THIRTEEN
With all the new errands you had been assigned, you had forgotten about looking for Fathy, Thuraya’s husband, and finding out if he was one of the recruits stationed on your base. Moreover, you were still unsure as to whether you would be able to recognize him, even if he were standing right in front of you, for you had no memory of your one brief encounter except a hazy impression.
When the departure date was definitively fixed, the recruits signed an urgent petition asking to be allowed to see their families before leaving. The base authorities responded to their request with a clever ploy. They decided that instead of permitting the recruits to leave and visit their families, they would open the camp gates to let the recruits’ families visit them. This way, they could keep th
