The House of Jasmine

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The people hauled a corpse in a sack out of Mahmudiyya Canal and no sooner had they opened the sack, than they saw an amazingly beautiful woman slowly coming back to life. Horrified, they stepped away from her, and she turned into a column of fire. They were shocked, and dropped unconscious or dead, while she began running naked in the streets, her blond hair flying behind her, and everyone who looked at her was charmed, began running after her, and was lost without a trace. .

I had not thought about this ahead of time or planned for it. I had been wondering, ever since the bus filled up with the sixty workers and left the shipyard gate, why they had chosen me. There was no reason for me to be afraid, but at the same time I didn’t feel particularly encouraged.

The bus went down Maks Street, through Qabbari, then Kafr ‘Ashri and Basal Port, and entered Saba’ Banat Street, and all the while I neither spoke to anybody nor did anybody speak to me.

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