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By:Ahmed Fouad Alhady
Mr.
Khairy was not enthusiastic about leaving his office when the clock hanging on
the wall facing his seat indicated the
time to leave, four in the afternoon, as
he felt that he needed some relaxation and calm after a day full of discussions
surrounded by differences and controversy, which represent something natural in
his mission and the task of those who work with him in that department
responsible for assessing and disbursing compensation for those affected by
natural disasters and serious accidents.
He
learned a lot from his job, there is no difference between educated and
illiterate, nor rich or poor when it comes to money, most of them excel in
maximizing his claim and exaggerating the description of damages, and for this
reason, many of them do not mind providing data and documents that support his
claim and that they know how to get from different parties in exchange for a
few pounds that are not compared to what they expect to obtain under them of
large sums, so they buy receivables for them .
Mohsen was living this controversy most of the
day, but he did not care about it, as his experience helps him to distinguish
the good from the malicious, so he meets artificial emotions with real calm, and
remains patient until he establishes and proves the truth.
The
famous refined phrase he heard from his staff at the end of each day was:
-
It was a hard day, nerves, and headaches attacked.
Such
things are no longer strange to them, as they are familiar with them,
accustomed to them, and have mastered the withstanding them, and they used to look at the sign hanging in a clear
place and say: The citizen is always right, so they smile and exchange glances
that they know its meaning.
He
leaned back and stretched out in his
seat, closed his eyes and fell asleep
for a while before getting up and starting to pick up his needs and make his
way out of his office. It did not occur to him to use the elevator to land the
floors that separate him from the door of the building, he got tired of sitting
at his office most of the day and here is the opportunity to move his joints,
so he took his way to the stairs down until he glimpsed the security employee
and stood caressing him with light words as usual every day before saying
goodbye to him heading to where his car stands in a daily routine that he is
accustomed to without getting bored.
The
clock was approaching five, and the road was witnessing density and randomness
and there was no trace of any authority present to control and regulate the
movement of cars, and every car driver became as a leader in a multilateral
war, or as a player in an electronic game, he had to reach his car to the goal
set for it amid this momentum and chaos.
The
scene was no stranger to Khairy, as he
got used to it most days, but on this particular day he felt that he did not
have more endurance to complete the silly game that he often has to do until he
reaches home.
It
occurred to him to take another route, heading to the large store near his
workplace, perhaps the situation may calm down after a while and facilitate
movement, and also to enjoy his hobby of shopping.
As
soon as he took the route of the store, he felt the big difference, as the road
is easy and easy even if he reached the store, his relief was complete when he
found a place on the opposite side to leave his car safe.
He took a few steps towards the door of the
store, stopped by what crowded his eyes and scattered his thoughts: two men
pulling a young man between them by his arms until they almost pulled them off
his shoulders with obvious cruelty, and a
crowd of people kicking him and punching and cursing, and the poor man as if he had fallen into a well whose water had run out and was
mercilessly picked up by stones.
He
heard that they had caught him trying to open someone's car. As if he had
neither heard nor seen. Amid all this noise, his eyes caught the young man's
eyes, and he could only see the poor
young man's face, as if the young man also saw only Khairy's
face.
The
young man shouted at him, begging:
- Help me ,They're going to kill me.
Khairy
asked himself in confusion: Why me? He did not think about the answer, he was
overcome by his tears and found himself rushing in the direction of the poor young man, and
until he reached where he was, he got his share: some of the kicks and punches,
which he used to turn his face left and right trying to dodge, and move his
arms in randomness like someone who fell into the sea and he does not know how to swim, until he
reached the young man, so he threw at him and embraced him and took panting
after the others stopped beating, when he gathered some of his strength, he
shouted at them:
-
Shame on you.100 will they hit one?! There is no mercy?! I mean,
was he stolen?!
They
were concerned with the crowd and shouted and mixed their voices as they
dispersed away from the place, and Khairy is still embracing the young man
while patting him on the back reassuring him, until he calmed down and the
young man bent down trying to kiss his hand, so he quickly withdrew his hand,
saying:
-
I ask forgiveness of Almighty God.
He
changed his clothes, which he received a lot, and made his way to the door of
the store with many shipments that were lurking in his chest, and he felt
overwhelming relief after this strange incident that would not have occurred to
him, and he felt that he was a human being as he always liked to be.
The shopping cart that he was pushing in front
of him in the streets of the store was filled with delicious and things that he did not think to buy, but he
was happy and ecstatic until he applied for accounting, and the treasury
employee began to count his purchases with his calculator, while a colleague packed
those purchases in different packages according to their types, and without
paying attention to him or taking his eyes off the screen of his machine, the
accountant said:
-
One thousand six hundred eighty-two.
Khairi was not surprised and did not show
interest, he reached into his inner right pocket, then the left one, then the
outer pockets, the pants pockets, all completely empty, they stole it, they
stripped it, you see who they are?
It is him, that poor young man with whom he
exchanged qualities without feeling and without taking an opinion for him, and
he went away innocently happy, leaving him sad and poor.
All he cared about was not seeing those who were gathered around
the young man beating him until he got him out of their hands, he peeked his
head out of the shop door, he didn't see any of them, he ran to where he left
his car on the opposite side, he couldn't find it, he groped his pockets again,
where is the car key? He now understood.
He ran like
a madman in a direction that he did not
know, everyone who saw him and knew his
story was amazed and surprised, and ran after him .... ....To know the end of the story..
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