Excerpt
HAKIM IS UP VERY EARLY this Wednesday morning, and following his half
hour of meditation, sits at his workstation to communicate with his uncle. It’s
about seven in the evening in Baghdad, and someone must be at home; he hasn’t
heard from them in the last couple of days and is concerned. They must have
some news by now; the tests were to be done a few days ago.
“Hello there, my uncle, how are you?”
“Hello Hakim.” Rassan answers.
“Hi, Rassan; where is everybody?”
“Mara is at the hospital with Ibrahim; she stays overnight to keep him
company. They had tests done yesterday and today; it doesn’t look good.”
“Tell me, what were the test results?”
“They did a couple of scans and detected two small tumors—a tiny one in his
liver and a bigger one in his pancreas. They are to do biopsies tomorrow and then
we’ll have answers.”
“How is he? Is he in pain?”
“Well, in the hospital he is not in pain as they have him on painkillers; I don’t
know how he will feel when he gets home, if they allow him to come home.”
“Is he that bad that you think he may not come home soon?”
“I don’t know Hakim, I’m not the doctor. We’ll see; what I know is when he
was here the last few days he was in pain constantly.”
“Thanks Rassan, I’ll reach you again tomorrow about the same time. Make
sure you are around to give me an update of how things are. If need be, I may
come over for a few days to keep Mara company.”
“She’s going to be very happy to see you, I’m sure.”
“Say hello to both of them, and pass on a message to my uncle from his friend
Bevan, who sends his regards.”
He turns the computer off and puts on a robe; Jennifer is still asleep in the
bedroom.He walks to the balcony and looks at the weather in Los Angeles; clouds
cover the sky, in the same way that they cover his heart with this latest news. The
temperature is around 15 degrees; a pleasant temperature for the time of the year.
He has to go to the office and check on things; the business has been going a bit
better the last couple of weeks and Peter Bradshaw is very excited about a new…
Manolis Aligizakis 