What should he write in his new diary? In the new language, words have no taste or smell.
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Annelie Drewsen  THE DIARY
One day, Tarek’s teacher gives him a diary. It makes him remember his old diary. In that one, he wrote in his own language. But the diary disappeared on the way to Sweden.
THE DIARY Annelie Drewsen
VILJA
Vilja förlag info@viljaforlag.se www.viljaforlag.se Title: The Diary Author: Annelie Drewsen Cover: Jonas Lindén Original title: Dagboken First published by Vilja förlag 2016 Translation from Swedish: Hedda Friberg-Harnesk, 2017 © 2016 Annelie Drewsen and Vilja förlag First edition 2017 Number of pages: 50 ISBN 978-91-7723-187-5
ANNELIE DREWSEN
The Diary Translation: Hedda Friberg-Harnesk
Vilja fรถrlag
Chapter 1
The schoolyard is empty. I throw my cigarette on the ground and step on it. Then I hurry up the stairs. It is twenty past eight in the morning and I am late again. The classroom door is closed, so I knock. 3
– Good morning, Tarek! Stina, my teacher, says. She looks at her watch and shakes her head. – Sorry, I say and sit down. Just like every day. My desk is all the way at the back of the classroom. There is a green notebook on it. On the front cover it says: Tarek Swedish
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Chapter 2
In the notebook there are words that I have written. But they are not my words, this is not my language. When I write in my language, the words mean something. They are full of memories and tastes. I can smell and taste my language. The words in my notebook do not taste or smell of anything. 5
There are no memories or dreams in them. Those are not my words. I open the book. My latest text is full of red marks. Stina, my teacher, has corrected it with her red pencil. The pencil marks look like wounds all over the page. I look at the red wounds. And I remember the wounds on my father’s hands and the hole in his chest. I remember the blood on the ground and the wind and the scream. 6
My mother’s scream. – God, help me! She screamed all the way into the night, into her sleep and dreams. Her scream had no end, because my father was dead. The bullet made a hole in his heart. – Remember that the verb is placed second, after the noun! Stina stands in front of the class. Her voice is hard. In my head, I hear my mother’s endless scream. I stand up and leave.
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