Short life - Rania Al-Hayek

When Ibrahim returns, he is tired, he does not speak a word even after he showers and sits across from me at the dining table, drinks juice in small sips as if it were whiskey, gradually he regains some calm; he may talk about his work or not; he insists that I tell him about my day. I talk about the books I read, sometimes he initiates asking me about a character or another in the book, it happens that I forget the book completely, but he keeps mentioning the characters by their names and compares what happened to them with what we live through in reality; we may recall things that happened to us in Beirut or retell a funny incident about one of our friends; we laugh as if we just learned about it, sometimes I tell him about my trip to the Indian market that I love wandering in; I show him the gifts I bought for our family and friends. He is surprised that I keep myself busy buying gifts and our return date is far away, I do not say that I do this to feel that our departure is near. First edition | 2010 Cover type: regular paper Size: 21 × 14