“I know that salacious, immoral things are happening in that flat,” Keiko told the bawab, the porter. (This was a good chance to use the old-fashioned Arabic vocabulary she was learning in her Arabic Linguistics class.)
*****
From a “Little Honey and a Little Sunlight”
Give me the skinny, doc,” I said, as if I were a real swashbuckler. Not the moment of reckoning, the last hurrah, the final goodbye, the diminishing hourglass. He was shining a slender flashlight, the size of a cigarillo, into my eyes. For a moment, I saw a wondrous rainbow. But when I blinked again, Dr. Ivanov’s violet blue eyes were scrutinizing me. Instead of my ratty blue jeans with the Grateful Dead patch over the bum, I was wearing a crinkled paper gown.
******
From “Taken Hostage by the Ugly Duck”
The day after Hoda was hit in the ear with a rotten egg thrown by her British neighbor, she adopted a blue heron. Complaining to her friends had not been enough, complaining to the landlord and the bawab had not been enough, complaining to her husband had not been enough. She had never suffered such humiliation! She had marched to the Friday bird market and bought the bird with the harshest call.
*****
From “The Charm”
With the two of us, the carpet slid out from underneath the bed. And there was Shushu. The wound from her breast operation had never healed, where she had torn out the stitches. Tiny black things were crawling all over her. “My God,” Sheri said, “Shushu is being eaten.”
*****
From “Ice”
“What I didn’t tell you. I was on Hezbollah’s Most Wanted List. Along with Robert Fisk.”
*****
From “Tiger”
I closed my eyes for a minute—I really needed to crash. My eyes felt grainy and I had a headache. When I opened them, I realized our taxi driver didn’t have any legs.
*****
From “On the Run: Part I”
I became a WANTED MAN. The Chronicle of Higher Education ran an article on me: “Professor Tanks Career over Contaminated Fish. Creates Dangerous New Water Computer Virus. Still Missing.”
*****
From “On the Run: Part II”
“The demonstration against the BIG MAN and HIS MEN has become violent,” Kharalombos said. “Anyone who disobeys the curfew will be shot.”
THREE WINNERS:
Two winners receive paperbacks.
One winner receives the eBook of Shahrazad’s Gift.
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 4/12/24)
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