ومع ذلك كانت صُلبَة عفيَّة، وتعرف أن ثلاثة أرواح معلقة في رقبتها، وإن قصرت سوف يموتون منها.
And yet she was hard and strong, and she knew that three lives hung from her neck, and that if she fell short they would die on her.
From the novel Habashi’s Café · Chapter 14
Words of a narrator or a character belong to the novel's world, not to the author's personal views.
Habashi’s Café
Habashi’s Caféهي 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.
Habashi’s Caféفما الذي أخذه من الناس غير الهَمِّ والخُذلان، وإن كانوا يمقتونه فهو يمقتهم، وإذا كانوا يلعنونه هو الآخر يلعنهم ويلعن البطون التي أتت بهم.
What had he ever got from people but worry and betrayal? If they loathed him, he loathed them; if they cursed him, he cursed them back, and cursed the wombs that bore them.
Habashi’s Café- لا شويَّة ولا كتير أنا راضي، بس إلَّا الغلط في الأم والأب وآديكم شاهدين.
Little or much, I'm content; but not insulting my mother and father, and you are my witnesses.