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MARIAM  HEDY HABRA It was becoming harder and harder to get the children to sleep. Mariam needed her rest, and the two little djinns’ unbelievable energy increased at bedtime. And now, she thought, Laura and Kamil are going out more and more often. They went almost nightly to the open-air theaters that abounded in Heliopolis. When Kamil and Laura took the children along, they always invited Mariam. Although she only knew colloquial Arabic and could not even read the subtitles—shown in two or three languages—she enjoyed the succession of animated images. But tonight she was home, and had to look after the children once more. She was not up to it, she thought. She was no longer young and was exhausted from watching over boiling pots and frying pans for too many years. Her legs and feet, streaked with wrinkled veins, swelled at the end of the day, and the only way to ease the pain was to lie down and lift them up—that is, when the children would deign to close their eyes. Only then could she go to her room and rest. The children seemed to believe that from the minute their parents left the house a new day dawned, full of promises. They did not care that Mariam’s day was spent canning green olives. They did not realize the time it took to fill ten large jars with layers of olives, garlic cloves, slivered lemons, and freshly chopped coriander, pour in olive oil, then seal them, tightening the lids over squares of cotton cloth. They did not see her climb the tall ladder ten times to place the heavy jars in the storage area above her bedroom. Despite the tremendous effort required, stocking the jars was 303 1KALDAS_pages:1KALDAS pages i-72.qxd 8/3/09 2:36 PM Page 303 the part she really liked. Mariam was the only one in the household to ever go up to the storeroom or sandara. Only she knew exactly how many bottles of olive oil were left or if it was time to buy certain herbs or spices. As she lay on her bed, she could almost see through the ceiling as though it were crystal. She’d stay awake for hours, staring at the rice, grain and cereal sacks, the soap supply, recounting the pickled and canned vegetable jars, the variety of jams: figs, berries, dates stuffed with almonds, glazed apricots, and rose petals. She imagined herself checking jars filled with goat cheese squares, making sure the level of olive oil had not lowered, dusting the covers of black and green olive jars, realigning bottles: rows of orange blossom water, rosewater, mulberry syrup, rose syrup, pomegranate syrup, next to dibs al rumman, the dark pomegranate molasses, and the transparent arak. She saw herself as the family’s keeper. By the end of the day, her chores finished, she was eager to rest and review in her mind the latest addition to her treasure, the ten precious olive jars. “I hope the children won’t give me a hard time tonight,” she mumbled as she wound her braids around her head, fastening them behind her ears with tortoiseshell pins. Yet some days it was impossible to keep them quiet. She didn’t like to scare them, though. They were good kids. She loved them like her own. After all, she had assisted the Swiss midwife, Mrs. Spillman, when they were born. Laura was the first to admit that Mariam had raised them, repeating constantly to friends and relatives: “Bless her heart! What would we all become without Mariam?” Yes, she was more than a nanny, much more, and she knew her responsibilities. At bedtime, she improvised: “I’ll play with them a little first, comply with their demands. Then I’ll think of something,” she muttered as she walked to the children’s room. Charles and Simone had discovered a new game the day she agreed to loosen her long grayish braids. She had given in, hoping they would stop harassing her with their constant, “Mariam, how long are your braids? Do they touch your knees? Show us! Show us!” Both decided immediately that she was their old pony, and took turns jumping on her chubby padded back, with braided reins in their hands, until she thought her poor back would break. 304  HEDY HABRA 1KALDAS_pages:1KALDAS pages i-72.qxd 8/3/09 2:36 PM Page 304 [18.189.14.219] Project...

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