The Dreams

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The stories in this edition of The Dreams were originally published by the American University in Cairo Press in two volumes, The Dreams (2004) and Dreams of Departure (2007). The numbering of the stories follows that of their original Arabic publication in the Cairo magazine Nisf al-dunya from January 2000 to September 2006. However, between Dreams 176 and 177 are six dreams (numbers I–VI) that appeared in the Cairo daily al-Ahram on December 9, 2005, shortly before the author’s last birthday, placed where they fall chronologically in the magazine’s sequence. (See Translator’s Afterword.)

I was riding my bicycle from one place to another, driven by hunger, in search of a restaurant fit for my limited means. At each one I found its doors locked, and when my eyes fell on the clock in the square I saw my friend at its foot.

He called me over with a wave of his hand, so I headed my bike in his direction. In view of my condition, he suggested that, in order to make my quest easier, I leave my bicycle with him. I followed his suggestion — and my hunger and my search grew even more intense, until I happened upon a family eatery.

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