Cities of Mosquitoes by Saber Alganzouri
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As Tawasul News continues to present the literary worlds of writer Saber Alganzouri, this short story opens another window into his sharp, symbolic imagination, where ancient tyranny meets modern war, and human arrogance turns into violence disguised as necessity.
In “Cities of Mosquitoes,” Alganzouri builds a compact allegory about power, fear, revenge, and the language used to justify destruction. From a tower that pierces the sky to missiles striking cities, the story asks what happens when man searches for God above while manufacturing ruin below.
Cities of Mosquitoes
Short Story
By Saber Alganzouri
From Adam in the Parallel World
He built a high tower that pierced the sky, so he could ascend to the god in whom some of his people believed.
He called out at the top of his voice:
“Where are you?”
Then he shouted defiantly:
“I am the god on earth. If you are here in the sky, answer me! Come to me and face me, and whoever wins shall be the god of the universe.”
No answer came to him. He heard nothing and saw no one.
He descended to the earth and said:
“I am your supreme lord. You have no lord but me.”
A young man from his people came out against him and said:
“My Lord brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west.”
He was stunned, his mouth falling open. He prepared his powerful armies to destroy those who disbelieved in him.
Just before the battle, armies of mosquitoes astonished him as they chased his soldiers.
They fled from them, but he did not escape.
A mosquito invaded his head and settled in his mind. Whenever it buzzed, they beat him with sandals so he might find relief, until he perished.
His grandson came to avenge him against the god who had sent the mosquitoes and killed his grandfather with a single mosquito.
He prepared a spaceship capable of landing on distant planets and carried nuclear missiles with him.
He landed on the surface of the moon. He searched for the mosquitoes. He found nothing.
He went to Mars. He found nothing.
He kept rising higher and higher, calling out:
“Where are you?
Your armies will not be able to withstand even one of the missiles I carry.
Where are your weak armies?”
But no answer came to him.
He returned to earth and said to his people:
“There is no god there.”
They advised him:
“Let us destroy his followers. Their land contains treasures and oil.”
He was displeased:
“What need do we have to destroy them?”
They said:
“They are a people who possess chemical weapons extracted from the mosquitoes of their god.”
He mocked them:
“But they possess nothing.”
“There are followers of ours. We shall supply them with some of the chemical weapons we have. If they launch them, they will kill the children, the plants, and the animals among them. Then we will have our excuse, so the world does not support them against us.”
The world saw the great humanitarian crime. They condemned it, denounced it, deplored it.
On a dark night, Nimrod’s missiles were striking the Cities of Mosquitoes.
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