Straight From the Horse's Mouth by Meryem Alaoui

Author:Meryem Alaoui [Alaoui, Meryem]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary
ISBN: 9781892746795
Goodreads: 53217517
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

THURSDAY THE 20TH

I’m sitting by the window in my room. It’s the end of the afternoon and the window’s closed because it’s cold. It might rain today.

From here, I can see glimpses of sky and several clouds. On the mattress to my right is a page from a newspaper to catch the shells of the pepitas as I eat. I’ve had so much practice that I don’t even need to look at the page to know they’re landing on it. Right on the head of Ben Ali, the Tunisian president. Serves him right! I don’t care for that thief.

In the street, I see that crazy girl Anissa fighting with her jinns. She came back to the area a few days ago. I’m waiting for Horse Mouth, who should be here any minute now. She’ll call me when she’s out front. I hadn’t heard from her since she left for the Netherlands in September or October.

I’m bored. I’m tired of being bored. And I’m tired of being alone and cycling through the problems tangled up in my head like the yarn in a ball of wool. It’s been years since I’ve been able to distinguish one day from the next, so much do they resemble each other, and now, in less than three months, everything’s gotten mixed up.

First, the event that started it all, is that I was hit by a motorcycle. Because of some idiot, I was in the hospital for three weeks.

I was walking peacefully in the street with Samira, I had just passed the market to go to the liquor store that is next to the call shop. It was the beginning of the afternoon. We were on the sidewalk and before we crossed, we slid between two cars to reach the street. I was in front, Samira behind. We were talking. Maybe you think that I turned toward her as I was crossing and so I didn’t see the motorcycle coming? Or else that I was drunk and in the haze of my intoxication I didn’t see what was happening? Well you would be wrong. No, I was walking and just as I was about to cross, I looked left where the cars were coming from and I stepped onto the road. Samira didn’t have the time to cry out before I was struck by that asshole going the other way. He was going the wrong way and driving at full speed.

As soon as he got up, he mounted his motorcycle and disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared.

Do you think anyone went to follow him? Or came to see whether he’d left me dead or alive? We were in front of a café, and the men sitting at their tables who had witnessed the scene wedged even farther into their seats. Sipped their coffees. Free show, what more could you ask for?

Samira started to scream, the passersby leaned over to see what all the fuss was about. I sat up, glanced at my right leg, touched my bleeding skull, and fainted.

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