Girls of Riyadh

Gamrah returned to Riyadh prettier than when she had left. To spare herself the disapproval of her conservative relatives, she told everyone who saw her before she managed to strip off the dressing on her nose that her nose had been broken in an accident while she was in Lebanon, which had resulted in reconstructive surgery. Not cosmetic surgery—since cosmetic surgery is against the laws of Islam.

26.

To: seerehwenfadha7et@yahoogroups.com

From: “seerehwenfadha7et”

Date: August 6, 2004

Subject: The Chatting World: A Whole New World

And to Allah belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and to Him return all affairs (for decision). So worship Him and put your trust in Him. Your Lord is not unaware of what you do.—Qur’an, Surat Hud

(chapter of the Prophet Hud), verse 123

Everyone, everywhere, seems to be talking about ME, and I love to listen in. I often enter the discussion and offer up what I expect, what I predict, who I think it is, just as they do. At home, I print out the e-mail I send all of you weekly, and I read it out loud to everyone in the house. Mind you, no one at home knows that I am the one behind these e-mails! In other words, I do exactly what every other girl is doing at exactly the same time! In those moments, I feel such intense pleasure. It’s as good as the feeling you get when you are twirling the radio dial in a moment of boredom and suddenly you are surprised by your favorite song, soaring out of the radio, and you even get to hear it from the very first notes!

Lamees’s relationship with the Internet began when she was fifteen years old, when her father began accessing the World Wide Web via Bahrain. When the Internet was introduced to Saudi Arabia two years later in 1999, her fascination with this seriously cool online world had to take a backseat to her high school studies and maintaining her GPA. But once she graduated, it wasn’t long before Lamees was spending no less than four hours every day on the Internet, 99 percent of it in random chat rooms, Yahoo, ICQ, mIRC and AOL.

With her sense of humor and her saucy mouth, Lamees gained quick fame among chat room regulars. Even though she was careful to change her nickname regularly, there were more than a few out there who were able to figure out that “The Caterpillar” was also “The Demongirl,” “Black Pearl” and “Daddy’s Sweetheart.”

It gave Lamees a good laugh to hear the boys she chatted with sounding so skeptical. None of them believed she was really a girl.

“Okay c’mon, stop it! U r NOT a girl!”

“OK, fine, y are u saying that tho?”

“Hey brother, girls r boring and they have NO sense of humor and u r clearly high on some good hash!”

“So, what you’re saying is, I have to make myself a pain to listen to so you’ll believe I’m not a guy?”

“Exactly! If u r really a girl, let’s hear your voice then!”

“LOL! No Way Jose:-p!”

“Gimme a break, just gimme a quick ring and say hi, OK? And if u don’t wanna use the phone just go with the mike, how abt it, just 2 prove 2 me you’re a girl ur not a guy.”

“Forget it sweetheart. That is just a line u guys use 2 hear a girl’s voice.”

“Ahhhhhh. You make my heart ache! OK. I believe u, I believe u’r a girl! That word sweetheart coming from ur mouth was as sweet as honey.”

“Hehehe. No, forget it, just think of me as Mr. better than starting 2 flirt with me!”

“I swear 2 God u r the most gorgeous Mr, I mean Ms, I mean…I’m CONFUSED!:–C”

“Best thing:-p”

“Okay, so now lemme ask u a question and then I’m really gonna know if u’r a girl or a guy.”

“So ask.”

“Are your knees dark or not?:-p”*

“LoooOOooooL! That’s a good one! Okay I’ve got one for you too!:-D”

“Ask away, baby.”

“What about your toenails? Are they disgusting or not?:-p”

“HAHAHAHA. OUCH! Good one! Actually, harsh but good! LOL!”

“Look at that! Black knees you say, hah! Get outta here, baby, take care of your own gender’s screw-ups first and then you can make fun of our dark knees!”

By this kind of chatting, Lamees got hold of an unbelievable number of telephone numbers from guys who wanted to continue the discussions on the telephone. By the hundreds, they raved about how totally cool they found her personality, and by the dozens, they professed their love. Lamees didn’t waver from her firm conviction, though, that chat was only for some silly laughs and light entertainment. It was a great way to meet guys and joke around with them, in a society that didn’t provide any other venue for clowning around, but it wasn’t anything to take seriously.