Street of Thieves

At least I didn’t have to worry about the boxes, every cloud has its silver lining. When you leave on a journey, said the Prophet, you have to settle your affairs as if you were going to die. I had seen the bookseller again; the Group was burning, and all my possessions with it; all I had left were my parents. For a few days, and despite the argument with my brother, I had very much wanted to see my mother again. Not today. Not enough strength. Little by little my adrenaline was ebbing, I fell asleep in the bus that took me downtown. Suddenly I was exhausted. I couldn’t manage to think. Finding out what or who had provoked the fire was all the same to me. I got out by the Grand Zoco, a little haggard. Strange day. Now I had to find a place to sleep; I almost took a room in the same hotel as Judit, but that might be a little too much, if she found me set up in the room next door when she arrived in Tangier. Plus I wasn’t sure if she was staying in the same place, it was likely but not certain. I chose another inn, not far, a little lower down near the harbor; the owner looked at me as if I were a leper, young, Moroccan, and without a suitcase; he demanded I pay three nights in advance and repeated ten times that his hovel was a respectable place.

The digs weren’t bad, with a little wrought-iron balcony, a pretty view of the harbor, the roofs of the old city and above all, Wi-Fi. I searched for news of the fire online, it must not have been a major event, no one was talking about it yet.

I sent a message to Judit, then I went out to buy some clothes and have a bite to eat.