Alqarawi 1

Mohammad Alqarawi
Prof. Kimberly Lewis
ENGL 113A
December 11th 2015.
The Story Behind the Wall
Almost every kid is either an alpha kid, or just another one of those followers kids.
However, I was on a whole different level when it came to my social interactions. Basically, I
used to be the evil angel, the tamed killer doll, until I met my match by The Wall and the worlds
most annoying kid whose name never remained in my memorys database. This is not the time
for a Pink Floyd intro of The Wall, but in fact, it is time for Back to the Future, or at least part of
the story is related, but we are going to the past first, as every story has a beginning.
Around the year 1992 in Kuwait, just after the Iraqi invasion was resolved, people
quickly gained traction in their lives and started to build some momentum toward progress;
things such as rebuilding their houses, and getting back to work. Most notably, however, was
people socializing freely and without having the notion of getting shot at anymore by the
occupying troops. During these wonderful socializing events, I met an annoying kid who just did
not want to leave me alone. The reason why I was annoyed because he was a year younger than
me. That made me unable to stomach him being around me as he was smaller, slower, and
weaker. I am not entirely sure but at least during the childhood period of my generation, the
younger kid almost always had a hard time getting the approval of the older kid in order to create

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a friendly relationship. Unless he knew how to handle insects or feral cats with ease and showing
how badass he was. That, or just kick the older guys face into submission.
Anyway, my parents invited his parents to our farmhouse. During their visit, my dad was
showing them the damages that was left behind by the Iraqi troops during their invasion. I still
remember one Iraqi soldier telling my dad I do not even know why I am here. Of course, not
knowing why you are here cannot be an excuse to invade our land. Anyway, my dad showed the
guests a rusty Iraqi tank that was removed a year later by the municipality. That was a major
shame, as climbing it proved to be both a good exercise and a wonderful experience. Also, let us
not forget how cool it was telling my friends I have a tank in my dads farm, what do you guys
have other than empty gun shells?. But alas, the rusty tank was not the star here, and that was
because of The Wall.
I cannot express my extreme fascination with that wall; it felt to me as if it had a soul, or
a cause other than being just a wall. It was awkwardly positioned in the middle of an open
area, as if it had an otherworldly purpose of some sort. It had several components in its structure
like bricks, cement, metals and so on. It had a darkish color to it in some places of its surface,
and the ground surrounding its area was black in different spots. Sometimes I would spend hours
gazing at it, completely mesmerized by its existence. To sum it up, I had an unexplainable
affinity toward that wall.
That annoying kid came running to me begging, as well as bugging me to watch the
movie Back to the Future. Holding the VHS cover, waving it and anxiously expecting my
approval to watch it. I was not going to disappoint the kid because that would not be very nice.
So I accepted and we went watching the movie and I could not believe how attached he was to

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the whole experience and the events that happened. Especially about the part where the boy in
the movie got into the car and time traveled to the past. He literally kept talking about it for an
hour. I was begging him to go away or maintain silence while I was attempting a reunion with
my favored Wall. Then the idea came to me. I proposed to him to experience such a
phenomenon, and with no signs of hesitation whatsoever, he accepted with eyes full of tears,
representing joy and astonishment.
We quickly made our way to The Wall. I gave him a ten-meter range walkie-talkie toy;
the mediocre range reflects how technology was not at its prime back then. I made it clear to him
that it is of utmost importance to be able to communicate after the crossing. I did not want him to
get lost or stuck in that place in a similar fashion to that boy in the movie once he is across. I
also presented him with my trusty plastic kinked sword, and it was time to train him how to use
the sword in case he ended up in a situation where he needed to defend himself. Needless to say,
he was a fast learner. Then I had to put his running speed to the test, and after testing his speed,
which was obviously an irrelevant variable in the equation, he was ready to exercise
unconditional faith in my beckoning. My words to him were short and concise. Run as fast as
you can toward the absolute center of The Wall, and under no circumstance should you close
your eyes. His response was a very strong concession.
In a matter of seconds, he commenced the running toward The Walls embrace of reality.
Instead of time traveling, he crashed into The Wall with great force that he had bounced off of it
for several feet back. Needless to say, his faith in me, as well as all his ideas regarding real life
supernatural occurrences, shattered into a million pieces. Most importantly however, I could see
his adherence to me was slowly disbanding. After his fall, he remained oblivious to his

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surroundings till a few moments have passed. His adrenaline surge was no longer streaming into
his support lines. He started crying like the baby he was after both the pain and the sight of blood
had caught up to him. I could not make him shut up, and moments later, I joined him in a state of
weeping after having my buttocks kicked by my dad. I actually told him and his parents that The
Wall did it, but of course, that claim only resulted in a secondary round of punishment.
Little did I know about the real story behind that Wall. As well as why did my father had
to take it down a few days later after that incident. Let me tell you, it was not because of what I
made that kid do, not at all. It was because my dad abhorred it and could not stand its existence
on his property anymore as it had a very dark purpose. That it was being an execution wall by
gunfire used by the occupying army. All the dark discoloration and holes resulting in
asymmetries were the results of blood and gun bullets. I was never told about this till the till
when I grew up some more and figured it out on my own and had my dad confirm it later.
At the end of the day, I managed to achieve my goal which was getting that darn kid off
of my back. My methodologies of solving my own problems might have been unorthodox and
controversial at best, but whatever gets the jobs done was definitely one of my life's
constitutions.