TRAVERSE

THE WRITER
“You sure?” Esi asked.
Ali nodded. “She’s just…”
“Just what?”
“Nothing....” Ali took another sip.
“Doesn’t she look like Anis?” Esi asked, looking back at the girl.
“Yeah…” Ali nodded. “And she looks exhausted…”
“Anis looked tired, too,” Esi said, watching the girl carefully.
Ali was silent. Esi finished off the rest of his juice.
“Hey, don’t choke.” Ali laughed. He tried to chug his drink too, but a
piece of ice got caught in his throat. He started coughing. Esi laughed.
“What did you say?” Ali asked, his face red from the coughing.
“What did you say about Anis?”
Esi put his glass on the counter. “I said she looked tired.” He shrugged.
Ali gave the vendor a blue banknote and muttered, “She enjoys working
her ass off.”
They walked down Valiasr street. Traffic was at a standstill as usual.
Noise and fumes filled the air.
“Hey, have you still got Yalda Night?” Asked Alia, as they walked by
the cinema, looking at the poster of Cease Fire. Two good-looking actors,
a man and a woman, were leaning back against a tree trunk, frowning.
“Yalda Night?” Esi asked. “Sounds familiar.”
“Where the woman goes abroad...then divorces.”
“Oh, yeah. Didn’t we watch it?”
“Yeah. Wanna watch it again?”
“I’ll look for it,” Esi said, observing Ali through the corners of his eyes.
They entered a park and walked down the stairs leading to a pond and
fountain. They strolled around it. People had already filled the benches
around the pond.
82 TRAVERSE