The Diary Of Gabriel

He was in fucking egypt!

Arthur said with a loud voice while Elena was beside him "dad was in fucking Egypt"
Elena said "what?"
Arthur said improvising "oh, it's that story dad told me once"
Elena said "so, what is the story"
Arthur said smiling trying to get through "he went to Egypt, and that was the story"
Elena said smiling with a suspicious look on her face "okay? But didn't he say before that he never left the states?"
Arthur said "maybe it's time I tell you some of his secrets, but one at a time"
She smiled and said "that's interesting"
And she walked out of the room and went to wash the dishes
Arthur got even more interested and said out loud with a very weak voice "what the fuck else have you done and kept secret"
And he started reading again.

"That was one of the worst decisions in my life. Apparently they don't speak real Arabic anymore, I mean it is Arabic but not like the Arabic that is written in books or the Arabic they write with. It's like accents in English but except that in each different Arabian country each word has about ten other words that means the same and those words are not even proper Arabic, I mean they thought I was joking with them when I tried to book the hotel, they thought I was the news guy for fuck sake, I can understand them but it is so fucking frustrating when I have to learn it all over again and not from a book but from experiencing and talking to people, it's actually been a week since I got here but I have this idea in my head, so the place where I live in is a tourists place, so it's like a heaven here really but if you go deeper in Cairo and Giza you will find the slumbers the real places where actual crimes that are mentioned in the news are done, and by the way because I know that a notebook like you wouldn't know what Cairo or Giza are, they're the two biggest cities in Egypt, and Cairo is the capital actually.
Now a notebook like you is probably wondering what is Egypt like do they live in pyramids? I would tell you that Egypt is actually a very civilized country maybe an Islamic country with hard rules but it is very normal, the women rarely put make up there, I actually kind of like the country, and every now in then when you're walking in the street you will see a woman wearing a scarf covering her hair, I think it has something to do with being a Muslim but I don't have time to read that book of theirs because god doesn't care anyways. Right now I am about to sleep and my bags are packed because tomorrow I will be going to the real slumber of Egypt to find what I'm looking for, which I don't really know what it is, but I will find out soon enough. Goodnight Mr. Notebook.

Today was actually one of the most interesting days in my entire life, right now I'm writing to you from the house of the kindest strangers, in this whole universe, and I will tell you how I actually got here. So I did go to the slumber, and it wasn't really a slumber but it was a place where people who aren't rich lived, and I am very proud of what I did and I think it was a very smart move to do in one day, so when I got there I found a coffee shop where almost everyone was old and had white hair, so there was an old man and he was reading a newspaper
I smiled at him and said "Hey there! Grandpa"
The man said "what do you want?"
I mean how rude! He can't just say that, but in the same time him being rude did save me a lot of time
I said "I would pay a thousand pounds for newspapers older than six years if you have any"
I had transferred some of my money into Egyptian pounds before I get here to make things faster
So that man took off his glasses and said "wait here with the money, and if you don't have the money, you will get all the newspapers up to my apartment again"
Turned out his apartment was actually in the building right next to that coffee shop.
The old man came down and stood right in front of me and put that box on the ground and he got out his hand out in a way that means "give me the goddamn money"
So I smiled in his face and gave him the money happily, I mean he might've gave me a box full of empty papers for all I know but I trusted him either way. I went to the nearest library I found because I needed to focus while reading those newspapers, and so I found one and I picked an empty chair and I opened the big box to actually find newspapers from 1974, and it's all in Arabic which would be adding up to the knowledge I have, I started reading from this year's newspapers which is 1979 to the oldest ones which are from 1974. It took me about three hours to actually make a plan for what's going to happen, so about one year ago in the place I am at right now a series of killings started and they didn't catch the killer, and the patterns that are repeated in those killings are: all of them are women, all of them were raped with actual semen in their bodies (it was the same DNA every time and that's how they knew it was the same guy every time) And most of them were either those things they call eastern dancers, or women who were wearing partially revealing clothes judging by the traditions here. See it is easy to catch that person but I don't really want to be the person to do justice on him, and that would be the other person that I found he killed a man that he found trying to rape a young girl near his workplace, I think you see now what I'm doing here, so this guy's name is Badr EL-Gebaly, if you translate his name to English it actually means full moon the mountain man, something that you didn't know about Arabic names is that almost all of them are actual words that are used in the language, I find it really cool actually. So getting back to the plan so this guy was sentenced to five years in prison in 1974 and he got out almost a year ago, I didn't know if he was still working in the address mentioned in the newspaper, but I just went as if he was. I stood outside and I stopped a man walking and I asked him "does Badr work here?"
And I pointed at the mechanic place, the man said "you mean El-Gebaly?"
And he made a sign with his right hand that means something tall, at the time I thought he made that sign because El-Gebaly means the mountain man, so I said "yes, that guy"
The man said "if you don't find him in there you will find him coming to here through that way"
And he pointed at the same place where the girl that Badr saved was about to be raped, I actually think that he walks that way because his mind just wants to know that no one is getting hurt anymore, I thought he's a good guy without meeting him, which he turned out to be.
So I told random men on the street that I would give them each two hundred pounds if they beat me enough to make it look like they attacked me and I was helpless, and so they did, there was some blood in my mouth that I kept there just waiting for Badr to pass from that empty ally to spit it when he sees me, well one thing before I keep going, the photo of him is just a photo of a black man with a white background, so I didn't know anything else about him.
So the plan went as expected and I waited for him to pass so that I could act like I'm weak and I can't move, and oh boy! I saw him that guy is more than two meters tall. I spit the blood and I looked up at him in shock, and I bet that my acting was the worst in the history of acting. I said "some kids jumped me"
I mean I didn't expect what he said but he said it, He said "oh my merciful god how could they? Hit a retarded person like that! People aren't good anymore. Worry not I will get you to my apartment so that my mother can clean you up before I go to my work"
I mean I know that I talk weird when I'm talking Arabic, it's a fucking second language, and it's hard as hell to be so good at it when it's your second language, and it's not like French or Russian or anything else, it's literally another kind of letters.
So I walked with him and said no words because to be honest I was afraid even with all my boxing training, two hits from this man could get me dead if he hit in the right places. He lives in the third floor in a six floor building, and oh my god! This guy lives in a place worse than the apartment that I used to live in when I was with my family; he's a grown man who lives with his mom, I don't know what to say.
So as I entered the apartment an old lady looked shocked
And said "What have you done you stupid donkey, why would you hit a little kid like that!"
She actually had some shoes near her and she was about to hit him with one of them, I stopped her saying "He didn't do anything to me he saved me from the guys how jumped me in the alley"
She said "how could someone have the heart to hit a retarded person"
Did everyone I talked to in this country think that I was retarded?
You shouldn't answer that because I already know the answer after what Badr's mother said, and actually Badr did not seem like he was going to stop his mother from hitting him, he made that stand where you turn your back to take the beating. That actually looked weird.
Badr said "Clean him up mother so that I can take him out while I'm on my way to work"
I felt like I was the trash when he said "take him out" I didn't know at the time why would he take me out when he knows that I can't move, I mean at least I acted so. Badr's mother said "how could you leave him in the streets for people to eat him alive, can't you see his bags? He must've traveled a long way, the prophet would've never thought of leaving him in the streets, like you're thinking right now!"
Badr said "But mother! How could I leave him alone with you and my wife, the prophet would've never done this!"
I kept looking at them arguing and thinking to myself "Who is that prophet they're talking about?"
Badr's mother said "I am an old woman and even so? Look at him does he look like a man to you?"
And then she asked me how old I was
I said "I'm eighteen"
I know that I'm lying but I think the younger I am, the higher my chance will get at resting home and getting to know his family, so a little lie wouldn't hurt. Badr's mother said "Now do you see what I mean?"
Badr said "Alright mother you're right, I'm going to work now"
Even though they were just fighting and arguing, his mother kissed him on the forehead and he hugged her, and she said "may god be with you on your way my son"
It's weird and yet a little sweet. Badr's mother said to me "now sit down in that chair and let me get the doctor's kit, so that we could fix you up with god's will"
I didn't know at the time why she called the first-aids that, and why they put god in almost every sentence they say. After she patched me up, she sat down near me and smiled and asked "can you read my sweet child?"
I said "yes I can but as you see I'm not that good at speaking"
She said "Well it doesn't matter as long as you can read, because I want you to read some of the Quran to me"
Well I knew that the Quran is like the holy book for Muslims and I put in mind that I would read it at some point but I didn't think it would be that soon. I said "but I haven't read it before"
I didn't want sound rude because she have been nice to me, She said "I cannot believe it how could someone teach you how to read, without making you read the holiest book there is to be read, I guess now is a good time for you to start loving god, and it's okay if you make mistakes I will correct you"
I didn't want to tell her that I'm American or anything because explaining yourself to people is hard imagine explaining yourself to an old Arabian woman, so yeah, I read it to her and she laid down on the couch as I read it to her and she corrected me seven hundred and forty nine times in eighty minutes and twenty two seconds and then I stopped making mistakes, like I knew the patterns of the words and how they're supposed to be pronounced, you're probably wondering since you're a book too what makes that Quran book very special, well first of all I read all of it and it's all in my head now, and second of all it's just full of stories I even had to pull out my dictionary from the bags after Badr's mother fell asleep to look up what these words meant, but I only got less than half because the dictionary I had didn't have these words, it's a good book you know, it actually made me understand a lot of what I saw like the women that are wearing scarves and such things, it's going take a lot of time to explain it because it's a whole culture, you may ask why am I not explaining I would simply tell you, this is my diary, and I am the one in control here to say what I want and what I don't want, in the middle of me reading I saw what seemed to be Badr's wife she didn't seem freaked out because she probably already knew since I saw Badr writing on a piece of paper before he got out of the apartment, as she looked at me she said "the food will be ready in three hours"
I didn't know what to say to that so I nodded with my head up and down, the food was actually made before Badr got home it tasted really good, While we were eating Badr's mom asked "what is your name my beautiful child?"
I answered "it's Gabriel and what's yours?"
She said "you mean Gebreel the angel, and you can call me Om Badr"
Gebreel is the same as Gabriel they're both the same angel just from different religions and Om Badr isn't a name if you're wondering Om Badr means Badr's mother but I just thought I would write it in Arabic since it's easier to write Om Badr than Badr's mother, and weirdly enough Badr's wife didn't say a word I thought she was mad at me or something, so I said to her "thank you for that wonderful food"
She smiled and looked at Om Badr and said "I learned from the best"
I actually liked the food so much that I asked Om Badr "can you teach me how to cook since I usually live alone and I have no one to cook for me?"
Om Badr said "I would gladly do that my little angel if we just had a bigger kitchen, and then Badr got home, his marriage actually seems to be very good even though he's living with his mother, I made him stay up so that I could have the talk with him about my plan, and now that he's awake and everyone else is asleep I am going to get out for a walk with him and talk to him, I guess I will be talking to you later if he didn't kill me.