Her Side of the World

Chapter 5

"I'm going to order pizza. Do you want some?"

"I would like some pizza, yes. Can I see the menu?"

He hands his phone to me. I check the menu out.

"I'll have a small Peperoni Pizza."

"Alright." he holds his thumb up.

I go back to scrolling my phone.

"Do you watch series?"

"Yeah. Who doesn't?"

"Many people."

"Really?"

"Yes. Of course."

I am impressed.

"What kind do you watch?"

"Everything to be honest."

"Right."

It is obvious to me that Nader is trying to make up a conversation. And I am okay with it. But Nader is a little too much for me. I am afraid if we start talking now it will not end any time soon, and I am tired.

"You'd laugh your ass off if you watched Lebanese series." he says.

"Really? Why? Are they funny?"

"Even when they are not supposed to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Lebanese people do not know how to make a good show. Scenarios are so unrealistic and their acting -most of them- is very bad."

"Aha. Interesting. Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know. Did you know almost every woman who has won Miss Lebanon, has pursued a career in acting afterwards? Because that is all that matters; good looks."

"I don't know." he shrugs and continues, going back to answering my question. "It's probably like everything else wrong in this country."

'This country' is a word I keep hearing. In most contexts, negatively. Except for my conversations with Mariam and Danny, everyone else I have spoken to has said the word 'this country' followed by a negative implication.

"What's wrong with this country?" I ask him.

"Everything." he says moving closer to the balcony door. "It is getting a little chilly at night, finally."

I nod.

We sit silent for a while. Just when the conversation got interesting to me, Nader decides to become a quiet guy.

Around ten minutes later, the phone in the room rings. I pick it up.

Nader is getting out of the bathroom when he sees me on the phone. He directly puts his shoes on.

I close the phone. "It's the pizza. The delivery's here." 

"Yep. Figured. I'll go get it."

Nader leaves the room. Delivery men are not allowed into the university. So when the security man calls, Nader takes the initiative of meeting the delivery man outside.

Nader comes in a couple of minutes later holding the two boxes and a couple of soda cans.

"Here you go." he says laying them on the table.

Nader and I talk over the pizza. The talk goes smoothly. When I ask him again what is truly wrong with Lebanon, Nader answers me with very general replies. Replies such as 'corruption' and 'traffic' and 'electricity'. And I am sure these things exist and are massive problems, but it seems more to me that it is the overwhelming feeling of having to live under a certain constant pressure of all these things combined that make them speak the way that they do.