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He could not open the car's door. It was his wedding day, and only a
few minutes ago, he had helped his bride into it and returned to bring
their luggage, but when he came back he could not find the car keys. She
looked at him in wonder, but he signaled to her not to worry, and went
back to the house to look for them there.
When he came back to tell her that he could not find them, they had
their first baby. His wife was so happy when she saw him, but her happy
look soon changed into a reproachful one when he signaled to her that he
could not find those keys. She held the baby girl close to the car
window for him to look at. Then she was busy breastfeeding her. She
signaled to him to try and get into the car so they could eat together.
He went searching on the stairways and in the street. The search and the
darkness exhausted him. When he came back, they were both asleep. He
decided to wait till the morning to start searching again.
The next day, despite his daylight search, he still could not find the
keys. He looked at them through the glass. His daughter was playing on
the back seat, and his wife was busy doing something else. In the
beginning he could not make out what it was was, but when he brought his
eyes closer to the glass he saw that they had just had their second
baby. The mother just breastfed her, and started combing the elder
daughter's hair, which has grown long. The mother smiled when she
noticed him, signaled, inquiring about the keys, then resumed combing
her daughter's hair.
On the third day came his third girl.
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On the fourth day they did not feel his presence until he knocked
on the car window's glass. The two elder girls were whispering to
each other while secretly peeking at the two cars parked in front of
them. He noticed the pair of young men in those two cars. The girls
were a little startled when their younger sister shouted, happily
recognizing him, but their blush soon disappeared when they
remembered who he was. |
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On the fifth day he noticed another car. He found an auto
tinker and brought him to open the door of the car in which the mother sat
alone, staring absent-mindedly at the three cars parked in front of her.
Inside each of them, one of the girls sat with a young man of her age. The
men looked strange to him, but they all greeted him cordially. He noticed
that his youngest girl was crying. He signaled to her, asking about the
reason for her tears. She pointed to her mother's car.
And when the auto tinker opened the door of the mother's car there was no
one inside. While the other three cars were getting ready to leave, he
found his wife's handbag. He eagerly opened it and started looking for the
girls' names.
Ahmed Mohamed Mokhtar is an Egyptian writer who was born in Cairo in
1961. He holds a Bachelor's degree in English and Literature, and has
worked teaching English at Cairo University. Mr. Mokhtar currently works
as a translation specialist for Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia. His
publications include several short stories that have appeared in daily
Arabic newspapers, as well as this story, which was featured in Story
Bytes (http://www.storybytes.com/). If you would like to read more of
his work, be sure to check out his website at http://members.xoom.com/ahmed36. |
