Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
Author:Isabella Hammad
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2023-03-17T16:12:30+00:00
10
Two hours later, we entered the outskirts of Haifa, in the industrial quiet of a Friday noontime, a little while before the start of Shabbat. The concrete buildings here, however tall, always appeared squat, topped with the round grey petals of rooftop satellites, stroked by shaggy palms, and the granary rose before the water like a gigantic windowless castle, replete with turrets, constructed with irrational proportions as if from a childâs drawing. As we wound our way towards Mount Carmel, everyone in the car long having retreated into his or her own thoughts, I watched the cityâs vistas appear and vanish with an alert melancholy that reminded me of the day I arrived, more than three weeks ago. I thanked Mariam as she pulled up outside the car park, noticed that she looked pale and thoughtful, and then I waved at the others, who both waved back. I straightened up and crossed the tarmac.
âWhatâs wrong? You look like youâve seen a ghost.â
Haneen opened the door in a silk shirt with a multicoloured pattern of stripes and dots.
âIt was a bad journey,â I said, dropping my bag off my shoulder like a child returning from school. âI hate Israel.â
âWelcome home.â
I kept it vague. Haneen would be angry about my outburst so I only said they detained Wael for a while, and then segued into general dismay at the shutting of the mosque compound, the first time it had been shut since the second intifada, meanwhile suggesting we have wine with lunch. She agreed to the wine with enthusiasm and then, while we were eating, recited the names of three young men from Birzeit who were arrested last week âas a preventative measureâ on suspicion of planning to organise demonstrations against the killing of the young man named Nidal in Jerusalem. The soldiers came and took them from the university campus.
âSuspicion of planning to organise,â I repeated, tearing a piece of bread. âHow did they know? From Facebook?â
âOr there might be a collaborator at the university.â
Weâd heard nothing of this in Ramallah, which seemed strange, since Birzeit was only a Âtwenty-Âminute drive away. Haneen made a passing reference to âThe Ramallah Bubbleâ.
âWeâre all in our bubbles.â
âSure, though thatâs not really what they mean by it.â
âWho is they ?â
She hesitated. âPeople, I guess.â
After lunch I ran a bath. I lay facing the toilet, my knees bent, the rubber Âanti-Âslip webbing beneath my feet. The steam heightened my wooziness from the wine and heavy food. Since we started rehearsals Iâd been eating Âhalf-Âheartedly, alienated from my hunger. I didnât want to lose weight, though; whenever I did my nose got bigger and I quickly looked older. With the toes of my right foot I worked the hot tap for a few seconds, felt the flood of heat at my ankles, then played Ârow-Âyour-Âboat to spread it evenly around the bath.
I thought about Rashid, and wondered whether, refusing food, he had kept track of the hours, the days. Did the days and nights eventually blur,
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