35

It was a simple, elegant party. There were not a lot of people—the workers at the American Museum, Mahdi, Munir, and some journalists. The surprise tied his tongue, so he could not say anything. He was nodding while other people were clapping their hands for him when he entered from the door of the museum. Some other people were having fun bursting balloons and cracking fireworks to welcome him.

Among all the faces in the party, a thin, smiling face with black eyes one of which had aberration towards the left has emerged. It is Zohra’s face. The surprise shocks Khaled

There was a cake in the middle of the rectangle table. On the icing there was a phrase ‘Zahrliza 1952 - 2013’.

The manager of the museum gave a short speech in which he narrated the history of the painting and Khaled’s story with it before surprising Khaled when he gave him the floor to deliver a speech. He cleared his throat,

He said no more than three sentences before giving them a gesture to resume the celebration. I said what I had, and he was really honest when he was not willing to brag about what he did for Tangier.

Tangier gave him a lot of things, and he thought that what he did to her did not equal one tenth of that.

Zohra said to him,

Khaled pulled Zohra by the hand and said to one of the journalists,

Khaled and Zohra posed for the photo and between them in the background was the Zahrliza. They smiled and the journalist took it.

Mahdi told Khaled that he would work again in the museum after the administration apologized and asked him to return to his job. After the party ended, and everybody left, Khaled and Zohra went to the Café Hafa that overlooked the sea. The waves were singing a merry symphony they had forgot its melody because of grief. The summer sun of Tangier was waving them goodbye giving way to the noisy night.

Khaled and Zohra were silent contemplating the scene. They were exchanging thousands of words without moving their lips. Their silence was chatting as their hearts were announcing the birth of a pure, innocent love embraced by their Tangier.

Finally, Khaled started in his mind writing the first words of his coming novel,

One inch… one second…one simple movement. We may not pay these details any attention. They may very often have significant impact on our lives forever. One millimeter of hesitation may change the course of life towards a direction we do not know.

The End