The Marathon By Brahim Rahma Translated By Abdellatif Rhesri The Marathon… I will win it, I will surely be the winner thereof from among al...
The Marathon
By Brahim Rahma
Translated By Abdellatif Rhesri
The Marathon… I will win it, I will surely be the winner thereof from among all the competitors. He kept talking to himself that way so persistently. The race was about to start. He had been daunting people around him during the last few days and challenging them. He trained hard, ate well and watched over everything no matter how big or small it was. He grew attentive of his body, height and gracefully svelte figure. He gave philosophical lessons of survival. He used to say : «I will certainly win, for I represent the well-oriented progress among you, and I have to achieve some big changes so that I can keep going on my path ; starting from the most simple step to the most complicated one, and from the least performance and competence to the utmost ones. I do not want to remain the way I am. This intention must be genuine ».
The weather was characterised with high humidity blended with acidity. With so much heat, the weather would become a bit soggy and unsuitable for life itself. However, that terrible weather did not prevent them from organising the marathon. On the contrary, a multitude of people applied for participation ; each of them hoping he would be the winner.
It was nearly time to fire the bullet and start the race. Silence prevailed. Should silence precede each and every start and move?
He looked around him then looked back. He wished he had been there alone with nobody to compete with him. But such wishes could not possibly come true. For, the other candidates stood at the start line of the race. Nevertheless, he did not care; he was getting more persistent. He began to get ready like the others did ; shrinking then contracting his mustles. All of them were doing the same as if they had agreed on that before. The strongest and fittest of them would surely reach the finish line first. That was the norm of life, indeed.
The bullet was fired, resounding all over the place. The competitors set off like a huge flood. Whoever overtook the others with a half pace at the start line would be so lucky as to get far away leaving them all behind.
Many of the candidates lagged behind at the first stages ; and from time to time, those, who felt so frail and unable to keep on jogging, started to withdraw from the competition and give up the race. It was not surprising, then, that many of them withdrew amid such a humid, acidified, soggy, hot weather.
Glancing sideways, he noticed that one of the rivals was trying persistently to overtake him, but he did not allow him to do it. He exerted his utmost strengths insisting that he would be the winner and no one would deprive him from that pleasure. That was an opportunity of self-assertion for him. He would show off his capacities. It was a chance that would never recur, and he could never fail to get it. He had to overtake all the competitors. Many withrew from the race and many stumbled and fell down. Being so marvellously tenacious, he overtook them all ; and from afar, the last turn appeared in sight. After that turn, there would certainly be the finish line. The moment of joy would come at last. He felt as if his body was flying. He no longer felt his weight or the power of gravity. He thought he was a mere grain of dust. He was no longer attentive to people around him. He ran faster ; thinking that his life would be meaningless if he lost that marathon. Just two days before, while he had been defying one of his mates whom he could not find now, he had said that life was a moment of triumph. All the people who had been there had burst out laughing then guffawing vociferously. He had blamed them for their idleness and sluggishness. He did not want to be a gray-haired elderly person like those who would not take part in the marathon so that he might not get inflicted with the curse they had endured and his life might have a miserable end. He did not want to live then die as an unknown person. Thus, he had isolated himself from them, feeling disdainful of everybody the way he did now. At last, he had had a chance to prove his strength and will to them.
At the last part of the distance, he ran with his utmost strength. There were only a few steps left ahead. He was still in the front of the group. He ran faster so as to reach the finish line first. One of them caught up with him, touching his elbow and thudding so noisily. Nevertheless, he wriggled himself free, denying his rival the least pace of hope to overtake him. He ran leaving him behind and regained his position in the front. He panted and gasped hard increasingly, shrinking and contracting more and more. During the last steps, he pushed ahead as if to get free of the gravity force. A violent rush from his part would confirm his right to be the winner of the race. That right would not be granted unless he trod on the finish line. He threw himself off and dropped down. He believed that his body had touched the banner before he had come back to his senses from the impact of the downfall and some of the shock had faded away. However, while he was coming back to his senses, he found himself lying outstretched on the ground. He had stumbled and fallen down like those who had withdrawn before ; those whom he had long daunted so haughtily and arrogantly. The others overtook him quite heedlessly of him. His last words were : « I can’t lose the bet of my life ; that’s impossible ! » At that moment, he saw one of his rivals rushing towards the banner erected at the finish line, thrusting his head into it asserting his right to be the winner ; whereas all the others fell into the abbyss of losing.
Soon before his end came, while he was lying on the ground, he heard a voice. There had to be a voice resounding all over the place and outside the place, too, so that it could do away with silence after each and every move. Notwithstanding, unusually of him, he did not exert his instinctive hobby of asking questions. The voice came over to him. He failed to recognize its source ; for it was not the voice of one of those who had attended the race. He listened carefully ; he found out that it was saying : « At last Dr ! We did it !The necessary sperm has reached the ovum and the insemination process has been accomplished. The marathon is over »…
Morocco
28/8/2009
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