Banipal - A Retired Gentleman extract.pdf - Inpress Books

Issa J Boullata Title Story of A Retired Gentleman and other stories
ISBN 978-0-9549666-6-9 6
us, anyway.”
She looked at him, lovingly, then at Mount
Hermon looming on the southern horizon of
Rashayya, with its eternally snow-clad top. It
appeared like the hoary head of an old man, a
venerable hermit watching Rashayya and the
docile countryside it towered.
She finally said, “All right, William. Let’s
go.”
It was on this walk that he told her he was
leaving Rashayya. They had reached the foot of
Mount Hermon and he suggested that they should
rest before the ascent to the snowy summit.
They chose a shady place facing north toward
Rashayya, which was bathed in haze at a
distance.
He asked her, “You haven’t been to Beirut,
have you, Margaret?”
She said, “No. But I’d like to visit it one
day.”
He asked, “Would you like to live in it . . .
with me?”
“With you!? . . .” she exclaimed.
“Yes, I’m going to Beirut to work there.”
She hesitated then said, “No, I can’t go with
you.” Then she added, with innocent youthful
wisdom, “Unless we’re married . . .”
He said, “You know I love you, Margaret, and I
intend to marry you. I thought we agreed on
that. But since I have no certainty of income
yet, I can’t marry you now.”
“Oh, what an unlucky girl I am,” she sighed.
Trying to suppress her tears, she finally added
bravely, “Go to Beirut, William, but do keep in
touch, you hear me? . . . I’ll wait.”
Margaret then grumbled she could not go uphill
to the mountain top and wanted to return home.
And William still remembered how sad and how