Waiting for Md. Said

I was supposed to meet Fahad at his house at 6:00 p.m., and was about to get on the 4:00 p.m. bus to Sharjah when my phone rang. ‘Where are you?’ ‘I’m at the bus terminal.’ ‘Please, do not come to my house, I am at Farook’s office. We wait you now.’

I didn’t actually believe Fahad, but I figured I could wait at Farook’s office, so I went. Farook has a secretary, and I thought she’d let me in, but Farook has her work a split shift. When I arrived, the secretary wasn’t back, and the hall outside his office was about 40 degrees. So I went to see if I could have a cup of tea at an air-conditioned restaurant. ‘No tea. Go to shisha place.’ The standard price of tea at a non-Western restaurant is set at €0.15. At a shisha place, it’s €0.50. Plus, I had to sit in a thick cloud of shisha smoke. But it was better than sitting (or standing) in the 40-degree heat.

After a cup of tea, I returned to Farook’s office. As I was about to enter, my phone rang. ‘I need to talk to you. Can you come by for about 10 minutes?’ I had been hoping to meet the caller, but said I had another meeting. ‘I’ll be here until 8:00 p.m.’ ‘OK,’ I replied, ‘I’ll drop by before 8.’

When I got back to Farook’s office, Farook, Fahad, and Farook’s secretary had returned. The secretary set the table. Farook asked me, ‘Have you had lunch?’ ‘Yes, but it’s 5:00 p.m. now. In English, we call this supper.’ ‘Md. Said will be here in a few minutes. We wait him.’ Fahad gave a courier €50 and sent him off to get the food.

Normally, Fahad gets up around this time, but Farook had convinced him to pursue another project beginning around 11:00 a.m., so Fahad fell asleep. Farook kept calling people and talking in Arabic, trying to set up some deals. By 7:00 p.m., I’d about decided that Md. Said must be related to Godot, but then the doorbell rang.

It was a security guard reporting that there was a problem with Fahad’s car. Fahad went out to see about his car, and I said, ‘I have to see someone, I’ll be back in 20 minutes.’

At 7:25, I returned. Md. Said was just about to leave. The table had been cleared, and the dishes and coffee cups were washed, dried, and put away.

Normally, a meal with Farook starts out with crudités, then soup, then a main course, followed by coffee. The entire affair never takes less than an hour and a half. However, Md. Said is very busy, so today, when he arrived at 7:10, the meal and meeting had been concluded within 10 minutes, and the party was in the process of saying goodbye. I just had time to meet Md. Said, say ‘Marhaba,’ and ‘Massalama,’ and the meeting was concluded.

Farook and Fahad said they were going to Sharjah, and I was invited to join them. They promised to return very early, which I know means sometime around 6:00 a.m, so I declined their offer and took the 41 bus home.