Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury

Author:Elias Khoury [Khoury, Elias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781583225837
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

* Rayyis: president, or boss.

* Uprising of the Palestinian people, launched in early December 1987.

* Battle for control of the hotel strip in West Beirut in October 1975.

HAVE YOU accepted my apology?

Salim As’ad bewitched me with his stories and his play and his white hair. He bewitched me and made me forget you. You will, no doubt, appreciate what a battle I got into with Dr. Amjad over creating a job for him. Amjad refused, saying that the budget wouldn’t cover it and that Salim As’ad would turn the hospital into a circus, but I insisted and won.

I won, meaning I lost, because he didn’t want to work. He worked for a month and then left without saying goodbye. What did I do to him? Nothing at all. I let him do as he pleased, just forbade him to go near your room. That was all. But he’s a louse – really a louse – who doesn’t want to work. He’s gotten used to being unemployed and putting on a show and bullying people into giving him money. What more could I have done for him than I did?

“This isn’t a hospital.” Every time I made any comment about his behavior, he’d look at me in astonishment, shrug his shoulders and say, “This isn’t a hospital.”

Once he came into my office.

“What, Salim?” I asked.

“I have some bottles, Doctor. Haven’t you made up your mind yet about changing the color of your hair?”

“Get away from me. Leave me alone so I can work.”

“Work!”

“Yes. Please leave me alone.”

“Work, Doctor? You think you’re working, but you’re a fool (sorry, Doctor, I say whatever pops into my head). You’re a fool, and you’re cheating everybody by making them believe they’re in a real hospital. You sell them things you don’t have. I’m better than you, I sell them the real thing, the white-haired man who gets rid of his white hair and feels like he’s become young again. But you give them nothing, just a continuation of the lie. Stop lying, please; stop lying and let people get on with their lives.”

Is it true, Father, that I deceive people?

Have I been deceiving you?

You, too, would prefer things to be solved by Salim As’ad’s methods, with a little bottle containing a liquid made of soap and herbs. But where am I going to find a liquid that will restore consciousness to your paralyzed brain?

No, no, don’t believe Salim.

Salim is just a game, just a play, just a show. The real thing is hiding here, in these two rooms. You’re here, and Dunya’s there. Dunya’s dying, and you’re dying. She can no longer tell her story, and you can no longer stand yours since Nahilah’s death.

And I’m a play actor.

I’m the real actor, not Salim. I’m acting out your story, and Dunya’s story, and Salim’s story. I’m acting out all your stories.

If Salim had understood what goes on in this room, he wouldn’t have gone away. I’m convinced that the story about him marrying

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