Since the onset of this cursed war, Zeina has been complaining about the roar of planes… I hear it the moment I reach West Beirut, perhaps for the first time I truly hear the planes' roar, not hearing it while in Brummana. Zeina complained for a long time, pacing back and forth with her hands restless, saying: 'My head is about to explode, don't you hear the roaring?' I tease her: 'As the poet says, the planes bite me, who said that? Do you know?' 'You're crazy,' she retorts. I didn't hear it because I decided not to listen. I simply didn't want to. My mind was elsewhere. The Moscow night, the lights, fireworks, frost, and decorations filled the streets and roads, and thousands of people were laughing. We met them and our shoulders collided, faces smiling at faces, without knowing and without speaking. It was the last New Year's Eve I celebrated, spending it on the land that witnessed my suffering, as well as my moments of ecstasy and soaring, with Natalia beside me, the world alongside me, playfully jostling my arm, joking and kissing my cheeks, the woman who led me to my manhood, teaching me how to read the language of my body letter by letter, point by point. Huda Eid was born in the town of Al-Wardaniya, Shouf District. She holds a master's degree in Arabic language and literature from the Lebanese University, First Branch - Beirut. She teaches literature for secondary school classes. She directed three plays for the school theater: * The Adventure of the King's Head Jaber, 2003 * Hanthala, 2004 * The Rituals of Signs and Transformations by the great playwright Saadallah Wannous, 2005. Published by Al-Farabi House: In the Land of Smoke, 2001, Life in Lost Time, 2006, Publishing house: Al-Farabi Publishing and Distribution Number of Pages: 9789953713939 Year of publication: 2008