She is the only smile in his life now; how often she came in…

هي البسمة الوحيدة في حياته الآن، وطالما دخلت عليه وهو نائم وأحكمت حوله الغطاء، كان يشعر بها ويدَّعي النوم مستمتعًا بما تفعل، وعندما تدَعُه يظلُّ يتأملها وهي تخطو خارجة.

She is the only smile in his life now; how often she came in while he slept and tucked the cover around him, and he would feel her and pretend to sleep, savouring what she did, and when she left him he kept watching her as she stepped out.

From the novel Habashi’s Café · Chapter 8

Words of a narrator or a character belong to the novel's world, not to the author's personal views.

Habashi’s Café

لكن أين هم الآن؟ الذي شاخ والذي مات والذي تكسَّح ولم يعُدْ يخرج من بيته، وخلَّفوا ذريةً تجهل مَنْ هو حبشي! وأني كنت سبعًا من سباع الليل.
But where are they now? One has grown old, one has died, one is crippled and never leaves his house, and they left behind offspring who do not know who Habashi is, or that I was once a lion of the night.

Habashi’s Café

فالمشهد عليه قبل ساعتين، كما لو أنه يوم الحشر.. أرتالٌ أرتال من الجِمال والأبقار والجواميس، في طريقها إلى البيوت بعد يوم عمل بدأ من البكور.
Two hours earlier the scene on the road was like the Day of Gathering: column upon column of camels, cows and buffaloes on their way home after a working day that had begun at first light.

Habashi’s Café

منذ أن كُنَّا فوق أكتاف أمهاتنا ونحن نراها، وما من شيءٍ يحدث في البلدة إلا ويُحكى فيها، حتى الذي يجري في العِزَب والكُفُور التي حولنا، كان يأتينا خبره في ساعتها أو أقصاها اليوم التالي.
Since we were carried on our mothers' shoulders we have been looking at it; nothing happens in the village without being told there, and even news from the hamlets around us reached it within the hour, or the next day at the latest.

Habashi’s Café