She laughed loudly, making him aware of his mounting curiosity. “I mean, he disappeared?” he added hastily.

“He’s a well-known lawyer in Assiut. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Amr Zayed.”

He immediately relaxed.

“I thought you were going to say Sayed Sayed el-Reheimy!”

“Would you have liked to be my uncle?” she asked, laughing.

“No,” he retorted firmly.

She blushed. “My mother,” she continued, “insisted on keeping me. That suited my father, as he was intent on remarrying. He paid her alimony, and we moved to my grandfather’s house in Cairo. He died, and we now live alone, my mother and I.”

He listened carefully, but nevertheless with some skepticism. He always doubted women and especially mothers. Elham obviously had never heard of his kind of life. Whores, pimps, bastards, and many other choice varieties. Could he give her such details as she had done? Clouds of despair and gloom hung over him. Elham was still talking. “One day my uncle said that I should meet my father. My mother was furious. He doesn’t deserve it, she argued, he never once asked about you. But my uncle insisted, saying that I was growing day by day, and I would definitely need a father.”

He murmured unthinkingly, “Freedom, honor, and peace of mind.”

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “My mother insisted on my not seeing him. I agreed with her point of view, that my job was more important than a father, at least more permanent. She was frightened lest he should decide to take me away from her.”

Oh, just listen to her talk, that delightful child. What job or career could possibly replace freedom, honor, and peace of mind?

“I continued my studies and applied for this job, and now I’m pursuing my higher studies at night school.”

“Don’t you ever think of your father?” he asked.

“No. To me, he does not exist. That was his choice.”

“Because you don’t need him?”

“No. I don’t need my mother either, but I love her and can’t imagine my world without her.”

You are obviously not on the brink of despair, my girl. You don’t thirst for freedom, honor, and peace of mind. You are not threatened by a tainted past that could become your future overnight.