Homecoming by Johnson-Davies Denys

Author:Johnson-Davies, Denys [Denys Johnson-Davies]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781617972065
Publisher: I.B.Tauris
Published: 2012-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

Across Three Beds in the Afternoon

Sonallah Ibrahim

He was hungry. The alarm clock placed above the television set pointed to eight o'clock. There were still twenty minutes to go before Sayyid returned, and then they would all start to eat.

He inclined his head slightly, listening to her moving about in the kitchen. He knew that she was now walking about energetically between the sink, the gas stove, and the table with the thin sheet-iron top, despite her sixty-five years, and that everything would be scattered round about her in utter confusion.

When she had almost finished she would call to him from the kitchen, “Isn’t it yet time for Sayyid to come back?”

He would look at the alarm clock, carefully examining it from behind his thick spectacles, and would then say to her, “He must be on his way now.”

From the place he had chosen for himself on the bed he was able to see the door of the flat when Sayyid would put his key into it, and with the familiar movement push against it to open it, and he would walk inside saying, “Peace be upon you.”

Despite the fact that his wife never stopped complaining that this position of his exposed him to drafts, he had continued to retain it ever since his recurrent illness had forced him to take to his bed, so that he might, as he put it, “be in touch with events.” The room had three beds in it, two of which stood close to each side of the balcony door; the third joined up with one of them to make a straight line. When he lay down on it he was facing the balcony, and if he turned round and sat across the bed, leaning his back against the wall as was his wont, the door of the room was facing him, followed by the hallway, and then the front door of the flat.

Because of the drafts the balcony door was always kept closed night and day, summer and winter, so that those who visited them, in particular their daughter Fadia, always complained that the smell in the flat was unbearable.

According to the alarm clock Sayyid should now be at the top of the street, approaching with long, easy strides, the day’s newspaper folded under his arm. On reaching the bread shop, he would stop and buy ten loaves, which he would wrap up in his newspaper, and then once again continue on his way to the Cooperative to see what new things they had on sale. If he were lucky . . .

He sucked in his lips, hoping that Sayyid would bring with him some of those Ummahat dates which, besides being cheap, were easy to munch up and swallow, and had a sweet taste if dipped into white sesame oil; the latter, however, was not at present on the market.

He gave a characteristic shake of his head and, stretching out his fingers under his vest, he began scratching his chest violently to rub away the accumulated dirt.

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.