The story of the Qarafa room, written by Muhammad Shaaban
I entered the middle of the cemeteries, and I walked in fear until the end, and before I reached the main street behind the cemetery, I stood in a room with a locked door. I knocked twice, and no one opened! I knocked a third and fourth time until the door opened, and then my friend (Abdul Zaher Al-Qenawi) appeared. My friend and the educator responsible for this area of the cemeteries...as soon as he saw me, he looked at me and laughed...
- Fathi Al-Ghurab!.. What did he bring you?.. Did he bring with you
Tameera?!
I smiled at him while my eyes were shining..
- Someone says to someone like this, can you believe me that I am wrong?
This is me getting you half a finger, but what? This biscuit, O Abzaher,
deserves your brain.
-Okay, shut up, shut up..
I went into the room and sat down, but he went to the kitchen and told
me...
- You sit down and let us have two cigarettes. I hope I will prepare
dinner like our usual ones, and don’t worry about the door. I left it open
because I am waiting for one of my friends to come and stay up with me.
When he comes, he will sit next to you until I finish and take you
out.
I took out the hashish and the coffee and started to write..
- What are you going to have for dinner? Don't tell me fried eggs. I'm
coming to sit with you this time, not because you're pushing something
like every time. I'm coming and doing something with you because I don't
have to drink it alone, so you don't come and eat us eggs. It's not
enough.
-No, don't worry, I will bring half a kilo of meat, I will fry it and let
you eat it with your fingers.
He said that and entered the kitchen, and as he entered, I continued to
turn and laugh at his words.
- Abzaher brought meat and he would fry it.. huh.. May God have mercy on
your father, Qenawi al-Tarbi’s uncle, who did not eat meat except during
the Great Eid.
I finished what I was doing, and after I rolled up my first cigarette and
lit it, someone entered the open door of the room.
-God bless you..
-Saharkatu..
I responded to him while I was looking at him in amazement. He looked
strange, wearing shabby clothes, and his brain looked strange. The hair on
his head was shaved at one point, and at another point it was not.. He
came in and sat next to me, and before he could speak or say anything, I
reached out to him with the lit cigarette..
- Evening, my colleague.. It's buzzing until Abzaher finishes dinner and
comes. He told me to have fun and hit until he finishes. Aren't you
Abzaher's friend?!
- Oh, friend... but I don't drink..
-You don't drink!.. A friend of Abzaher Al-Qanawi, and you don't drink?..
What are you coming here to do? Otherwise.. You are a young guide or what
gender you are, I am not comfortable with you, your appearance, your
shape, and the style of your hair, make me uncomfortable.
- Brother, it is forbidden for you.. What guide and what is it? It is me
and Danny behind the sun except the guides. Then don’t worry about my
appearance. I was in a fight in the morning and because of it, my hair is
like this.. I am between you and me. I am a dealer, I sell, but I don’t
drink. My name is Samir. Kartala, how many days ago were the guides’ kids
who advised the government on me, and fortunately, when they arrested me,
I didn’t have anything with me, but who is it? After I left the station, I
recognized these guides’ kids and started tickling them. They were all
leeches that had never eaten a donkey.. but also me. I didn't come out
healthy, because I was alone and there were many of them, so it's normal
for there to be losses... Sir, I've lost all the losses, look at my
head... see how many stitches are taken in it?
I looked at his head as he turned and was shocked. His brain was full of
stitches and blood was coming from it! I looked at the shape of his head
and returned to Laura...
- Oh... I hit them... What's the matter, uncle? Your brain is messed up,
then take care, the stitches are laborious and bring blood.
- Oh, okay, I'll wash my head in the bathroom.
He got up and went into the bathroom, and after a while, while I drank
almost half of the cigarette, I found Abdel Zaher coming out of the
kitchen.
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- That's it, Uncle Fathi, the meat is almost done, bring this cigarette
until the boy is gone..
Abdul-Zaher’s words were interrupted by someone who appeared at the open
door. He looked normal, wearing a cap, a T-shirt and pants. The first time
Abdul-Zaher saw him, he stood up and greeted him.
-Oh, generous uncle.. long live the one who saw you, uncle.. What is she
going to trick you to come and sit with me?!
The person whose name was clearly Karim responded.
- Uncle, don't cheat or do anything. You don't know that I'm at
work.
- Okay, shush, shsh.. I know you, sir, Fathi Al-Ghurab, my friend from
school days, and he is the one who invited us to rebuild this night, and
this is Karim Al-Banna, Fathi, he, his father, and his big brother are the
ones who built half of the burials in the soil here.
I greeted him and looked at Abdul Zahir with astonishment.
-But it's strange, I mean, Abdo.. You didn't tell me that someone else
was coming, you told me that you were only waiting for someone!
- Yes, my son.. I was not waiting for Karim, and now he has
arrived.
- Uncle, no, I didn't mean that. You said that there was only one person
coming, and a while ago, someone named Samir Kartla and now Karim entered,
so there are two of them.
When you said the name Samir; Karim and Abdel Zaher looked at each other
in surprise, and after their looks, Abdel Zaher looked at me..
-Who did you say?!
-Samir Kartla, he came in a while ago and greeted me and sat next to me
and then he went into the bathroom. In the emirate, he told me that he
works as a dealer and does not drink, and he also had a quarrel in the
morning with a group of murshid children.
Karim swallowed his saliva with good health, but Abdel Zaher; So he got
up towards the bathroom and opened its door, and at that time I discovered
that it was empty!
- Where did he enter?.. There is no one, Fathi.. Then Samir, who came and
sat with you? Samir Kartla remains Karim’s neighbor. They both live in the
neighborhood behind the cemeteries.. He is a Diller and he was fighting
with guides in the morning, but unfortunately, he died in the fight and I
It's still buried in my hands today.
It flashed, I stayed silent for a few seconds, my brain was swollen, the
shock made me paralyzed in place for a few seconds, and because of my
disbelief and astonishment, I stood up while I was shaking..
- How do you mean, uncle? But... Well, by God, Samir was sitting next to
me and told me his story, and the story he told me, you yourself said that
it happened seriously, and then... then I still didn’t give up, oh, I
didn’t give up, I saw with my own eyes the stitches in his head.
As soon as I said the word “stitches in his head,” Karim Al-Banna took
off his cap and looked at me while laughing.
-You mean stitches like this?!
Karim's head looked weirder than Samir's. He had clean hair and his brain
was full of stitches! I was afraid and turned back to Laura, and before I
got up and ran, the light went out! The darkness swallowed up the room and
swallowed me up inside, but the world around me was never calm. I was
hearing the sounds of screaming, squawking, knocking, and rattling. The
room was literally tickling all around me. I quickly got up, grabbed my
hand and ran outside, and as soon as I got out, I found a bright
flashlight in my mouth..
- Fathi?!!!.. When did you come? And you didn’t tell me why you were
coming?
I was surprised and looked at the dark room behind me, after that I
looked at the person who meant me again and I was confused..
- How were you inside, Abdel Zaher, and you left before me? Then what
happened when you came? I... I came a while ago and I bumped into you, and
you... you opened me up and let me in, in the emirate when you told me
that you would make meat on the face of Samir Kartla and Karim Al-Banna,
and after that. The light...the light was cut off!
-What the hell, did you hit on who and who opened it for you!.. My son, I
was in a burial place and left the door of the room open, and then the
ones you are talking about, Samir Kartla and Karim Al-Banna, died and were
buried today, they were even in one fight, Samir was fighting with Karim.
And his sisters because they reported him to the government, and when
Samir killed Karim, Karim’s sisters killed him... but that’s normal, I’m
not surprised by what you’re saying, you find yourself knowing all of this
and you’re starting a conversation with me... but that’s okay, uncle, she
first came in and got into me, but that’s normal, my friend And my
brother, too, and anything you do is worth it, but forget about joking
around and say, “Should we get some money or are we going to spend the
night?”
When he said that, I became brighter. I looked into the room and looked
at him, and before he said another word, I left him and went running, but
while I was running, I could hear his voice behind me.
- Take it, Fathi.. O Fathi, you stranger.. May God destroy the weed that
licked your nose, Fathi, take it, Fathi, don’t run in the dirt at night,
you will get dirty!
I didn't care that Abd al-Zahir was calling Ali and I left him and I went
running, oh, I'm not dressed in dirt, I'd rather go into the room and see
other goblins... But do you know, my friend, where the disaster is?...
When I was running among the cemeteries and tombstones, I stumbled upon
someone, when I saw him Because of the illumination of a pillar of light,
I knew that it was Abdel Khaleq Al-Qenawi, Abdel Zaher’s little brother.
He stopped me and looked at me while he was very upset and asked
me..
- What's wrong with you, Uncle Fathi, why are you doing this? Did you
know what happened to Abdel-Zaher and his departure?
I flashed and looked after him, and then I looked at him again..
-Where is he going? What is he? He is there.. at the bathroom.
Abdul Khaleq responded to me and he was very moved..
Where are you, their uncle? Abdel-Zaher is in the hospital far away from
you. He came from when he learned that his friends, Karim al-Banna and
Samir Kartla, had killed each other. I can’t bear the news, my eyes, and
he collapsed. He fell into a coma.
-What happened to him?!
- Blindness of their uncle.. Uncle Fathi.. Uncle Fathi.. Were they your
friends too or what.. There is no god but God.. Follow us, guys, the man
will leave me....