Onkel did not come back to the apartment for me that night as he’d joked he would, which was probably best. The next morning, sound entered my dream, the whirring screech of an enormous insect. I opened my eyes, unfamiliar with where I was. The light was clearer, more defined somehow than in Cairo, but it had the washed-out quality of very early morning. I felt like I hadn’t slept long. The ringing continued, a bell. I put on a robe and went to the door.
“Good morning, lovely!” Onkel spread his arms as though he wanted me to hug him. “I’m sorry that there is not someone more appropriate here to call on you at this early hour but, as my brother keeps reminding me, I am short-staffed.” I stood holding my robe and looking at him. Was I supposed to invite him in? What time was it? “So, I am
