The three boys paid no heed to the burning midday sun and kept playing in the desolate alley, making enough noise for twenty. A man looked out of a window and shouted in an irate and vexed voice, “Calm down, you devils. We’re trying to get some rest.”
It was clear that the boys knew the man who had yelled at them, and feared him. One of them said, “Whatever you say, Abu Salim, whatever you say!”
They did not carry on with their playing but leaned against the wall and talked resentfully about school. They cursed the teacher who had failed them. The first boy said, “The Minister of Education himself is a friend of my parents, and never goes against my mother’s wishes. He will go berserk when he hears what has happened, and will kick the teacher out of the school.”
The second boy said, “The chief of police – he’s close to my older sister and spoils me. Every time he visits, he sends me out to buy myself some cake or chocolate. I’ll tell him our teacher is fat and lazy. He curses the government in front of us, and he sleeps in class and snores, and lets us do whatever we want.”
The third remained silent, while his friends gazed at him in anticipation. He tried to speak, but had nothing to say. His mother did not know any men other than his father, and his sisters did not know anyone other than their husbands. He was filled with confusion, and felt he had failed a second time.