Woman Who Fell From the Sky by Jennifer Steil

Author:Jennifer Steil [Steil, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autobiography
ISBN: 9780732288204
Google: wTl3RAAACAAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Published: 2010-06-01T10:00:00+00:00

AT THE END OF NOVEMBER, two men from the South African embassy visit me. These men actually made an appointment, only I have completely forgotten. When they arrive, I am buried in work, but I set my editing aside to talk about the recent elections and press freedoms in Yemen. Ambassadors often drop by to quiz me about the Yemeni press. They want to know “where my red lines are”—what limits are put on free expression. I normally enjoy these ambassadorial briefings, but I am so overwhelmed by the work I have left to do that their visit sends me into a panic. Exacerbating matters, I return to my office to find a group of women students sitting there, waiting for al-Asaadi. Struggling to be polite, I chat with them briefly before he arrives.

Now I am even more behind, so I ask al-Asaadi to please take the students to a conference room, so I can catch up with my editing.

“No,” he says with a note of defiance in his voice.

I look up from my computer, startled. “Why not? The conference rooms are both empty, and I have to be in the office to edit on my computer and e-mail questions to Hakim on his story.”

“No. You go someplace else.”

I am stunned, not just by his irrational obstinacy, but by the fact that he is arguing with me in front of a room full of women.

“Mohammed, I need to be in this office and you know that. Why do you need to be here to talk with these women? This is why we have conference rooms! For meetings like this!”

He refuses to leave. I attempt to work, but it is impossible with him talking at top volume to the students right next to me. Faris, for once, happens to be upstairs, so I run up to solicit his support. I interrupt his meeting with Jelena, the temperamental advertising coordinator for Arabia Felix, who has just had such a vicious fight with Karim that he threatened to quit.

“What is it?” says Faris, looking annoyed.

I explain the situation, and Faris immediately phones downstairs to tell al-Asaadi to take the girls to a conference room. I am well aware that tattling on al-Asaadi to Faris sounds the death knell of our relationship, but I don’t know what else to do. I have five pages left to edit, and most of the day is gone.

I run back downstairs, but al-Asaadi, in defiance of Faris’s orders, still refuses to leave. Faris sends down the big guns, in the shape of the formidable Doctor. I hide out in the newsroom with Luke while he goes to oust al-Asaadi and the girls from our office.

When at last they are gone, I go straight back to work. Al-Asaadi promptly returns to yell at me. I yell back.

“Why are you being so stubborn?” I say. “You know I have to be here for work. Why do you have to be here, when both conference rooms are free?”

“Because it’s my office!”

“That

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.