Her Side of the World

Chapter 13

I scroll back through all the photos and go back to last week's text. The one with the list of the places to visit in Lebanon. Danny is spending some time with his uncles and grandparents this weekend. Nader, however, will not be going home. Because he has some tutoring to do early Saturday and Sunday. So Nader agrees on accompanying me wherever I choose.

Neither of us has a car. But Nader knows an agency that will allow us to book a taxi for a whole day or half a day. So when we look at number two in Mariam's list and plan our Saturday, we directly call them and book one.

2- You must at some point visit Jeita. Jeita will take a full Saturday to visit, so I suggest you add to that plan a place to dine in only. Jeita Grotto has been nominated several times for the World's 7 Wonders. And it truly is magical. You won't believe how beautiful it is until you see it. In Jeita, you will first take a cable car to the upper grotto and take your time visiting it. Then you will a take a small Touk Touk train towards the lower grotto, where you will sit in a boat inside and enjoy the view. Finally, there is a zoo at the end that you can check out.

"What do you think, Nader?" I hand him the phone by moving across my bed to reach his.

"I have wanted to visited Jeita since I was a child. But we never had the chance."

"Great then. It's set!"

I go to sleep excited about my weekend. Nader and I do not have much in common. And he chats a little too much. But I would rather do this with him than alone. Additionally, Nader is a nice guy. Regardless of the fact that we do not have the same interests, the time we spend together is generally a good time.

The next Monday, I get a text from Mariam asking for my help in studying all the material we took the past week when she was not here. And I am more than happy to help. In fact, I was going to suggest it anyway. So we agree on spending the afternoon and some of the evening together at the library.

Mariam and I laugh every now and then during our studying time. She finishes catching up with the material she missed, tells me a little about her trip and decides to stay so that we can study together. We take a break and walk up to Bliss street to get some coffee. I only notice that the sun had set long time ago when we walk out of the library.

I ask her if it is traditionally normal that Farah kept choosing to be on my team when we were playing board games the other day and that she would hug me every time that we win a round. Mariam laughs at me. Like usual. She tells me that there is no such thing as "traditionally normal" when it comes to these things and that her guess would not be any more knowledgeable than mine. But she adds "I know I would not hug someone at all during board games."

As we laugh, we pass by an old man sitting on the concrete edge of the plants' pot of a building. he has a couple of gum boxes next to him. We are walking a little fast. He says something that I think is directed at us but I do not understand what he says and Mariam does not look at him and keeps walking.

Almost a minute later, she stops in her tracks.

"What?" I ask after she spends a few seconds standing still.

"Wait for me here. Sorry."

She runs back. I stand in my place and look at her going back to the old man. She says something to him, he says something back. I watch them talk. And then they laugh. She hands him money - I believe. Then she reaches out for both boxes and takes them. She stacks them in her big backpack that she keeps on and run back towards me. I see the old man standing up and walking to the opposite direction.

"Let's go." She does not stop next to me. She keeps walking and I follow.

"What was that?" I ask curious.