He signaled to her with as flirtatious a gesture as he could muster, and then repeated it. She got up and moved toward him till she stood at arm’s length. He gestured to her to sit down, and she did so with a laugh as soft as the whisper of the waves that lapped below, at the foot of the seawall. He looked at her face and was shocked by its youth. “How old are you?” he asked.

She laughed without answering. He repeated the question anxiously.

“Guess!” she said.

“Maybe you’re fifteen,” he said.

“No,” she replied proudly. “I’m not a minor, in any case, so relax.”

A pale matt complexion, round face, full cheeks, small, full body, and short hair like a boy. She kept playing with her nails; the varnish on them had flaked away.

“Where did you come from at this hour of the night?”

“From the café,” she replied, pointing back down the road behind her to a lighted door wrapped in darkness and silence.

“I didn’t notice it as I was walking,” he said.

“People heading there usually see it.” She laughed. “Cigarette?”

They both lit cigarettes. He couldn’t think of anything to say. “Let’s go,” he whispered.

They walked side by side along one of the roads leading off the Corniche. She took his arm and he winced, scowling, in the darkness, remembering Salwa. If they’re sincere, he told himself, they should let free elections decide!

FIFTEEN

He woke up about noon and looked with curiosity at the naked girl sleeping next to him. Recollections of the previous night came back and he told himself that as long as oblivion and habit still existed, everything remained possible. As she lay there, almost completely uncovered, he examined her, coldly and calmly, contemptuous of everything. Her full lips were parted, revealing a neat set of teeth, but after a night’s sleep her hair looked as it really was, dry, coarse, and unkempt. There was an odd physical inconsistency about her; her eyelashes were long and voluptuous, but her breasts looked chapped and flaky, like a pair of toads.

He got out of bed and went to the bathroom. When he came back, he found her sitting up in bed yawning. She lifted two beautiful, heavy eyes in his direction. He decided to get rid of her as soon as possible. “I’ve an appointment,” he said. “I’ve got to go.”