When I arrived on the quay it was
already busy. I was late. I understood why my boss hadn’t seemed very happy
when I asked for some time off last week: I had more or less forgotten that,
but I realized it when I brought it up. My boss, quite naturally, must have
thought that would mean I`d have four days off, including the weekend which he
probably wouldn’t have liked. But then again, it`s not every day you go to a
funeral. Of course, that doesn’t mean I
can’t understand why my boss wasn’t happy. If we are not working he always gets
upset. He has said now a couple of times that I had no direction in life.
I had difficulty getting up because I
was still tired from yesterday with Iskra.
While I was working. I wondered if I could go for a swim at lunchtime.
As soon as we got clear and the merchants had gone and there were just the
women waiting for the cheap fish in their shawls, I took the trolleybus to the
public swimming pool near the port. I dived into one of the lanes. There were a
lot of young people around. In the water, I saw Mo al Saleh who used to work at
the port office. I`d found him attractive at the time. It was mutual, I think.
But he wasn’t there for long so we didn’t have time to do anything about it. He
saw me and waved and I helped him climb onto a floating platform and my hand
brushed against his stomach. I was still in the water; he`d already turned over
on to his stomach and stretched out on the platform. He turned towards me. His
long hair had fallen over his eyes and he was laughing.
I hoisted myself up next to him. It
was warm and felt good, and, pretending it was a bit of a joke, I dropped my
head back and let it rest next to his belly. He didn't say anything but he
didn’t freeze so I didn't move either. You had to be careful so close to the
city. I could see all of the sky above
me, blue and golden as a flower. I could feel Mo’s stomach next to me, moving
gently as he breathed. We stayed that way for a long time, half asleep. When
the sun got too hot, he jumped into the water and I followed him. I caught up
with him, put my arm around his waist and we swam like that together. He was
still laughing. On the quayside, while we were drying off, he said:
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