Fes Is a Mirror

Novella by Chantal James. James received a Fulbright fellowship in Creative Writing that allowed her to live in Morocco researching and writing this work. James learned the local Arabic dialect to conduct interviews from eyewitnesses to its political events for the book. In Fes is a Mirror, Sheep, abandoned in the wild as an infant and left to live her formative years among animals, was taken in by Aziz's family in the south of Morocco, growing more and more a part of the human community as time passes but never developing the capacity for speech. When Aziz flees to the city of Fes, he takes Sheep with him, and the two forge a life together there. Aziz finds himself imprisoned and sends a student he meets in jail, Rachid, to see about Sheep upon his release. Fascinated by her and seeking a way in, Rachid introduces Sheep to his Brooklyn-bred cousin Aisha, who teaches her to spin American hip-hop records. Sheep's rising skill as a DJ provides refuge to the people of Fes as the historic bread riots of December 1990 rage against the Moroccan monarchy's violent suppression. In alternating voices Aziz, Rachid, and Aisha spin the voiceless Sheep's story, and none of them can help projecting their personal needs onto her. Can Sheep escape what others claim for her, even what they call love, to determine herself? Or will she be reclaimed by the wilderness?