people of the savage and terrifying dessert people. The Keepers protect the people, so they can continue to eat and eat, watch and watch, see and breathe the fountain, which was everything beautiful and delicious. The fountains continue to grow in both numbers and size, but as they do, fear rises.

The dessert people want to kill them.

The Mind of the Dessert

I live in the Dessert with my brother and father. My father is an ancestor, so I know how much I love and need to live by the rules of the Holy Ancestor. Without them, I am a whore and I am impure. I hate impurity. Therefore I have a passionate hatred towards the Keepers of the fountains. They are de-moral and disgusting, because they do not follow the words of the Holy Ancestor. They deserve punishment.

I hate Fountains; their evil is beyond my understanding.

I have never seen a fountain.

The Mind of a Fountain Man.

“Don’t spend too much time with fountains. They will just keep filling you up, until nothing of you is left!”

I don’t listen to my father when he talks like this, I always argued:

“But Fountains are wondrous! They fill us with joy, and nothing else!”

“Exactly.”

My father doesn’t believe the keepers of the fountains. He is stupid. The Keepers protect us; they warn us of the danger the dessert brings. The Dessert is like Hell; it is filled with barbaric beings that call themselves the Ancestors. I hate them, and I am frightened. I hope I never see one.

Words of the Holy Ancestor.

The holy ancestor is great.

The holy ancestor is great.

If I disrespect him, I disrespect the dessert and my tribe. The ancestors tell us that all who disrespect them, must be killed. They killed my mother, and my aunt. They had no shame in their flesh, displaying their eyes in the street, tempting other wandering eyes. They were both whores. I love the Ancestors, though it frightens me when I weep for my mother, I know they mustn’t hear me, or I will be punished.

I am clean and pure, unlike my mother, and I am ashamed of my alluring flesh. That is why I must disappear. I must be no-one. Sometimes, but only sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if I didn’t have to disappear. I like being. I must be my mothers curse, for sometimes, only sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if I didn’t have to disappear. I like being.

But if I do not disappear, then surely, the ancestors must…?

The Most Famous Punishment

THEY DESTROYED US! THEY KILLED US! THE KEEPERS WERE RIGHT! THE DESSERT IS OUT OF CONTROL! WE MUST STOP THEM!

I am scared. I am angry. An ancestor has attacked us, haste! We must seek revenge! I seek only safety. Father has told me the war has been announced. Yes, I will go too, young though I am, I will kill the Dessert people.

Behavior of the Dessert, when confronted by the Keepers of the Fountains.

THEY HAVE COME! Oh Holy Ancestor, save us from these impure beasts of no moral! I am scared. Much desert has been destroyed. I am worried about my people. The ancestors are worried about the words of the Holy Ancestor. Dessert people are leaving, some joining the immoral ones, out of fear or for their own safety. The Ancestors have come even more severe with their punishments, even my brother has been beaten on the street, suspicious of betrayal, and I am to disappear completely, even in my own home. Why must my existence become less and less real?

My Fathers theory

I read my fathers letter from the bunker;

…Our people are too full of the fountains goodness. That is all our people care about now. We are at war with the dessert, and no one seems to notice. No one knows about it, no one cares. You are fighting against something you know nothing about. You say the ancestors want to kill us, and I know, the Keepers tell us that everyday. You say you need to help the Keepers destroy the Dessert.

Son, you are too young to understand need. No one knows what that is anymore.

Please, come home.

Father

I read it every night, hoping his words would help me to understand. Of-course I knew what need is, didn’t I? And I knew, of-course, that I was at war to save the Fountains people from the Dessert people. Although, as I looked out towards the battle field, as my fellow Fountain People mowed down the ancestors with expensive and high- tech machinery, I noticed the Dessert people fought back only with hand guns and tribal weapons. Their frightened faces, and the way they dropped onto the sand to prayer before their certain death, didn’t seem to resemble the murderous and sadistic men that the Keepers had described to us.

I suddenly felt uncomfortable listening to the Keepers instructions, to open fire on the flanks.

An Unpleasant Scene

As my father ranted on about the Holy Ancestors Honorable crusade, and the victory of honor against “the demonic”, he seemed completely oblivious to the fact his own son, my brother, was fighting for his life at the front.

My brother, the only man who had ever forgiven me for my shameful flesh, who defended me against our fathers blows, who took the blame for my mistakes, knowing he, the son, could do no wrong. He was fighting, while I had to be nothing. I could do nothing. I had to sit and wait to hear the result. I was nothing. I hated my father that day. I hated having to disappear. All I wanted was to be something and do something. I wanted to save my brother, to make up for all the good things he had done for me, and I could never repay.

As I ran towards the door, it unexpectedly opened, and an unexpected stranger blocked my way.

That was when I was informed of my brother’s death.

He had been shot by An Ancestor, he had tried to protect a man from the land of fountains. They told me my brother was a traitor, dishonorable. They said he was probably cursed by our evil mother.

A Contradiction

I ran from the barracks, my father’s letter close by my side. I wanted to escape, I didn’t care about the Dessert people any more. Father was right. I know nothing about them. All I cared about was fountains and fear.

I saw a young Dessert boy lying on the ground, his leg was badly injured. He spoke, his voice a low pitched whine, a plea for help that any language could understand. Hesitantly, I walked to wards him. His eyes were not barbaric, nor did he seem in any way motivated to kill me.

I helped him up, and carried him to the safety behind a fallen concrete slab.

Something, and I am not sure what, urged me to comfort him. I did, and somehow, our connection comforted us both. I gave him some morphine, and we both sat there, together. He fell asleep, peacefully and painlessly. Some time later, I was awoken by a gunshot, surprisingly not aimed at me, but at the Dessert boy by my side. I instantly drew out my gun, and shot the Ancestor, precisely, dropping him to the ground.

I was stunned and confused, who was fighting who? I sat there for some time in frustration, angered at the ancestor who had shot the defenseless boy, but also at myself, for allowing myself to be so influenced and deceived by the Keepers.

It was clear to me now, that the war was between the Keepers and the Ancestors. So why was the fighting being carried out by the people? Why were the people being killed?

A final plea.

The shock, anger… no… Outrage for my brothers death, led me to turn around and run back into the house. I ignored the fact I was forbidden to enter my father’s room of prayer, stormed inside, and locked the door. I had made up my decision. I didn’t want to have to disappear anymore. I wanted to be.

I fell to the ground, onto my father’s rug, and began to yell at the Holy Ancestor. I told him what his words had done. I cried, screamed and wailed at him. I blamed him for my mother’s, auntie’s and brother’s death. I wailed for the grief he had caused me. I let out all my frustration at having to always disappear, and demanded that I BECOME at once! But most of all, I prayed. Incessantly, loud and determined, I questioned why I must disappear, and prayed that those who caused this stupid war be the ones that should. They deserve not to be. I prayed until my voice was raw and dry. I tasted blood in my cheeks, and my eyes were swollen. But I did not give up. I continued to pray for my life to begin, and those responsible for my brother’s death to be gone, for were they not the ones who were immoral and impure? Were they not the ones who were treacherous and disgusting?? Why must I remain to be “non-existent”, when those who murder and kill and lie are allowed to do as they please? Why must everyone I love be stripped from me until I have nothing… NOTHING left? I prayed and prayed, until I could do no more, and was overwhelmed with exhaustion, and finally, I fell into an eternal, peaceful, and painless sleep.

One Final scene.

No one knows what caused the disappearance. They say it was the Keepers that went first, but no-one could know for sure. Either way, when the world woke up that morning, both the Ancestors and the Keepers has disappeared. Because of the war, most of the Shrines of the Holy Ancestor had been destroyed, along with the greatest of the Fountains.

At first panic flourished, “Without fountains, how will we survive!? We NEED the fountains to live!!!”. The dessert too, became lost and confused. Having always been told what to feel and think, suddenly, the dessert people looked for others to guide them. They turned to family, friends, and even enemies.

Their common fear of confusion, united both the Dessert and Fountain People. They spoke brother with brother, because they did not know who else to turn too. Sometimes conflicts occurred in the midst of so much uncertainty, after some time, there was an alarming realization that both people essentially needed the same thing. And soon, their fear of one another was replaced by an understanding. As each world shared their knowledge to help humanity survive, they became united. And it long, before both people both lived by the guidance of a young boy. His ruling was this:

The fountains shall remain, but be divided equally, and used in moderation.

The shrines of the Holy Ancestor shall remain, but only for comfort and consolation.

The lives of one another shall be equal, and no one shall ever disappear.

We shall educate all young ones, to live with knowledge, and not in fear.