‡ A room? Tonight? Here?
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* * *
§ A small side room, anything.
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* * *
* But don’t tell anyone.
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* * *
† We’ve become her slaves.
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* * *
‡ She knew everything.
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* * *
§ And giddy-up, she was already on the horse!
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* * *
∥ A pure, fine soul.
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* * *
* You put it so well.
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* * *
† At least give me something to eat, Fu’ad.
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* * *
* You would have liked lamb better, Professor.
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* * *
† Next time I’ll have to be more careful.
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* * *
* I just remembered, Professor, that the pillow here isn’t fresh.
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* * *
* How could I not have, since it was me who talked you into sleeping here? It’s a lucky thing that Mr. Hendel will never know we stuck you down here, because he always warned us not to shortchange a guest, even a nonpaying one.
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* * *
* Arab-style or European?
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* * *
† Why not go with the Arabs?
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* * *
‡ That’s as should be.
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* * *
§ So? Do you think I’m crazy?
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* * *
∥ Why crazy, Professor?
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* * *
# Are you feeling better these days, Professor?
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* * *
** Yes, better.
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* * *
* And that’s what I told your son, Professor, when he came crying to me.
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* * *
* The truth is.
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* * *
† Well, it was a little bit of rhymed prose.
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* * *
‡ Rhymed Arabic prose, you know what that is.
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* * *
* The toothed one you long for is at the root of the palm,
As fetchingly golden as the sleep that you crave.
Your desire is not in the wind or the grave.
In the Carmel’s halls of justice, there it shall find calm.
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* * *
* Yes, my friend.
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* * *
† In any case, look for that old elegy.
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* * *
‡ For you, I’d go to the ends of the earth.
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* * *
§ I’ve also found that Jew.
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* * *
* Is that how you come here, my friends, like thieves, without even saying hello?
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* * *
† What can I do?
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* * *
‡ You suddenly thought there was an earthquake.
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* * *
* She’s depressed from imagining and crazy from being depressed.
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* * *
* Am I disturbing you?
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* * *
† You never could, my friend.
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* * *
* Fuck you.
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* * *
† When will I be old enough for you to believe that I’m really ill?
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* * *
* Absolutely not, Madam!
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* * *
† In any case, we never pay the bill to the Israelis.
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* * *
* Yes, madam, ignorance is not only the basis of Arabic poetry, it is the basis of all existence.
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* * *
* There’s the Lebanese nun.
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* * *
* Because you, Fu’ad, are everywhere.
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* * *
* But the real truth—you’re a coward.
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* * *
† You see, Madam, I’m very persistent. I’ve come to hear once again what they sing in Paradise. But this time I’ve brought my wife too.
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* * *
‡ You’re welcome.
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* * *
* Please God.
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* * *
† Where’s Rashid? Where’s Samaher?
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* * *
* I just have to say, Professor.
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* * *
* Because I was worried about the way she threw herself into that play about a haunt in Ramallah. Not that it wasn’t wonderful. Samaher as a Jewish rabbi—fantastic! . . . I remember thinking, She deserves a grade just for that.
[back]
* * *
† Easy does it. Everything in good time. Meanwhile, wait for me here. I’ll soon be finished with the meeting, and we’ll have a look at the story.
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* * *
* What is this? The man has one foot in the grave already, why can’t he be left alone?
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* * *
† What’s the story?
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* * *
‡ Is the pregnancy over, or hasn’t it begun yet?
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* * *
§ It’s good to have something to believe in.
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* * *
* My favorite jinni.
[back]
* * *
* He’s not one to talk. He’s a bashful, old-fashioned type of Arab.
[back]
* * *
† What is he bashful about?
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* * *
‡ Offending the Jews.
[back]
* * *
§ But sometimes we say that the Jews are offended by the truth that they themselves go looking for.
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* * *
* Didn’t your car skid?
[back]
* * *
† We took a jeep with four-wheel drive. It was like driving on butter.
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* * *
‡ I mean, the air isn’t right for it.
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* * *
* How the air?
[back]
* * *
† The atmosphere.
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* * *
‡ I swear, Professor, don’t disappoint her.
[back]
* * *
* Should I wake him, Professor?
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* * *
† He’s going crazy from all he has to do.
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* * *
‡ It’s like in that play.
[back]
* * *
§ He has a dybbuk in him.
[back]
* * *
* All right, forward march!
[back]
* * *
† Let’s warm up a bit in the basement.
[back]
* * *
* What is this, Professor? Don’t tell me you’ve already finished sleeping?
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* * *
* What’s up with her?
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* * *
† And where is Rashid now?
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* * *
‡ Is he still hanging around y
ou?
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* * *
The Liberated Bride Page 64
