Short Stories... Evening Looms in the Distance

Before dawn, I said: “Sixty at daybreak. Evening looms in the distance, and night hurries its steps to catch up with it. I raise my hand to the sky, praying and supplicating, hoping it will arrive before them. And dawn came… and another… and another… and another… its chill! It approached me with a face upon which a serious smile fluttered, whispering: ‘My dear, will you accept me as your husband?’ A slight dizziness struck me; silence collapsed upon my lips, and my eyes filled with questions. Suddenly! I remembered that winter was at the gates of Al-Daira, and my small room was still cold. Nostalgia…! It rang in the past. I embraced my solitude… I brushed off the dust of distant time. The dream awakened. I began to write and write until the ink ran dry. At that moment, I felt that nostalgia would drive me to ask you for fuel for my pen, which had stopped writing today, for a stolen moment in time. I wonder, can what has passed ever return? Time… broken! Count seven hundred dinars with care, then hand them to the customer with a smile: ‘As you requested… half in twenties, and the other half in tens. There remain 4,706 dinars in your current account.’ He closed the window after the customer left, and breathed deeply. He raised his wrist and stared at his cracked watch. ‘Four-ten…’ ‘No… perhaps five…’ ‘No… four-fifteen…’ He smiled bitterly! – Minya Al-Shafii