Losing Face by George Haddad

Author:George Haddad
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Published: 2022-03-21T02:31:08+00:00

14

On the Turkish soap, the rich man’s illegitimate son was preparing to take his father to court and claim a share in the shipping business, which he was completely unaware was a front for human trafficking. The phone rang. Elaine’s eyes shot over to the clock. It was 10:06 pm. Her body prepared itself for grief. No-one calling this late had good news. She had to shake her legs out of their stupor to walk to the phone on the kitchen bench.

‘Hello?’

‘Mum, it’s me.’ Amal was sobbing.

‘What happened?’

‘It’s Joey. He’s been arrested.’

‘Why?’

‘He was with his mates, and they did … they did something bad to a girl.’

‘Not Joey! How?’

‘I don’t know the details.’

‘Okay, I’m coming.’

‘There’s no point now. Come over in the morning.’

She was damp with sweat underneath her nightie. She shouted, ‘Why you not call me earlier? What I’m supposed to do now, Amal? Allah y mowetni!’

‘God, taking you isn’t going to solve anything, Mum. Sorry, I shouldn’t have called so late. I just don’t know what the fuck to do.’

‘Where’s Alex?’

‘He’s here.’

‘Come here, come stay here.’

‘Ma, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Amal? Amal?’

She put the phone down and peered at the golden puddle on the floor. She had pissed herself. She placed her hand over her mouth and screamed. Some of the screaming was only sound but some was curses, hexes, profanities at herself and how her life turned out.

She undressed, mopped the puddle up with her nightie and plopped the sopping thing into the laundry sink. She scalded herself in the shower, leaning against the wall to stay upright. If Joey had really done something to this girl, if word got out, it would be enough to put her in the grave. Her tummy twisted. She retched, but nothing came up. She promised the devil her life right then and there if this all turned out to be a big mistake. But it wouldn’t be a mistake, because Joey was a fool.

She put the water pressure up to dilute the nasty thought about her own flesh and blood. It didn’t work. He was lazy and Amal had indulged him too much. He smoked. She was sure he took drugs. He worked in a supermarket. He’d flunked the HSC. Sins of the father. She cursed his father. And then she cursed her father and the men who came before him and all the men to come after him.

She realised she was red hot, partly from the shower and partly because a rage had started to fill her. She stepped out of the shower and dried herself. The only other time she had felt a similar rage was when she was halfway through menopause and had heaved the cabinet with the nice plates across the tiled floor. She had asked Youssef to move it for months so that she could dust behind it. Some of the plates and a bottle of arak had smashed, and she had left the debris as a trophy for Youssef to see.

She wanted to act on her rage in a similar way now, but she didn’t know how.

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