To Baghdad With My Headache Gauge

When I saw the driver, I noticed that he is young. I prefer older drivers. I started to navigate my gaze aroung in the garage to search for another car while the young driver kept walking with me after he knew that I was going to Baghdad.
I saw a young driver in that corner, and an old driver next to him. The old driver had a car with small seats. During my work in the emergency unit I saw many accedents caused by that car of the old driver. It is a fast car with low weight. It is something from east asia but not from Japan nor India.
The young man kept offering me his prices. We were walking slowly to his car. Seeing that it is a GMC, a black colored, I let him took my bag from my hand to put it in the car. His car took 7 passengers. There were 2 old men who were laughing to each other. When they knew that I would join them they greeted me with a wide smile, taking away little of my tension and disolving it (my tension) in the tea in those glasses nearby in that simple cafe where an old man was talking to a vagabond woman with some malice in his eyes and some seduction in hers. I needed tea but I decided to shut my mouth till I reach Baghdad in peace. I looked away.
While other passengers were joingin our car, 1 turned into 2 in my headache gauge.

While he was muttering his byebyes to his friends in the garage including the man with the malicious eyes now focused on the lady with the depressed face and downcasting gaze not seeing things around her but seeing through them sitting behind me our driver started our journey....

He drives well. But his benzene gauge is on the ZERO. I told him. He answered me after a pause which meant (I know my work and I don't want your comments): it is not working. Now our driver is wearing another personality (persona=mask), different from that personality when he was trying to convince us to take his car. These thought run on my mind fastly:(now the driver revengs from those who took a long time to convince to take his car or to ignore his quiestions..If I go back to the moment I first met him I remember I looked into his eyes first and smiled to him while answering:yes, I want to go to Baghdad. and all I did after that is walking with him while I jumped my gaze around in the garage. Some passengers did not anser his questions from the first time, did not look into his eyes, so I said to my self that he is not revenging, at least not from me...but wait..REVENGE!?? am really exagurating. I think am little tense)..I looked again on the benzene gauge and 2 turned into 4 in my headache gauge.

After 5 hours we took lunch in a restaurant almost exactly in the middle of our way to Baghdad. When we resume our trip sun was going down. It is about 400 km from Mosul to Baghdad, but US army troops sometimes block the highway temporarly (for minutes to hours) to some cause not clear for us. An average journey from Mosul to Baghdad took 10 hours. There are no airplains.

The sun went down. the sky was violet. Surrounded from either side by palm orchards, our car started to cough. After few minutes of no more coughing our car sneezed and coughed at the same time saying something like: ha.....ha.....haaa.....aaa...aa..a......ha...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....tchewchwchwbaooowewew and the darkness was filled with its echoes while our heads were dancing back and forth, left to right over our neck while our car was gagging suffocated. Our driveres' eyes were revealing a new personality of a frantic stupid child for a moment turned into a personality of a blaspheming psychopath while the car stopped mute as a stone.

We heard nearby bullets firing and 4 turned into 0 in my headache gauge as if my headache was paralysed in waiting to see what these bullets could mean. Headache has no meaning, lost its significance. Something like nausea was coming into my chest. My heart did not run fast. I was in the waiting mode. I was not afraid but I was numb. I think I had some type of derealization feeling that this could not be true and that am in a dream till strong big lights of a new car was coming in the direction of our car made me awake from my pseudodream. The new car was walking wrongside. Slow. Two men with fire arms came out. slowly approached us. Our driver took the personality of a mature man now and opened his door and went out slowly to talk with them. They offered help. Gave us banzene. And guided us to a benzene station to have more. The 2 old men started to blame our driver in a continous regualar rhythm that did not wane. He kept silent while my headache gauage was still on ZERO.

We took benzene and entered Baghdad at 8 p.m.. I took a taxi to the nearby hospital where my friend was waiting for me. It was dangerous to go to my home at that time. My friend was so kind. I suffered to show him back some kindness cause I wasn't in the mood yet. At 10 p.m. I put my head on the pillow, my headache gauge shooted from Zero to 8. I smiled that it was still working. I took a deep breath. Touched my forhead. Turned to my left. 8 turned into 7. Waow am alive and good. I smile. My friend was preparing dinner for me. I smelled the aroma of the soap. I smiled. Wow. Life is delicious. 7 turned into 6.9. I smiled and passed into deep sleep.....