[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-37215-en":3,"doc-seo-37215-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},37215,962075006959,"Anda","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e0002397efbe92a78e?_k=1776741047341049297",1,"Story & Novel","Goat Days","Goat Days by Benyamin presents a prison episode framed through irony and desperation. Hameed and the narrator wait outside a small police station hoping to be arrested, observing indifferent guards who dismiss them despite repeated attempts in markets and near mosques. After finally being allowed inside, they are brought to the mudeer’s office, where authority is conveyed through religious inscriptions and everyday procedures. The text builds tension through stalled communication and the narrator’s mounting recognition and fear.","Goat Days  \nBenyamin  \nContents  \nPrison  \nOne  \nTwo  \nThree  \nFour  \nDesert  \nFive  \nSix  \nSeven  \nEight  \nNine  \nTen  \nEleven  \nTwelve  \nThirteen  \nFourteen  \nFifteen  \nSixteen  \nSeventeen  \nEighteen  \nNineteen  \nTwenty  \nTwenty-one  \nTwenty-two  \nTwenty-three  \nTwenty-four  \nTwenty-five  \nTwenty-six  \nTwenty-seven  \nTwenty-eight  \nTwenty-nine  \nThirty  \nEscape  \nThirty-one  \nThirty-two  \nThirty-three  \nThirty-four  \nThirty-five  \nThirty-six  \nThirty-seven  \nThirty-eight  \nThirty-nine  \nForty  \nForty-one  \nRefuge  \nForty-two  \nForty-three  \nAuthor’s Note  \nOne  \nLike two defeated men, Hameed and I stood for a while in front of the small police station at Batha. Two policemen were sitting in the sentry box near the gate. One was reading something. His posture, the way he moved his head, and his half-closed eyes, suggested that it was a religious text. The second policeman was on the telephone. Hislaughter and chatter audible in the street. Although the two sat close to each other, they were in different worlds.  \nNeither worlds cared for us.  \nSlightly off the sentry box, a wild lemon tree curved into the street. We squatted in its shade, hoping a guard would look up from his work and notice us. We remained like that for a long time. Meanwhile, one or two Arabs briskly went into the police station and at least three or four sauntered out. It was as if we were invisible to them. Then a police vehicle came out of the station compound. We jumped up, eagerly following it with our eyes. But, stopping only to watch for vehicles on either side of the main street, it went its way. Feeling desperate, we leaned against the tree.  \nWhenever we thought the guard on the phone had ended his call, we would anxiously rise and walk up to the sentry box. It was futile though, for he would make another call without losing even a moment. The other sentry was so immersed in his reading that there was no sign he would look up any time soon.  \nWe even walked past the sentry box a couple of times just to draw their attention. However, they did not notice us.  \nHaven’t we all heard about so many unfortunate people who, for some emergency, left their rooms without the  \npathaka and got arrested in the market, in public places orin front of mosques. How many days did we walk through the vegetable market, the fish market and busy streets hoping to get arrested? Many a muthawwa went past us, not one stopped us. Many a policeman came across us, none checked us. What’s more, we even loitered near mosques during prayer times without going in to pray. We tried it at several mosques and during different parts of the day. Still no one noticed us. One day, I even deliberately tripped on a policeman’s foot. Instead of questioning me, he lifted me up, apologized profusely in the name of Allah and sent me away. Why is it that even misfortune hesitates to visit us when we need it desperately?  \nFinally, seeing no other way, we chose to come and stand in front of the police station; still, no use. After a while, we decided to cross the sentries and walk into the station. As soon as the suggestion came from Hameed, I got up and started walking, as if I had been waiting to hear it. I couldn’t wait any longer. As we went past the long iron crossbar, the sentry who was reading raised his eyes and called us. We went back to the sentry box and said we wanted to see themudeer. Gesturing us to proceed, he went back to his book.  \nWe stepped into the police station and climbed up a long flight of steps, walking past doors bearing large inscriptions of verses from the Quran. Under a notice board in which papers were pinned like decoration, we spotted some policemen sitting and eating khubus and drinking ka hwa, talking noisily. We stood quietly in front of the counter. On seeing us, one of them broke away from the conversation and raised his eyebrows while he continued to eat.  \nI gestured with my hand to show that I didn’t know the language. Another policeman, with a kahwa cup in h","cbCais0j89PCJXgX","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCais0j89PCJXgX","pdf",735293,2,224,"English","en",105,"# Contents\n## Prison\n## One\n## Two\n## Three\n## Four\n## Desert\n## Five\n## Escape\n## Thirty-one\n## Refuge\n## Forty-two\n## Author’s Note","[{\"question\":\"Why do Hameed and the narrator stand outside the police station?\",\"answer\":\"They hope to get arrested due to an emergency, but repeated attempts in public places and near mosques fail until they finally reach the station.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the guards respond to their attempts to get noticed?\",\"answer\":\"The sentry reading a religious text and the guard on the phone remain absorbed and overlook them, and even direct actions to draw attention do not work.\"},{\"question\":\"What happens after they finally enter the police station?\",\"answer\":\"They climb the stairs past Quranic inscriptions, are questioned about their pathakas, and are escorted to the mudeer’s room where formal discussion begins while the narrator observes the office.\"}]",1782998132,345,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"goat-days","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/goat-days/37215/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-08","2026-07-02",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Why do Hameed and the narrator stand outside the police station?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"They hope to get arrested due to an emergency, but repeated attempts in public places and near mosques fail until they finally reach the station.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"How do the guards respond to their attempts to get noticed?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The sentry reading a religious text and the guard on the phone remain absorbed and overlook them, and even direct actions to draw attention do not work.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What happens after they finally enter the police station?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"They climb the stairs past Quranic inscriptions, are questioned about their pathakas, and are escorted to the mudeer’s room where formal discussion begins while the narrator observes the office.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,95,99,103,108,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},90,"story-novel",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]