The magazine

Miserable Condition

He calmed her down and started telling him what had happened to her inside Shihab al-Baghdadli's office. As soon as she finished speaking, he congratulated her and asked him to take a look at the small piece of paper he gave her. She searched for it in her handbag but did not find it. She would have collapsed if she had not found it in the pocket of her jeans. I took it out of him gently and showed it to Mustafa. He read it quickly and took out his mobile phone. He called the number every time I heard Mustafa talking while he was talking to another woman named Noha Morgan, and that he was recommending her to a new colleague who had good looks, and she joined the investigations department with her.
I was reassured after I understood what was written in the small piece of paper, but who is Noha Morgan and what is her relationship with Mustafa Dawood? A question I asked hesitantly to him, he said while smiling after he sipped the last sip from his cup of coffee:
- Noha Marjan, the daughter of Bashawat, seriously, not words.. The daughter of assets and the children of assets are a treasure that should not be neglected.. A classmate of mine from university days.. She and I, and a third classmate from the batch, work in the same magazine..
- Who is the third?
- Samiha Abdullah Al-Shutari.. the daughter of Abdullah Bey Al-Shutri, the famous businessman.
- They don't know honesty.
- Tomorrow you will know him and others.. The important thing is that Noha is very diligent and persevering.. She and I and Samiha are in the investigations department.. We almost worked together.. There is a small difference between us.. But Noha is now the deputy head of the investigations department, and she is the one who will supervise you at work.. These are the words of the professor Shihab Al-Baghdadli, the managing editor who was writing in the paper.. but what was not written is that you will work in the piece...
Mona interrupted him, asking:
- What do you mean by piece, Mr. Mustafa?
Mustafa smiled at her. Now there is someone younger than him in the magazine and giving her his experiences. He felt proud and wanted to dress as a modest man. He said while looking directly into her wide brown eyes:
- First of all, no teacher.. We are now classmates.. Then we are also the children of the same region, as I learned from you.. I mean, neighbors, and the Prophet was the guardian of the seventh neighbor..
- okay.. and secondly?
- Secondly, what don't you take care of?
Mona laughed, and Mustafa's face reddened with shame. He remembered her question, and he answered while stuttering at the beginning of his words:
- Oh, I remembered.. you were asking me what does it mean by piecemeal.. by piecemeal I mean, every investigation you will do and agree on will be spent on a financial reward.. there is no fixed salary, I mean.
Mona shook her head, understanding what he said, but there was a pressing question buzzing in her head. She wanted to ask him to Mustafa while she was embarrassed by him. She lowered her long eyelashes over her wide eyes before asking him.
Mona raised her eyes slowly and said in a low voice asking Mustafa:
- You, Noha and Samiha were appointed together, as you told me now.. Noha became the deputy head of the investigations department.. so you must be the head of the investigations department.. isn't that so?
Mustafa's facial features changed and his face turned black as he answered her sharply:
- I am not satisfied with this investigation..
He pointed to a bundle of papers in his hand and placed it on the table in front of him.
- I am not empty except for him.
- And what is this?
He said proudly, after the frown left his features:
- This is the first of my works.. A book that will change the life of all humanity..
He looked at his watch and suddenly stood up and said to her in commanding language:
- There is no time to talk.. Come on, Noha is waiting for you to meet her and start your work.
He paid for the lemonade and the coffee and motioned for her to follow him, and she walked beside him as if hypnotized.
Mona woke up from her stupor in memories that she lived this time on her own. I was amazed at Mustafa's reaction when she presented her investigation to him this morning. She did not find a logical explanation for what he had done, but days are enough for facts to appear to her.
Shams's words were not easy for Nabil, and they were also not expected. He thought that they would be in a characteristic as usual, but he knows very well that she does not deviate from the truth, just as she repeatedly and tirelessly advised him to be himself to rest in his life and settle down, but he does not know What drives him to submit to his mother, Shweikar, and unconsciously seeks to fulfill all her desires, even before she asks for them or thinks about them?
He thought a lot to find a reason and justification for what prompted him to do this, and he only found that all he wanted was to prove to them that he was no less than his brother Rami, and that they made a mistake when they embraced Rami and expelled him from their lives. He does not know whether he really wants that or does he want them to feel remorse for Those years that he lived as a careless number among them did not see him, not even behind Rami's shadow, but the words and speech of his aunt Shams this time stopped him to confront himself, for a long time he had been running away from himself and did not want to confront her, he became afraid of standing in front of himself more than he feared confronting his mother, Shweikar. To this degree inside him what terrifies him, but he finally decided to hold the stick in the middle, to sit with himself, not to confront her or attack her and knock her down, but to talk to her and hear from her, and she would hear from him, perhaps he would arrive with her to a solution that would satisfy her and his mother, Shweikar Hanim.
But when can he? He has to hurry to meet his mother and father now and immediately, and it is clear that there is an important matter that they want him in. He was distracted while driving his car on the way home with what they want from him. More precisely, since his mother does not like his work in a police station in the countryside of Giza, she does not find in that any source of pride and bragging among her friends in the Al-Jazeera club every morning when she goes to do the morning exercise, which is summarized in a session with her friends who grow and cut at the scalp of God's creation, to end the period of gossip Another exercise begins, which is the bragging and boasting paragraph. Everything is permissible and can be a source of pride in this exercise. The new car, the summer trip in Europe or America, and how one of her friends prepares for her. The new car that another Hanim got from her husband as a result of her neglect and forgiveness of him. After catching him snooping with the secretary or the maid, this is followed by a vulgar comment made by someone Those sitting at the table smoking her cigarette: "Honestly, your husband has a very bad taste... The only thing he tasted good about was you, my heart." The scissors suck her lips and smile at her, thanking her for the (nice complemon). Even a maid can be a source of bragging. It is not reasonable to compare a Filipino, Indonesian, Abyssinian, or Nigerian maid with a maid from Latin America who is good at tango dancing, and perhaps it was the new diamond set or the watch she bought. With tens of thousands of dollars, it is an important and powerful source for chasing others, but after a while this exercise ends so that they begin to prepare for another, which is certainly their sometimes reckless adventures, perhaps with young men younger than them.
Of course, Shweikar does not find much to say in this morning meeting, as she has not traveled to Europe or America for many years. Her last trip was in the Olympics in which her son Rami participated. Of course, she lived for months telling them about what she saw of honor, excavation and appreciation at all levels, whether The official level from the organizers of the tournament or the Egyptian embassy because she is the mother of one of the Olympic champions, or from the popular and media level. Of course, Shweikar did not forget to bring any newspaper or magazine in which her son Rami appeared receiving his medal or riding his horse. Of course, the picture would be more luxurious if it appeared in The background is in the stands, in which Ramy insisted that he stand in this area of the ring and in this corner until his beloved mother appears in the pictures, as she always claims. After Ramy's death, she no longer has a role in the morning meeting except to listen, and only listen. She sits silent, following the words of her friends in silence. She laments the miserable condition that gave her a son who has no desired benefit from him.