The Afgan Altercation 
By Soxs


The Taliban society is strict in their ways. Religion is treasured,food 
is savored,and women are not permitted to engage in any form of 
fighting...the penalty for such an act is death. The night air was 
pleasant on this fine evening in the small village of Kandahar. The 
days' tasks complete,the villagers settled into their bungalows for a 
quiet night of reading and other pleasantries. As the hours passed,light 
after light went out for the night as sleep claimed more victims to the 
sandman. The dusty streets were empty of any activity,which was usually 
the case at this late hour. I was hidden in an alley and suddenly heard 
footsteps approaching. A woman softly stepped along the edges of the 
street,staying in the shadows as she approached. To my surprise,she 
turned cautiously into the alley and peered down it's long,lonely path. 
Attired in what appeared to be flat soled sandals and a full length robe 
that all women were required to wear in public,along with a cloth 
covering on her head,like a scarf type thing that covered her hair. She 
slowly ventured into my domain and took up a position midway down the 
dirt covered path. As I watched her, another set of feet approached from 
the opposite direction and stopped at the entrance. A female voice 
uttered something in Afgan and the first woman responded with an answer. 
They spoke is hushed whispers as the second woman moved into the alley. 
Apparently neither wanted to be seen or heard except to each other. The 
first woman came out of her dark space and stood,hands on her hips in 
the middle of the alley,her visitor positioned herself in the same 
manner about five feet away. She too wore the same apparrel,but her 
sandals were slightly different,although flat soled too. They stood 
whispering for a minute,then looked around the area for a second. All 
clear...they moved directly into each other and began to fight. The 
women grasped each other by the heads and ripped off their scarfs at 
once,violently twisting each others heads in the process. Delicate 
headcovers floated to the ground,the women waiting for them to land. As 
if it was some tribal ritual,as soon as the scarfs hit the dirt,they 
launched into each other with brutal rage. The women grasped handfulls 
of hair and fought in a swaying battle of muffeled cries. One of them 
whispered something in an angry tone and they became silent,still raging 
at each other's hair. The only sounds present were sandals scuffeling in 
the dirt and hushed grunts as they battled in utter silence.  Their long 
robes rustled against each other as they fought body to body,locked in 
double hairpulls. The first woman thrust her knee up and crushed into 
her foe's thigh. Her opponent responded with a hard fist to her face 
while still locked in her hair with one hand. Now the women stood 
firm,pulling hair with one hand and pummeling each other in the head and 
face with overhand and bolo punches. They struggled down the alley to 
the dead end and plowed into the wall. They thudded against it but 
didn't stop for a second! The second woman wrapped one leg around the 
other's and held on to her this way while still hurling hard rights to 
her head area. The first woman sent an uppercut to her foe's gut and 
followed it with a dreadful knee to her groin. This broke them apart for 
a minute,they each needed to catch their breath. Tears flowed down 
bruised cheeks as they stepped into each other again. Hairpulls and now 
breast mauling were in order as they fought their way back down to the 
other end of the alley. When they reached the entrance to the 
street,they each pushed away and returned a few steps back into the 
darkened alley. Enraged hands grabbed out again for delicate mammeries 
and after a bit,they slumped to their knees. The first woman got the 
upper hand and shoved her opponent over,climbing on top of her and 
mauling her about the face and breasts. Their legs entwined beneath the 
long robes and battled with tight force. The second woman,rolled them 
over and they began rolling back and forth in the dirt,causing a dust 
cloud all around them. The first woman forced herself back to top 
position and clamped onto her rival's face. Although her nails were 
short,the tips of her fingers still dealt out great punishment. Their 
hands now dug into their cheeks, their legs entwined,their robes rode up 
to their thighs,their sandals scrapped in the dirt,and they remained 
silent! In the end,the second woman let her arms fall limp,signaling her 
surrender. They slowly collected their scarfs,dusted themselves off,and 
stole off into the night.The end