Rana and the Desert Stars

Rana was eleven years old, and ever since she was little she had dreamed of seeing the wide desert with her own eyes and sleeping under a sky full of stars. She read travelers' books, drew camels and dunes in her notebook, and asked her father every evening, "When will I see the desert, Baba?" In the winter holiday, her dream finally came true: her uncle Salem, an experienced tour guide, invited her and her younger brother Fares on a camping trip.

On the morning of the trip, Rana packed her bag carefully: warm clothes for the cold night, a wide hat for the sun, two bottles of water, a small flashlight, and a bright red scarf her grandmother had given her. Fares, who was seven, stuffed his bag with candy, his little car, and his rubber ball. Their mother laughed. "Fares, the desert doesn't need a ball!" "Yes it does!" he said. "I'll play with the camels!"

The big-wheeled car set off between the golden dunes. The sand stretched to the edge of the horizon, rippling like a sea of honey, under a clear blue sky without a single cloud. Every time the car climbed a high dune and came down again, Fares shouted, "Wheee! Like a swing!" Rana pressed her face to the window, not wanting to miss anything.

At noon they reached a small camp by a lonely ghaf tree. They put up the tent together, and Uncle Salem lit a small fire and made them mint tea and bread baked under the hot sand. After lunch, he sat on the rug and said, "Heroes, the desert is beautiful, but it has rules. Listen to me carefully."

He raised a finger. "First, no one goes away from the camp without telling me. Second, if you get lost, don't run. Stay in one place where you can be seen, on top of a high dune if you can, and wave something colorful. Third, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the camp is on the sunset side of that rocky hill over there." Then he talked about the stars that would come out at night: "At night, look for the North Star. It always shows you which way is north." Rana wrote down every word in her notebook, while Fares tossed his ball in the air.

In the afternoon, their uncle went to gather firewood behind the tree. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said. "Stay near the tent." But Fares's ball slipped from his hand and rolled down the slope of the dune, rolling and rolling. "My ball!" Fares shouted, and he ran after it before Rana could grab his hand. "Fares, stop!" she cried, and she ran after him.

They went down one dune, up another, and down a third, with the ball bouncing ahead of them as if it were playing with them. At last Fares caught his ball and turned around laughing. "Got it!" But Rana didn't laugh. She looked around and saw dunes that looked the same in every direction. She could no longer see the tent, the tree, or the smoke, and the wind had begun to wipe away their footprints in the sand.

Fares's eyes filled with tears, and he said in a shaky voice, "Rana… where's the tent? Are we lost?" Rana felt her heart pounding, and she wanted to cry too. But she looked at her little brother and told herself, "If I get scared, he'll get even more scared." So she took a deep breath, sat down on the sand, sat him down beside her, and said calmly, "Don't be afraid, Fares. Uncle taught us what to do. We're going to be real explorers."

Rana opened her notebook and read what she had written: "Don't run. Stay somewhere you can be seen." "First," she said, "we won't walk around without a plan." Then she looked at the highest dune nearby and said, "Let's climb up there so Uncle can see us from far away." They climbed together slowly, the sand sliding under their feet, Fares panting, "This dune is taller than our house!"

From the top of the dune, Rana looked around. She couldn't see the camp, but she could see the rocky hill her uncle had pointed to, standing far away like the back of a sleeping camel. She looked at the sun and saw it sinking low toward the west. Then she remembered: "The camp is on the sunset side of the hill." She smiled for the first time and said, "Fares, I think I know roughly where we are."

But she didn't rush. "Uncle said staying somewhere visible is better than walking in the dark," she said. She took out her grandmother's red scarf, tied it to a dry stick she found, and planted it on top of the dune, so the scarf fluttered in the wind like a little flag. Then she gave Fares the water bottle and said, "Drink small sips. We have to save our water."

The sun began to set, and the sky turned orange, pink, and purple, while the dunes glowed red like embers. For a moment Fares forgot his fear and said in wonder, "Rana, look! The desert is wearing a colorful dress!" Then the cold crept in with the darkness, so they put on their warm jackets and sat close together.

Then the stars came out, one after another, until the sky was full of thousands of shining dots, more than Rana had ever seen in her life. "There are so many," Fares whispered, "as if someone sprinkled sugar on the sky!" Rana laughed and pointed to seven stars shaped like a ladle. "That's the Big Dipper. If we follow its edge, we find the North Star… there! It shows us north." She wrote down in her notebook the direction of north, the hill, and where the sun had set.

Rana switched on her little flashlight and moved it left and right every minute, just as her uncle had said: "A light at night can be seen from far away." She sang Fares a song their mother used to sing to them, until he calmed down and rested his head on her shoulder. "You know, Fares?" she said. "You're very brave. You haven't cried for a whole hour." He smiled and said, "Because you're with me."

Suddenly they heard a faraway voice carried on the wind: "Ranaaa! Faaares!" Then they saw a strong light moving between the dunes. Rana jumped up, waved the flashlight with all her strength, and shouted, "We're here! We're here, Uncle!" Fares shouted with her at the top of his voice. The light came closer, then they heard the car's engine, and Uncle Salem appeared, running up the dune.

Their uncle hugged them tightly, his voice shaking. "Thank God! I saw the red scarf before the sun set, then I saw the flashlight moving, and I knew you were here." Then he looked at Rana and said, "You acted like a real explorer. You didn't run around in the dark, you stayed where you could be seen, and you took care of your brother." "And she knows the stars too, Uncle!" said Fares.

Rana looked down and said, "But Uncle, I should have held Fares's hand from the start and called you before we ran after the ball." Her uncle smiled. "Admitting a mistake is another kind of courage. We all learn." Fares said shyly, "And I'll never run after a ball in the desert again!" And everyone laughed.

That night they sat around the fire at the camp, drinking warm milk with cardamom, with the stars shining above them. Their uncle taught them the names of other stars and told them how ancient travelers crossed the desert by the stars alone. Rana fell asleep looking at the North Star, feeling that it had become her friend.

Rana learned that staying calm when you're afraid is half of finding your way to safety, and that what we learn carefully may save us one day. Whoever listens to the advice of grown-ups, thinks before acting, and looks after those younger than them can find their way even in the widest desert and on the darkest night.