The magazine

A new shirt

The editorial hall of Akher Khabar magazine was crowded and turned into a hive of bees, its buzzing increased. Mustafa entered the hall, looking around it looking for a place to sit, but all the places were crowded. Samiha waved to him from one corner of the hall, he drew a usurped smile on his lips, and headed towards her, on the way. Faraj stopped him, holding his arm, and said to him in a loud voice, as usual when speaking:
- I got a (Tommy) shirt worth 2,000 pounds.
Mustafa stood at the beginning looking at Faraj's face in silence, knowing very well that the amount he is telling him now will drop to ten percent only, this shirt he will get for two hundred or maybe three hundred pounds as a maximum, this is a finished matter, but all Mustafa wants to know now is where this got from An elderly person wears such a shirt, so the source of the shirt is conclusive evidence that it is original or an imitation, and what is the degree of quality of its imitation? Mustafa remained silent looking at Faraj's face, who did not stop talking, saying:
- Of course, do you know Mr. Ashraf Issa?
Mustafa shook his head affirmatively. Faraj continued his speech as if he had not seen Mustafa shake his head or saw it and ignored it:
- Mr. Ashraf Issa, who wears bras with long pants.. Do you know?
- Oh, do you know, Uncle Faraj.. What is Mr. Ashraf's money?
Faraj put the tray of tea in his hand on a desk, behind which a young young journalist sits watching a video on YouTube. He stops it every few seconds and writes on a piece of paper in front of him. The young man did not care to place the tray on a desk while he was working, as this would not affect much what he does now; Moreover, Faraj's uncle is the owner of this hall, and he has complete freedom to do whatever he wants with it, as everyone who works here is accustomed to.
Faraj approached Mustafa's ear and said:
- When Ashraf first got a job, he worked here for the magazine.. These words come from twenty-seven years ago.. He was suspicious of me, as all of you are now.. But he was suspicious of drinks and food, and for hours he used to take cash as well.. It is not hours, I mean, but You can say this all the time.. It is true that he used to reply and pay everything he owed.. But on the same day he paid, he started borrowing and doubting again..
- And then, Uncle Faraj? I am not empty for this talk.. What is Mr. Issa's relationship with the shirt?
- I don't come to you in talking, oh.. lean on patience, my son.
Mustafa breathed in distress, but there is no way he can. He must hear what Uncle Faraj wants to tell, even if it is of no value. Faraj continued his speech:
- I left the magazine and went to work in one of the Gulf countries.. I didn't stay there for almost a year..
Faraj was silent for a short moment, as if he was calculating something in his mind, then he added:
- No, by God.. I ask forgiveness from God Almighty, O Lord.. And the Prophet has not completed a year, Mustafa, my son.. How many months will this happen.. Say a wish, for example, with a lot..
- And then, Uncle Faraj?
Mustafa said it in distress, but he remembered that there was nothing behind him or assigned to him, and that he came today to the magazine to meet Noha Morgan, and she does not come now, so there is no objection to practicing some gossip with this elderly person. Samiha had to wait for him to finish his conversation with Faraj. Faraj went back to telling the story of Ashraf Issa, trying to gather its threads from his shattered memory:
- He came back from the Gulf, but something else at all..two days and he went to open a magazine on his own..and he became the editor-in-chief..his love and after a few years he sold the magazine and you didn't understand it so he participated in a satellite channel and didn't just work for it..and now as you know and see it working There is a satellite channel that pays him something and a few, and on his radio station which is itmm de...
- FM Uncle Faraj...fm is not mm.
- You won't make a difference, Mustafa, my son.. The important thing is that he was on a road trip.. Almost like that in America.. He was being treated there for people far from you who had gout.
- Do you know what gout comes from, Uncle Faraj?
- Oh, whoever drinks wine, God forbid.. He only drinks lightly, may God forgive him.
- First, Mr. Ashraf does not drink.. Secondly, gout, man or boy, has nothing to do with wine.. Gout occurs because of the frequent eating of meat.
- Oh man!
- Oh and your life.
- Well, gout is because of the meat, which means that rich people are sick, oh, why is he going to be treated for it?!
- Because at first or at the end he got sick, Uncle Faraj.. Carry on, Uncle Faraj.. After he traveled to America, what happened?
- Come back again, what will happen?!
- Praise be to God for his safety, sir.. Ha, and then?
- Oh, I remembered.. he brought me this shirt and told me his name was (Tommy) and wished it would be more than two thousand pounds.
- He told you that.
Faraj nodded affirmatively, Mustafa put his hand in his pocket and took out a two hundred pound note and showed it to Faraj, saying:
- She walks with you, Baraka.
- Just two pounds dead, Mustafa, my son.. They say (Tommy), America, and Mr. Ashraf Issa, and you say they are two pounds dead.. Well, these two pounds are not right. I stood with you now.. Professor Ashraf Issa says.. Ashraf Issa.
- dead and thirty walking with you?
- Two dead fifty and I am the loser.
Mustafa took out a fifty-pound banknote, Faraj inserted the money and signaled to Mustafa to follow him after he carried the tray from above the desk where a young man was sitting a short while ago, he disappeared in the crowd of the hall, told Mustafa to go and start his work, and before leaving Mustafa will head to the buffet And he takes the shirt from him there.
Faraj waved his hand, but before he walked, Mustafa asked him to tell Mr. Ashraf Issa about him. Faraj narrowed his eyes as he looked at Mustafa and said:
- You just finished your book..and I will make him do a meeting with you. Perhaps if he likes the book, he can talk to the channel's management. You present a program, but you finish your book.
He said it and left Mustafa confused. He felt that the hall was suddenly enveloped in silence, and he felt that everyone in the hall was looking at him, looking at him, waiting for him to respond. To a colleague from the university and at work, and asked him if he had eaten his breakfast, he told her that he had not eaten it yet, she told him that she thought he was recommending breakfast and coffee to Uncle Faraj, his face changed color and turned red and he told her that there was a problem with one of Faraj's neighbors, and that he was begging him to intervene, Samiha shook her head She is not interested in what he says, and commented on his words that what matters to her is that he has not eaten his breakfast yet, like her.
Samiha stood up and took her bag and motioned for him to precede her because she had decided to invite him to breakfast. Mostafa walked ahead of her until they left the editorial hall, walking next to each other as they exited the magazine building.
Samiha stood in front of the main gate of the magazine, hesitant. Mustafa asked her why she was standing like this. She did not know exactly where they would break their fast. There is a restaurant close to the magazine, but it serves popular foods that she does not like. It also makes her bloated because she suffers from colitis. On the opposite side of the magazine, there is a gum shop. She has not tried it before, but she passes by him whenever she comes to the magazine, looking at his destination from behind the windshield of her car. Its facade is clean and it seems that its goods are good, but she did not try it even once, and she might take her car and accompany Mustafa to one of the well-known restaurants, and there they can have a full and guaranteed breakfast and the price will be reasonable.
She presented the last two proposals to Mustafa after she ruled out the idea of a popular restaurant. Mustafa asked her about the price of breakfast in the well-known restaurant. She recklessly extended her lower lip and told him that the meal per person would be between one hundred and one hundred and fifty pounds. Samiha laughed at his reaction and told him that this is a reasonable price if you compare it to a cup of coffee only in (Starbucks), and in general, she is the one who invited him to breakfast, which means that he will not pay anything.