It was June 2010, Hala, my younger sister, and I sat in the family room sipping hot tea and munching on (Oras) biscuits filled with dates, which she baked especially for me. It was a warm day, but not for Hala. She is always cold and wraps her head with light a wool scarf.<\/p>\n
Hala and I lived on a different continent since I left Alexandria in the late sixties. When we met, we reminisced about our childhood, which we never got tired of repeating during my short vacations in Alexandria, Egypt. I became very close to Hala and her four children Soheir, Samiha, Shawki and Sameh after the death of our older sister Rawyia. When Hala developed the debilitating disease Lupus, I committed myself to visit her as often as my busy life in California allowed me, sometimes leaving my sons, Omar and Shareef, behind.<\/p>\n
Soheir, Hala\u2019s youngest daughter, walked in breathless, slammed the front door behind her, and with shaking hands, removed the pins holding the silk veil covering her hair. Her hair fell lose on her shoulders like a silk brown shawl. She took off her heel sandals, and tossed them in the corner. Then, picked up a Kleenex tissue from her purse, and before she sat down on the chair facing us, she wiped her tears dry.<\/p>\n
Hala, and I looked at each in astonishment. We were used to Soheir \u2018s changing mood, and we both learned, during the past twelve years, to live with her sudden outburst of anger. \u201cIt\u2019s her hormones.\u201d My sister often said to help herself deal with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey killed him mommy. They did.\u201d She said in a broken voice, then reached for her big canvas purse with decorated with Mickey Mouse smiling face. She pulled out her HP mini Laptop, pressed hard on the power button, and began punching letters on the keyboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe criminals killed Khalid Saiid!\u201d Soheir exploded and got our full attention.<\/p>\n
Hala and I faced each in wonder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Khalid?\u201d my sister asked and stood up, then picked up her reading glasses lying on top of the still unread ElAhram newspaper on the side table. She squeezed herself on the Louis XIV chair she took with her, as a souvenir, when our parents died in the late 70s. The mini Laptop stole their attention from me.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan someone tell me who is Khalid Saiid? Is he our cousin?\u201d I asked in frustration.<\/p>\n
Soheir gave me a look of annoyance, and then directed her angry gaze to the mini screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no news yet. All my friends are afraid to post it on Facebook. We were all there. We saw everything Mommy.\u201d Soheir spoke again with tears streaming down her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalm down my dear, and tell us who is Khalid.\u201d Hala took Soheir in her arms and read some verses from the Quran to help her stop shaking. \u201cI will make a hot cup of Yansoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you Mommy.\u201d Soheir said at the mention of anise tea, but kept her eyes on her laptop.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaila, the country is run by Mubarak\u2019s secret police.\u201d Hala\u2019s voice reached us from the kitchen. She, then, walked in the room with two glasses of tea. She handed me one and placed the other one on the coffee table.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoheir, drink and calm down.\u201d Hala handed my niece the cup of Yansoon, walked back into the kitchen, and got another glass cup of the steaming tea. She sat on the sofa next to me, took off her reading glasses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it the secret police that killed Khalid? My conclusion got Soheir\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Tante, they are the ones. Khalid did not do anything. He was playing games on the computer in the Cyber Caf\u00e9 down the street. Boys meet there to use the computer. I was passing by with my friends, Sheri and Yasmine, when we saw five men barge into the Cyber caf\u00e9. They dressed in civilian clothes, and asked Khalid for his IDs. When we heard screaming, we stopped to see what was going on. We heard Khalid asking them who they were. Two of the five men lifted Khalid off the chair by his Tshirt. They took turns punching and slapping him on the face, then dragged him out onto the street. \u201c<\/p>\n
She went back to her screen, her face fuming with anger \u201cI don\u2019t understand why no one posted the incident yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept silent, and tried to understand her incoherent mumbling.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaila, did you hear about the ship returning from Haj that sunk with 1500 passengers? They all died. The government helped the man responsible to flee the country. When the people went looking for their lost ones, the secret police killed many of them. The people in Egypt are angry.” Hala, too, voiced her discontent.<\/p>\n
I listened with fear and disbelief. My sister and her children never talked about the government. I turned to Soheir, curious to know more about Khalid.
\n\u201cHow did you know Khalid died?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw them smash his head on the marble stairs of the apartment building next door. A physician who lived there, came out, checked Khalid\u2019s pulse on the neck, and confirmed his death .\u201d<\/p>\n
I handed Soheir the Anis drink to slow down her frantic breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the young man, now?\u201d my sister asked with a calm voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe secret police took him in their car and drove way.\u201d She sobbed.<\/p>\n
Hala turned to me. \u201cThis is Egypt now, my dear sister. People live in fear. The country is run by the secret police.\u201d Hala\u2019s voice dripped with sorrow, and her eyes welled with tears.<\/p>\n
Soheir broke her silence with a scream. \u201cHere aunty, come and look!\u201d She poked the screen with her pointer finger. Hala and I jumped from our seats, crouched on the Persian rug next to Hala, and glued our eyes to her laptop.<\/p>\n
Messages popped on Soheir\u2019s Facebook page like flashing light, Hala and I couldn’t keep up with the pace. She attacked the keyboard with anger jumping from one page to another. All the while, Hala and I watched in silence waiting for her to show us something.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo photos yet?\u201d Soheir synchronized the words coming out of her mouth with her fingers punching the the keyboard.<\/p>\n
Hala glanced at Soheir\u2019s face. Then, back to the screen. I tried to read some words here and there, but failed to decipher the English letters typed in Arabic words. I could not even read the Arabic writing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy , many people witnessed the killing, and they are not afraid to post it on facebook.\u201d Soheir sounded proud. She continued looking at Hala who moved to the sofa. \u201cSomeone took pictures on his mobile, and he will post it soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t get involved Soheir. Shawki, your brother, warned you before not to talk politics on the computer with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not politics, this is murder.\u201d She banged her fist on the arm of her chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother is right Soheir.\u201d I said to support Hala who looked nervous. But inside, I admired Soheir\u2019s determination to spread news of the crime on facebook.<\/p>\n
I got tired staring at the screen, and joined Hala on the sofa. My sister, picked up the remote control from the coffee table and turned on the plasma television. She pressed the channels up and down with shaking hands. \u201cNo news anywhere about the incident. Maybe the young man is still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo mother, he is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was June 2010, Hala, my younger sister, and I sat in the family room sipping hot tea and munching on (Oras) biscuits filled with dates, which she baked especially for me. It was a warm day, but not for Hala. She is always cold and wraps her head with\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egypt","category-egyptian-revolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksbylaila.com\/laila-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}