Texture of light

Author's name: Nadia Al-Najjar

“I would spend hours reading those books, touching the six dotted cells arranged in two equal, parallel rows and walking over them with my index finger from left to right, while holding the line steady with my other index finger so I wouldn’t get lost. Saif’s name consists of three cells. The first is the letter S, which consists of three prominent dots: two dots on the left in the second and third rows, and a dot on the right in the first row. Then comes the letter Y, which consists of two prominent dots: a prominent dot on the left in the second row, and a dot on the right in the first row. As for the letter F, it consists of three prominent dots: two dots on the left in the first and second rows, and one on the right in the first row. This may seem difficult for sighted people, but it was a door through which I could peek into other lives; to imagine how a rabbit hops, and to touch snowflakes on cold winter nights, I wipe away the tears of a mother who lost a son in a war created by humans, and I feel the fear of a refugee crossing by sea or land to another border, just as audiobooks are doing to me now.