SIX
All of a sudden, you realized that people considered you the second most important man in Libya. You burst into laughter at the thought.
The second most important man of Libya. Why not? After all, you didn’t need a decree signed by King Victor Emanuel and Benito Mussolini, in order for you to become the Vice-Governor-General of Libya. All it took was the word of a woman named Nuriya from the brothels of Sidi Umran and a beggar named Abdel Mowlah. Hadn’t al-Kubran also accorded you such a status the previous night, as had the crowds of petitioners outside his hotel? You had declined that honour, but why? Why strip yourself of the raiments of power and authority these wretched people wished you to don? Why not allow them the pleasure of placing you in whatever standing they liked while
