Avoiding the heat, I sought refuge in my favourite coffee spot, where I normally go to escape my own life and jump into that of others just for a day.
I ordered my regular coffee and waited for a catch.
“Marwa, I just had a bad taxi ride, and it’s so sad how desperate poverty has made people in this country, Suzie frantically said to her friend as she sat down.
Looking up, Marwa replied, “What do you mean, how much did you have to pay him?
“I paid him LE 20 but that is not the point, he was a 40-year-old man, very friendly, he sat and told me his life story, how he has had fertility problems and how he was dying for a child and finally his wife got pregnant but he was worried she would loose the baby.
She sipped her coffee and signalled her friend to wait as her phone rang and she picked it up to silence it.
“He actually received a call, it was from his wife that had just left the doctors, he said she had done some tests and was in labor, he got the good news when I was with him.
Laughing, she said, “Of course I got enough prayers to last me this lifetime and the next.
Interrupting, Marwa says, “I understand that it must have been irritating having to hear redundant comments, but it’s sweet, you can not say it’s a bad ride.
“It was OK until he asked me for the ‘halawa for his daughter’ so I made him a proposition, I said I would love to give them LE 500 only if I go to visit his wife and child, Suzie said with a grin.
Laughing again, she continued, “Of course there was no labor or child and I had to spend the rest of the ride from Tahrir to Heliopolis listening to the state of poverty he lives in and his apologies in every possible way.
Ordering another coffee, a very interesting conversation was starting on the table next to me.
“Rami, my mother thought she was going to be a millionaire for a day and all her dreams fell to the ground in an instant.
“Eh ya Poupy dah comes with translation wala eh?
Hitting him on the shoulder, Poupy continued, “I am serious, the caretaker for the land that she had inherited from her family called her and told her that an American company was digging into her land, claiming that they had detected petrol by satellite.
Rami, now realizing she was serious, lit up a cigarette and concentrated.
“Shame she spent the whole day singing and giving me a list of things she would do with the money.
“And?
Shrugging her shoulders, Poupy said, “Nothing, she went down, they informed her that her neighbour’s land was also full of petrol and that they requested that he sell it at the price of land without petrol and the Americans together with the Egyptian government took over, they say it’s the law.
“No way!
Whispering she said, “Mum was furious that they had started digging without her permission, 12 holes they made, and when she complained, the Americans told her they were authorized by different government agencies. Imagine.
Relaxing my ears a little, flipping through a magazine and enjoying the whole experience, I noticed my friend Nancy rush towards me in distress.
“What’s the matter? Sitting down with a bang, she complained, “Why do these things always have to happen to me? I had my car parked in the same place for a week, apparently an investigator reported it, thinking it might be a stolen vehicle. So they towed it to the police station, and it took me hours to take it back!
Smiling I said, “How about lunch? and signalled for the bill.
