Premier amour II: the lonely widower
In a taxi heading from Heliopolis to Garden City, we passed Ain Shams Specialized Hospital. The taxi driver muttered under his breath:
-حسبي الله ونعمة الوكيل ولاد كلب , horrible place.
-Yes indeed, my father died there, that place is heinous.
-I lost my wife there three years ago. She had diabetes, she went in for an amputation but caught an infection and died because of that. Now I’m all alone, with my two older daughters.
-I’m really sorry for your loss.
-Thank you Ostaza, however I’m lucky to have my daughters. One of them is in university getting her degree in education and the other works as a social worker, I’m not quite sure what she does all day, but then again, neither does she. It’s a bit lonely, but I manage.
-Well, why don’t you marry again ?
-My daughters won’t let me, they won’t let anyone replace their mother. My wife was the kindest person you could imagine. She was very caring, she lived for her children and for her home. She made the best Koshary ever. Koshary is my favourite food. I can’t remarry and impose a double loss on my daughters.
-Eventually your daughters will get married themselves and I’m sure that when that happens, they will be happy to know you have someone to keep you company.
-Ostaza, do you have any idea how much time and money it takes to get a girl married these days? By the time I get them settled, I might as well be dead, not to mention penniless. What will there be left of me to marry? What poor woman will marry me then? What will she do with me? Put me on the toilet? Take me off the toilet just to put me back on it again? Wipe my, pardon me ostaza, “Ambola”? It would be unfair to us both. You need to live the good days so you can go through the bad days together. I had my good days with my wife, now this is the bad. يا استاذة هو أنا هتجوز وحدة تحوطني على لا مؤخذة على الحمام وتنزلني من الحمام وتحطني عليه تاني و تأكلني و تمسحلي الامبولة ؟ دة مايبقاش جواز دة إسمه ظلم لي وليها
-Who knows, maybe things could take a turn you don’t expect?
-Inshalla. Right now, my daughters are doing their best, they make me lunch, they try to make Koshary like there mother did, or I get it from a restaurant, and we all eat together. But they don’t really have time for me, not really, even if they try. They are always on their phone and I’m alone even if they are right next to me. I know they feel guilty, so I try not to annoy them. It’s what my wife would have done.
I’m very lucky that my friend at digitalinkillusionist for making a custom photo for this story.
