NAEL EL-TOUKHY
consumed.) Do you remember our old dream – the dream of nailing every girl in the world? Ohhh, boys. (A moment of silence.) Listen – the girls of Heliopolis all deserve to be nailed. This is a difficult mission. I suggest we start from Roxy. Roxy is a good entry point into the rest of Heliopolis – from there we can spread out into the smaller neighbourhoods.”
Raising his finger in Macho Sayed’s face, Macho Louai said: “What about Gesr el-Suez?”
It seemed to Macho Sayed that Macho Louai was speaking from his finger. His voice started off thick and rough, then got stuck in the last finger-joint and came out squeaky.
“Your voice is weird, Macho!” Macho Sayed said. “That’s nothing unusual. My voice is hoarse from crying over her.” “It’s not hoarse. It’s squeaky.” “Really! Well! Okay. Maybe. I don’t know the difference.” “The difference is that it seems to be coming out of your finger, not your mouth.” Macho Zakariya intervened to correct Macho Sayed’s information. “That’s not very logical, Macho.You know that fingers don’t produce sounds, only the mouth and throat.” Macho Sayed faced Macho Zakariya to correct the corrected information. “I’m sorry, my dear Macho Zakariya, but I disagree with you completely – as always. If you decide to snap your fingers, it will most certainly produce a sound.”To furnish his theory with scientific evidence, he snapped his fingers. And before Macho Zakariya’s astonished eyes, there came the sound of snapping.
After this victory, Macho Sayed went back to his original topic of conversation. “Okay, I suggest we split ourselves into four teams.”
In a move that smacked of vengeance, Macho Zakariya interrupted him. “We can’t. There’s only three of us.”
“I’ll take on the role of two teams,” Macho Sayed said decisively. “Any objections?” When he found no objections, he called the waiter over to settle the bill. In spite of everything, Macho Sayed was exceedingly generous: he did not go anywhere without treating everyone with him. This time he paid for fifteen canteloupe-flavoured coals, two yogurt smoothies with fruit, two yogurt smoothies without fruit, ten cans of pepsi and eighteen cappuccinos.
84 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
