Our village, which is ninety kilometers from the center of the city, looked very happy in the spring months. It was as if the trees were racing to turn the most beautiful colors. Almond trees, plum trees, apple, pear trees, ahhh, while passing by them, isn't there a mix of scents, it triggered the dream of ripening fruits as soon as possible.
At the entrance of our village, there was a sign with the name of our village, and then the village road that continued for about a kilometer. The edges of this road were adorned with gardens, the long and narrow entryway among the greenery was like a postcard image. At the end of this road, we came across the first houses of our village and we were starting to breathe the air of our village. As soon as we passed the first house, the path to the left was taking us to our house. After a little u-shaped journey through the greenery, there is a big, wide playground in front of us, and this area was a great ball field for the children of our village, and there was a sheltered but old water well made of wood on the side of the road. Our old and beautiful house stood on the opposite slope.
We used the water well mostly in winter when the faucets were frozen in our homes. We used to carry water from this well morning and evening alternately, both for our animals in the barn and for the water needs of our house. Of course, we were going up and down a steep slope in order to carry this water and bring it home safely. There was no problem in the descents to get the water. If necessary, we would slide down the snow, but getting the water out of the hill where the village clowns froze rock by rock sometimes caused laughter and sometimes fatigue. All the plastic and aluminum utensils we found in our homes would thus fill with water and we would make a great effort not to experience thirst. The well was not used much in the summer, and they were covered with wooden boards so that the children would not fall, and they were well protected with stones.
We had two cows, a horse named Green, and a veteran donkey in the barn. In the henhouse, we usually had between 20-50 chickens every year.
That day, my father took the cows out of the barn, grazing the cows on the edges of the ball field, sometimes sitting and watching the children, sometimes thinking, sometimes walking around and occasionally throwing small stones in front of him with his feet. My brothers had already found their fun to enjoy the spring. They were preparing for the match with their friends in the ball field and trying to determine the goal with the stones in their hands.
We had a Thursday garden called Thursday, just down a slope from our house. In our opinion, it was the most beautiful part of the village and a very productive garden. A little ahead of the garden, among the trees, there was a long, softly flowing stream whose end we did not know where it ended. We came to this garden with my mother, sisters and our youngest brother.
The roads were crowded. People had just come out of winter, and with the arrival of spring, everyone was going down to their gardens closest to their homes, like us, and they were starting to plant small vegetables for summer food. Everyone had a smile on their face, and the beauty and peace of spring was visible on their faces. Like an ant, some went on foot, some in a donkey carriage, in a horse carriage, and some loaded their saddle on the back of their donkey and went to plant their garden.
We marked every part of our garden with the waist, then we flattened the soil like a sheet with the garden hoe. Then we created rows of columns and started planting our vegetables regularly. We planted beans, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, mint, onions and potatoes. From time to time, passers-by were greeting us, chatting little by little, sharing those beautiful joyful days. Now that we're done, it's time for a unique and insatiable walk by the stream, which we love and enjoy the most. While my mother was resting in the garden, our 4 brothers went for a walk by the flowing clear water. Sometimes we talk about tiny creatures in the water, we examine them. We see the walnut that fell from the tree last year rotting by the river and we show it to each other in amazement. Exploring was our current job. It seemed very different and insatiable to us. When we raised our heads, only the leaves of the trees circled us, the sky could hardly be seen among the leaves. In such an environment, the smell of trees and green mixed together, the chirping of birds made this walk more beautiful, more meaningful and insatiable. We went on this journey, unaware of how long the road was. Of course, this journey had a return. Of course, it was not a problem for us at all. We continued what we did on the way back. Of course, the fight of all of us with stinging nettles was a separate comedy. As the stinging nettle bites, we said ahh, we continued on our way, it bit me again from another place, we said uyy, we continued on the road again.
When we got back to the garden, my mother had gone home. We came to our house. But there was silence in the house. While searching around, crowded voices were coming from the back of the house. When we look out the window, everyone is gathered around the water well.
and we saw the rush. We immediately ran to them, and when we approached, our neighbor's daughter said that a cat had fallen into the well, and those playing ball noticed the cat's sound coming from inside. But this worry was not only for the cat, it was as if there was another fear in his eyes. I saw my brothers and my mother among the crowd formed by the well. When I approached my mother and asked where my father was, he said that he went down to the well to get the cat. My father was a very fearless person, especially if he was such a defenseless creature, he would immediately put himself in danger. Surely there were other ways to save the cat, but he had landed once. My father had tied the big thick rope around his waist, put one end of it through the reel of the well, adjusted the rope as long as it could go up and down, tied the other end of the last rope to the anchors of the well and descended. I could only see two people among the crowd, mostly children and women, who were equal to my father.
Finally, there was a sound coming from below. At the head of the well, we started to spin the reel with great difficulty, with two big men at the end of the rope and the ladies and children supporting them from behind. everyone was shouting to each other, pulling the rope, making strange noises as much as he could. The reel of the well, which had been rusted with great difficulty, had now done its last duty to us. Finally, first the arms that were tightly wrapped around the ropes came out, then my father's head appeared, finally the tiny cat he had tucked between his legs.
After this grueling journey full of fear, anxiety and adrenaline, there was great joy and happiness on everyone's faces. Children hug each other and shout for joy. The elders were congratulating my father on the one hand and praying on the other. We still couldn't get rid of the fear, we were experiencing all the emotions at once, after being silent for a long time, we embraced my father and talked about what happened during the long long day. At the end of the day, we thanked our Lord that we were able to spend this day without any accident and happiness.
