The

Market
By:
Caleb Kestner
 The
Market
By:
Caleb Kestner
Copyright © 2009 by Caleb Kestner.
All Rights Reserved.

2nd Story Press

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Printed in the United States

 A thousand scents drifted through the heavy throng of people that packed the hot

dusty bazaar.

Aamina wove her way through the shifting sea of bodies, making her way slowly

but surely towards a fruit stand propped up beneath a building’s overhang that provided a

thin sliver of shade.

Reaching the stand, Aamina sighed, disappointment tingeing the sound as it

flowed through her hijab and dissipated into the roar of market place haggling and

selling.

“No limes?” She asked the seller as he moved forward eager for a sale.

“No, the shipment didn’t make it through customs. That car bombing on Tuesday

shut down all the trade from Kabul.” He responded, lifting his palms in apology.

“That’s ok, what else do you have?” Immediately the man began pulling out

alternatives.

“When will this end?” She thought “the wars, the soldiers, the bombings. When

will this country stop being a battle field and begin to be a home?” Smiling slightly she

pointed to a box of shriveled oranges. “What about those?”

“Ah yes. These…” Her thoughts drifted again as he began extolling the many

virtues of the overripe fruit.

 “Maybe it never will, maybe the world will just abandon us to our own

destruction. No, no I can’t believe that. I have to believe, I have to believe things can

change, that things will change! If nothing else I have to hold on to hope. After all” she

smiled to herself “there’s always tomorrow.”

“What?” The seller asked in confusion.

“Nothing, I’ll take that one.” Aamina reached out for the orange, suddenly the

fruit and the wooden stall it was resting on were ripped away from her and everything

went white…

and then black…

39 KILLED IN MARKET BOMBING!
By ALAN WORDWORTH – 3 days ago

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN (AP) — Violence broke out, yet again, yesterday in

southern Afghanistan as the third bombing this week ripped apart a village marke…