Excerpt of Beirut 39 by Samuel Shimon
(Page 5 of 5)
Printer Friendly Excerpt
Haneef bade farewell with the words that his limited Arabic vocabulary
allowed, and I bade farewell to him as I crossed the remaining
metres of the bridge. I gripped the phone for a moment in irritation,
trying to imprison some of Haneef’s voice inside it in order to hold
a more decent conversation later, one in keeping with the refined
humanity he deserved, not one that grew more uncouth the older I
got.
I opened the window, hoping that the air blowing in would
explain my watering eyes, and waited for a question from my wife
who’d been watching me closely since the conversation began:
‘Who was that?’
‘Haneef, our old driver.’
‘Why the tears?’
‘I miss him.’
‘The driver?!’
Translated by Anthony Calderbank
Excerpted from Beirut 39
by Samuel Shimon. Copyright © 2010 by Samuel Shimon.
Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury. All rights
reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted
without permission in writing from the publisher.
