What Were the Camels Thinking?
We were all looking forward to the camel ride. We had seen people do it on TV and also seen pictures of people who visited the desert and rode on camels. I was especially excited because I had never ridden on any animal before in my almost 47 years of life. I mean none … nada. Not even a horseback ride. The merry-go-round horses don’t count here. So we get to the camel place. There were three camels all connected together by a rope. The man I will call Camel Commander with his staff, hits the leading camel gently on its body signaling for it to bend down low so we the riders could climb on it. The 3 camels coupled but they let out a sound I had never heard before in my life -the camel sound. I don’t know how to describe it but something about that sound hit me in my deepest part. I felt I heard and understood the camels’ cries. It registered in me as a cry of resignation, boredom and weariness all expressed together.As we climbed on the camels bowed and sitti...