The Man & The Bridge
I have seen him years sitting at the same spot and painting strange complex pictures.
No doubt this man is famous and has a secret…a very rich man living in a very poor condition.
Hi - I said
He shook my hand warmly
Can I talk with you?- I said
He moved his hands aggressively telling me to go away
Why not?- I asked him
He wrote on a white paper in English –I don’t make interviews now, maybe in 3 hours.
I told him that I come from a far place just to chat with him
He gave me the white paper to write that question down
I was confused, did he understand me or did he not
Can he speak, can he hear…I don’t know
I wrote: I want to see your paintings
He wrote: I don’t show my paintings
I wrote: why not?
He wrote: where do you come from?
I lied and wrote: I am from France.
When he read that he smiled, looked provoked to me and brought a big book with mysterious signs and numbers…I saw the countries of the globe listed and each country has a specific number...he pointed at the word France which had the number 10…I don’t know what that means but I am sure it is not something good…
He wrote: I don’t speak with people from France because of political disagreements.
Then he brought another book he has written and copied the phrase-thank you for your visit , please go away –in French
I opened my wallet to show him my Egyptian identity … to prove to him that I have the Egyptian citizenship but he wrote: please come after 3 hours
I wrote: I can’t come again…
He brought a small mattress and put it on the street to make it more comfortable for me to sit
I said: thank you
I did not know if I had to speak in Arabic or in English
Then he opened a box full of chocolate, jelly cola and bonbons
He gave them all to me…I refused to take them … I told him thank you thank you…but he insisted to give it to me
Suddenly he ordered me to go away because he wanted to eat…I saw him cocking fried chicken balls…I don’t know how he made that…I showed the camera to ask if I can take a picture of him…he was angry…he was really really angry…at that point I was angry too and walked down the bridge…he followed me
5 comments:
How intriguing! A multilingual painter in a pink dress fel share3...there's a first time for everything I guess.
Maybe you should've went back when he asked you to, who knows what kind of a world he would've shown you.
Jelly cola? I love those!
Interesting post.. the dialogue is very intriguing too.. you put some great depth into a simple situation..
The pictures too are expressive .. however, I am afraid I couldn't understand the cocking part .. well, Maybe I am just too slow as usual before my exam which is tomorrow :(
Keep it up
sou,I respect everything he said,because this man wants to live in peace,so we have to leave him alone,not to bother him, and that what I have done at the end.
Adeek oltaha "at the end"...bas you were highly intrigued by this character. I know I am.
Well at least you can log it down as an experience :)
I have the feeling that one day I could end up like him,or like Gafaar in Naguib Mahfouz's "the heart of the night".
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