12. To the Moon
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Cake for breakfast, Sam(a) thought. Alexandria in the 30s is paradise.
The family had finished breakfast and their father had not yet returned to behold the stranger in their home.
‘I have just the thing!’ proclaimed Lilia, panicked as she had been since Sam(a) first met her on the corniche. Lilia emerged from the kitchen with a chocolate cake, topped with dollops of apricot jam and roasted pecans. Lilia delicately served Sam(a) a thin slice on a plate decorated with a scene of the European imagination of a Chinese palatial pagoda and the high-born ladies of some imperial court in flowing tunics and shawls. Already sufficiently full from the ful medammes, Sam(a) very quickly devoured the cake and asked for a second slice. Lilia was happy to oblige.
‘This is t
