viva part four (477 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: fiction
Rating: 1.86 on 10 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Corn Nugget (View user info) at 2005-02-27 00:25:00 EST
(continued from http://www.ubersite.com/m/57911)
Ducking under the haphazardly strewn electrical wires, and avoiding the community wells, I wandered deep into the cemetery, trying to find a shelter that was livable, yet still unoccupied.
I found my new home in the northern sector. Its mud walls were all standing, and the roof only had one small hole over the small room that apparently had served as a kitchen at one time. There was a table still sitting in the middle of this kitchen, and the earth beneath the table was rough, compared to the rest of the floor, which had been worn smooth with the many footsteps of forlorn mourners.
Beneath that rough earth lay a body. The bodies were always buried in the kitchens, in order to allow the dead to sup with the living.
I couldn't dwell on the details of my situation. I put the death, poverty and crime out of my mind, and settled down in the corner farthest from the table, and incidentally, the body that lay beneath.
I woke to a ray of sunlight that had stabbed through the damaged roof. "Ma, could you get me a-", and then I remembered. I was no longer a boy living beneath my parents roof. The body I resided in was that of a distinguished looking adult.
Yasir. I am Yasir.
The anxiety that riddled my body heightened when my eyes came to rest on the kitchen floor. I had to get away from that body, if only for the day.
After relieving myself on the western wall of my new home, I began walking.
The heat of Cairo was already oppressing, but worse, the skinny tattered children of The City of the Dead noticed me, and began to crowd around, staring, pointing, laughing, and finally asking questions.
Hastening through the city with a parade of children at my heels, I started to panic. What if someone recognized "me"? What if they mugged me? What if some perverse man raped me? The horror stories I had heard about this place were innumerable, and all horrible.
As I neared the city walls, the children fell away, presumably rushing back home to tell their parents about the new neighbor.
I found myself staring at the stoop of my parents apartment building. The hours flew by. Street vendors stopped offering me their falafel and started trying to push me out of their way. I barely noticed that they were annoyed with my lengthy presence, and I would have stood there until nightfall, had the doorman not come out and shoo me away.
The first doorway I found opened up into a tavern. It was dimly lit, and fairly empty, due to the religious nature of the city in which it did business.
As I sat down at a table near the back of the bar, a barmaid presented me with a tall glass of beer. I didn't protest to the unordered drink. I drank it down in one long swallow, and motioned the barmaid to get me another.
After my third beer my problems fled my mind. The light outside dimmed as the energy within me lit.
My true nature never waivered- I did love women, and with each sip of my fourth drink I began to think more and more of the lovely barmaid.
Her appearance was astonishing. Not only was she beautiful, but she was uncovered. The cross that dangled from her necklace showed me that she was a Christian, and this did not bother me.
Nor did her bare arms bother me, even though it's a rare sight to see a womans skin in Egypt. Usually the only women who dared to show excessive skin were tourists and whores, both of which I normally avoided.
I was not bothered that this woman was likely a whore. The thought of her laying in bed with strange men did not turn me off anymore than the way in which she flirted with the men who scampered into the tavern, seeking solitude from the busy street.
As I was lamenting over her beauty, she came to me. Instead of a glass of beer, she offered me a shot of liquor.
Having never drank before, I did not know what was sitting before me. Of course, I realized it was liquor, and I had watched enough American movies to know I was supposed to drink it all down with one gulp. The fact that it tasted terrible, and the fact that it made the room swim surprised me.
She giggled at the sour face I made, and urged me to suck on a slice of lemon. She gracefully took the seat across from me, put her hand over mine, and asked me to tell her about my sorry, sad life.
"What makes you suppose I'm sorry and sad?!" I withdrew my hand, as if I had been burned by her words.
Her eyes twinkled with a kind smile as she said something poetic about the horror in my face, and the sorrow in my voice.
I don't know if it was my passion for women, or if it was the true generosity in her gesture, or perhaps even the alcohol that flowed freely through my veins, but I loved her.
We locked eyes, and the room seemed to shake and morph, I lost control for a moment, and reality came crashing down.
I sat there, looking at Yasir.
No longer was I woozy with love and beer. My first reaction was to look down at my new body. I looked back up at Yasir, not knowing what to expect, nor being surprised at his catatonic state.
I looked back and forth between the two of us, my mind busy dissecting the situation, trying to form options.
Suddenly Yasirs body began to tremble, as if in an epileptic fit. His chair neared the point of toppling, and then he suddenly stopped shaking. His eyes shone with life, and his lips cursed me.
He shoved his chair back, stood from the table, cursed me again, and left the bar.
User Reviews
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-02-28 15:35:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Joemama (user info) at 2005-02-27 22:19:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
That was it!
Thank you very much....Mj
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2005-02-27 21:01:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
joe- I have no idea what you're talking about?
Titles get rejected because of ALL CAPS... that's all I know.
Submitted by Joemama (user info) at 2005-02-27 19:14:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good, as usual.......
CN can you tell me why three attempts
at a post were rejected each time, with
three different "headings"? (all benign)
What did I fail to read?
Don't worry...This is a one time request.
I don't want to go out and buy furniture with you
or anything like that....Thanks.......Mj
Sorry for the distraction.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-02-27 10:55:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-02-27 03:29:03 (#)
Ranking: 2
'Bout time! I almost forgot about this series. You seem to have a real thing for Egypt, huh? You've written a couple of posts on the subject, beyond your viva series...
It was a while back, but I thought this installment wasn't written as well as the previous ones. It seemed, not rushed exactly, but like you didn't give it as much love and care as the others. I just didn't "feel it" as much.
Viva la CornNugget.
Basically what he said, but a notch lower than usual is still very high on the quality list. So +2 for you.
Submitted by ThineJericho (user info) at 2005-02-27 03:40:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck, my fault.
Submitted by ThineJericho (user info) at 2005-02-27 03:39:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Actually clicked expecting a shit post and an opportunity for a flame .. but I liked it.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-02-27 03:29:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
'Bout time! I almost forgot about this series. You seem to have a real thing for Egypt, huh? You've written a couple of posts on the subject, beyond your viva series...
It was a while back, but I thought this installment wasn't written as well as the previous ones. It seemed, not rushed exactly, but like you didn't give it as much love and care as the others. I just didn't "feel it" as much.
Viva la CornNugget.
Submitted by Durae (user info) at 2005-02-27 01:44:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
mmmmmmmmmmmmm
Submitted by MandaPanda (user info) at 2005-02-27 00:57:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You're one of my favorites.