By far one of the laziest entries of the year, outdone only by a 50-word entry which I’m now struggling to find. I entered this into the Fundación César Egido Serrano competition, which offers a whopping $20,000 prize for the winning 100 word entry. This year’s theme: anniversary of the word as a bond to humankind. So, obviously I wrote about farts.
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Patterson and I struggle to talk to the kid. His English is bad and our Arabic is non-existent. We tiptoe around each other suspiciously for days in the claustrophobic desert heat until one night we’re packing up for the morning, and I fart. It’s louder than I expect. By a lot. I look up, guilty. Patterson and the kid stare back. Patterson tuts like a disappointed mother hen. The kid guffaws. Then he screws up his face and lets off a trumpet. I’m happily shocked. We laugh until our sides hurt. The kid teaches us our first Arabic word: Durta.
