TEN
People read the announcement about the petitions office in the newspapers; they heard it on the radio and it was spread by word of mouth, People came in droves to your office at the Government Palace. Some of them knew how to find you at your hotel, and in all this humdrum, you found a chance to engross yourself in something new to distract you from thoughts of Houriya.
Al-Kubran allowed you to use his office two or three hours every day for your meetings with the people who came to file their complaints. Those who went to your office waited for hours crammed together by the wall, opposite the Palace’s back entrance. You hadn’t thought that such an inordinate number of people might need your services.
Although you didn’t have enough time to meet everyone who came bearing a petition,
