Maá Character Analysis

Maá tells me never to look too closely at the food, and whenever I find flies or worms, she says I’m extra lucky because they give me protein. Once I even found a human tooth in my rice. ‘Hey, Maá, is this lucky too?’ I asked, and Maá looked at it and said, ‘If you needing tooth.’ She laughed a long time at her own joke. Longer than it was really worth, in my opinion.

The first thing Harvey does when new kids arrive is to learn their names so that he can talk with us for real, and instead of talking to us by our numbers. Most people have their Boat ID as their number. Maá is NAP-24 and Queeny is NAP-23. But I was born in here, so I have a different ID. DAR-1, that’s me. The 1 is because I was the first baby ever born here. But Harvey, he won’t use those numbers, not even when he’s supposed to.

But until then I keep on at Maá every night, asking her for a story. Just a single one. Because sometimes, in here, when people stop talking, and stop asking, and stop remembering, that’s when they start to lose that piece of themselves. That’s when their brains start to mush. It happens a lot.

Even though Maá doesn’t hear my asking any more, I keep trying, without even thinking on an answer. I keep asking every night, because if I don’t...

‘A knife?’ the duck says. He doesn’t believe me, I can tell. ‘How would anyone get a knife in here?’

‘Through the packages I guess. The stuff of kings.’

The duck looks at me again and says, ‘Why would a king want a knife?’

‘To cut stuff, né?’

‘Pah,’ the duck says.

‘What would you know? You’re just a stupid duck.’

So much for a problem shared. The duck is just making it worse.

That Shakespeare duck looks at me then, and raises one eyebrow the way Maá used to when Queeny and I riled her up with our arguing. ‘What would you know? You’re just a stupid boy. In some countries in the world, ducks are kings, you know.’

Then we both smile and I tell the duck he’s quackers and we smile even more.

I’m frozen just watching. More and more black angry smoke clouds up from the camp, and I just want to be with Maá and Queeny and Eli, no matter if it means sizzling right up like a sausage along with them.

I look at Harvey. I think of Oto and Anka and Iliya and Ba and Maá and Queeny and Eli and all of us. All of them all that time ago, and all of us now. Just trying to find somewhere to be safe. Just walking our journey to peace. I can hear Queeny’s words in my head and now they make sense. I get it now.

‘We’re the dead rats, Harvey. Just like Queeny said. Left out to rot so no one else bothers to try. There’s no keeping safe for us.’

Harvey looks at me like he’s never seen me before. But he doesn’t say I’m wrong.

‘The sparrow in the house. Queeny was right after all. It did mean death. Eli...’ But Jimmie hears me. She hears and her eyes go soft and she shakes her head and brings my hand up to her cheek.

‘No, Subhi, you’re wrong. A sparrow in the house doesn’t mean death. It means change. Waking up new and starting again. Subhi, a sparrow in the house is a sign of hope.’

Maá tells me never to look too closely at the food, and whenever I find flies or worms, she says I’m extra lucky because they give me protein. Once I even found a human tooth in my rice. ‘Hey, Maá, is this lucky too?’ I asked, and Maá looked at it and said, ‘If you needing tooth.’ She laughed a long time at her own joke. Longer than it was really worth, in my opinion.

The first thing Harvey does when new kids arrive is to learn their names so that he can talk with us for real, and instead of talking to us by our numbers. Most people have their Boat ID as their number. Maá is NAP-24 and Queeny is NAP-23. But I was born in here, so I have a different ID. DAR-1, that’s me. The 1 is because I was the first baby ever born here. But Harvey, he won’t use those numbers, not even when he’s supposed to.

But until then I keep on at Maá every night, asking her for a story. Just a single one. Because sometimes, in here, when people stop talking, and stop asking, and stop remembering, that’s when they start to lose that piece of themselves. That’s when their brains start to mush. It happens a lot.

Even though Maá doesn’t hear my asking any more, I keep trying, without even thinking on an answer. I keep asking every night, because if I don’t...

‘A knife?’ the duck says. He doesn’t believe me, I can tell. ‘How would anyone get a knife in here?’

‘Through the packages I guess. The stuff of kings.’

The duck looks at me again and says, ‘Why would a king want a knife?’

‘To cut stuff, né?’

‘Pah,’ the duck says.

‘What would you know? You’re just a stupid duck.’

So much for a problem shared. The duck is just making it worse.

That Shakespeare duck looks at me then, and raises one eyebrow the way Maá used to when Queeny and I riled her up with our arguing. ‘What would you know? You’re just a stupid boy. In some countries in the world, ducks are kings, you know.’

Then we both smile and I tell the duck he’s quackers and we smile even more.

I’m frozen just watching. More and more black angry smoke clouds up from the camp, and I just want to be with Maá and Queeny and Eli, no matter if it means sizzling right up like a sausage along with them.

I look at Harvey. I think of Oto and Anka and Iliya and Ba and Maá and Queeny and Eli and all of us. All of them all that time ago, and all of us now. Just trying to find somewhere to be safe. Just walking our journey to peace. I can hear Queeny’s words in my head and now they make sense. I get it now.

‘We’re the dead rats, Harvey. Just like Queeny said. Left out to rot so no one else bothers to try. There’s no keeping safe for us.’

Harvey looks at me like he’s never seen me before. But he doesn’t say I’m wrong.

‘The sparrow in the house. Queeny was right after all. It did mean death. Eli...’ But Jimmie hears me. She hears and her eyes go soft and she shakes her head and brings my hand up to her cheek.

‘No, Subhi, you’re wrong. A sparrow in the house doesn’t mean death. It means change. Waking up new and starting again. Subhi, a sparrow in the house is a sign of hope.’