35. Fun House
Sam(a) woke to the sound of a farmworker calling out his oratory advertisements in the streets. ‘It’s the last of the oranges,’ the farmworker said. ‘The oranges are leaving. Farewell, oranges!’
Sam(a) thought nothing of it. She was waiting for the summer — for mango season.
Wassim had promised to take Lilia, Ghozala, and Sam(a) to Parque el-Negoum that day, on the outskirts of town. Ayoub would not come. It did not bear asking. They all knew that Ayoub would be at the synagogue, reciting psalms, as he did everyday. He would come home in the early afternoon, have a small sandwich and a glass of water, and return.
That morning, Hawa meandered about her garden. She saw Sam(a) looking at her through the window, and for the first time in all of Sam(a)’s days in Alexandria in
