Snail Isolation

Two days after arriving in town, Reham informed me in a garbled phone call that she had found the remains of the marble headstone bearing her father's name, but that she hadn't yet located the grave and that she wouldn't return until she had located it and restored it to its original state. Then she said with determination, "I won't return before I write the first lines of my father's biography, which has been erased from the official records." I was stirring the spoon of sugar in the second cup of strong tea, which I had prepared myself, to combat a headache that had plagued me since the morning, when I heard the sound of a woman's heel on the stairs. I stopped stirring the spoon to confirm the direction of the sound. I felt a sudden throbbing in my ribs as the footsteps grew closer. It was the same time that Reham Semaan had first come to the publishing house, a year, three months, and nineteen days earlier, inquiring about a French dictionary and the titles of banned books. Two days after her arrival in town, Riham informed me via a distorted phone call that she had found remnants of her father's marble tombstone, bearing his name, but she had not yet found the actual burial site. She insisted that she would not return until she stumbled upon it and restored it to its original state. She then determinedly stated, “I will not return before I write the first lines of my father’s biography, which have been omitted from official records.”

I had prepared myself a second cup of strong tea to calm down a headache that had been plaguing me since the morning. I was stirring in it a teaspoon of sugar when I heard the sound of a woman's footsteps on the stairs. I paused, ceasing the movement of the spoon, to confirm the direction of the sound. I sensed a sudden troubling feeling in my ribs as the footsteps drew closer. It was the same timing when Riham Sem'an had first come to the publishing house, one year, three months, and nineteen days ago, inquiring about a French dictionary and some banned books.