Aleppo Wedding Chapter 6 + 1/2
After that the supply of eligible girls seemed to dry up. He hadn’t realised how small a circle his family had always kept to – even the families of many of his friends did not reach his mother’s exacting social requirements. The girl he had liked, Lamisse, had accepted another offer and his sisters went to her engagement party.
There was one more girl – described by his sister as ‘a very fine character’ – but a few minutes in her company convinced him that if she was then he was not. She seemed totally humourless, and regarded his time happily spent getting his PhD in England as a sojourn amongst the barbarians, something which he must learn to look at in the same light if he was ever to go to heaven. His mother and his other sisters quite agreed with him, they too could not imagine her in their family, and only the sister who had proposed her even thought of defending her.
New Year came and went, with a noisy family party that included his now-forgiven aunt, and January blew cold and bleak around the streets. One evening Selwa rushed in with Hanni, almost shouting, “Mama, Baba, Listen, listen!” Her mother and father looked at her in surprise, and she continued, “It’s happened! We’re going to have a baby. We’ve just got the news so we came straight here to tell you!”
Everyone jumped up to try to do something useful. Her sisters hugged her while Nury and his father shook hands with Hanni, who was looking his usual shy self, although decidedly pink and happy. Im Nury hugged and kissed her daughter, and suggested they change their doctor, as she knew a better one who had recently arrived from France. After that his sister, and Hanni too, could do no wrong. She seemed to spend all her time on her own or her parents’ settee, while her husband rushed to fulfil her every whim, a besotted smile on his face.
The next surprise occurred on his way to work in early February. He usually stopped at the Post Office on his way to the pharmacy, to check the family Post Office box, and passed on any mail over the lunch table. This day he was in a hurry, so he grabbed the letters in the box, felt around for any more and slammed the little door shut. He was on his way out of the post office when he noticed that there was one for him from England, but he didn’t want to read it in the street, so it went into his bag with the rest.
Fortunately the pharmacy was quiet for a change so he had time to sort the letters, then finally to open his. He had left it until the last because he had seen at once that it was Sarah’s writing. Now his stomach tensed and his fingers trembled a little as he pushed his thumb under the flap and ripped it open.
Well, it was certainly surprising. It started “My Dear Nury”, and he read that Sarah had booked herself onto a tour of Jordan and Syria, and would be in Aleppo on February 13th for three days. He checked his wall-calendar and noted that there were just ten days to wait.