Chapter FourHamid came with his brothers to spend the summer holiday in the village, having passed another year between work and dreams where he lived within four walls, apart from those occasions in the spring when he walked out along the banks of the great river. Sometimes, if the weather was suitable, he would take a small boat across the surface of the water or go to Heliopolis* where the distant horizons descend beyond the hills on the edge of the yellow sand with its blue dome. The dry wind blew pleasantly against his chest as he gazed at the desert surrounding the fertile valley. Returning along the asphalt roads, young girls passed by in black shawls which revealed their soft plump arms while their flimsy veils exposed delicate chins and rosy cheeks or wide eyes and black eyebrows
