Budayeen Nights by George Alec Effinger Read Free Book Online Page B

it under the old man’s nose for two solid hours. It had had a big, round diamond in its center.
    “What’s the matter with your ring?”
    “Look for yourself! The stone—my diamond—it’s gone!”
    Hisham caught Saied’s flapping arm and saw that, indeed, the diamond was now missing. “Must have fallen out,” the old man said, with the sort of folk wisdom you find only in these petrified provincial villages.
    “Yes, fallen out,” said Saied, not calmed in the least. “But where?”
    “Do you see it?”
    Saied made a great show of searching the floor around his stool. “No, I’m sure it’s not here,” he said at last.
    “Then it must be out in the alley. You must’ve lost it the last time you went out to piss.”
    Saied slammed the bar with his heavy fist. “And now it’s getting dark, and I must catch the bus.”
    “You still have time to search,” said Hisham. He didn’t sound very confident.
    The Half-Hajj laughed without humor. “A stone like that, worth four thousand Tunisian dinars, looks like a tiny pebble among a million others. In the twilight I’d never find it. What am I to do?”
    The old man chewed his lip and thought for a moment. “You’re determined to leave on the bus when it passes through?” he asked.
    “I must, O my brother. I have urgent business.”
    “I’ll help you if I can. Perhaps I can find the stone for you. You must leave your name and address with me; then if I find the diamond, I’ll send it to you.”
    “May the blessings of Allah be on you and on your family!” said Saied. “I have little hope that you’ll succeed but it comforts me to know you will do your best for me. I’m in your debt. We must determine a suitable reward for you.”
    Hisham looked at Saied with narrowed eyes. “I ask no reward,” he said slowly.
    “No, of course not, but I insist on offering you one.”
    “No reward is necessary. I consider it my duty to help you, as a Muslim brother.”
    “Still,” Saied went on, “should you find the wretched stone, I’ll give you a thousand Tunisian dinars for the sustenance of your children and the ease of your aged parents.”
    “Let it be as you wish,” said Hisham with a small bow.
    “Here,” said my friend, “let me write my address for you.” While Saied was scribbling his name on a scrap of paper, I heard the rumbling of the bus as it lurched to a stop outside the building.
    “May Allah grant you a good journey,” said the old man.
    “And may He grant you prosperity and peace,” said Saied, as he hurried out to the bus.
    I waited about three minutes. Now it was my turn. I stood up and staggered a couple of steps. I had a lot of trouble walking in a straight line. I could see the shopkeeper glaring at me in disgust. “The hell do you want, you filthy beggar?” he said.
    “Some water,” I said.
    “Water! Buy something or get out!”
    “Once a man asked the Messenger of God, may Allah’s blessings be on him, what was the noblest thing a man may do. The reply was ‘To give water to he who thirsts.’ I ask this of you.”
    “Ask the Prophet. I’m busy.”
    I nodded. I didn’t expect to get anything free to drink out of this crud. I leaned against his counter and stared at a wall. I couldn’t seem to make the place stand still.
    “ Now what do you want? I told you to go away.”
    “Trying to remember,” I said peevishly. “I had something to tell you. Ah, yes, I know.” I reached into a pocket of my jeans and brought out a glittering round stone. “Is this what that man was looking for? I found this out there. Is this—?”
    The old man tried to snatch it out of my hand. “Where’d you get that? The alley, right? My alley. Then it’s mine.”
    “No, I found it. It’s—“
    “He said he wanted me to look for it.” The shopkeeper was already gazing into the distance, spending the reward money.
    “He said he’d pay you money for it.”
    “That’s right. Listen, I’ve got his address. Stone’s no good