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hesitation.
    I cannot remember what happened after that other than my outrage and my injuries. I went at him, but it was an unbalanced fight that left marks on me that will be there forever—along with Xanam’s words.
    “I only spared your life because I need you.” Then he told me as he slowly flew away, “You fool! Your grandfather hasn’t much time to live. Death is better for him than the pain of his illness. Do you know what we can do with the blood of a Nafar? We can achieve all our dreams easily. Become Efreets, do anything! But do not forget who you are. Don’t forget that the grandfather you defend was the one who turned your father on his own family. He made your father rebel against the way of his ancestors, and live and die as a beggar among the humanized!”
    “Do you mean to tell me you’re proud of the way your father died?” I shot back.
    “He died doing his Job” angrily responded Xanam.
    “He faced the torment of this life even before the next, and was burned up by a meteor while in the upper atmosphere performing a deed for black magic!”
    Xanam did not comment. He merely smiled and vanished in an instant, leaving me in terror and astonishment.
    I could not go to work that night. My pain and sorrow were too much. I sat next to my grandfather, Elyaseen, who had fought through this life for more than four centuries. You Humans cannot imagine the pace of events we Jinn face; your lives are very short compared to ours, and your events are fast. Although we’re much faster than you when it comes to transportation, time does not carry the same weight for us. We see you as a short movie played in fast motion. When I was born your lives were not much different than what it has always been for thousands of years, there were no TVs, radios, cars, planes, or electricity. You were still moving on camels and donkeys. World War I happened just after I was born, and in World War II I passed by your planes as they shot at each other and fell from the skies like locusts. I was coming back from a visit with my father to The Islands of The Damned before his relationship with my uncles deteriorated.
    All the Humans I knew in my age have died, and their grandchildren too are old—and all of this in less than a century. So imagine what stories I will tell your great-great-great-grandchildren when I am as old as my grandfather! Elyaseen lived through a long period of your history; his life was entwined with yours to a very big degree. He was born in Maddan (one of our greatest cities north of the Red Sea) after his grandfather had moved there to spread the teachings of Islam. My grandfather lived through a third of Islamic history. His grandfather’s father was one of the Nafar who heard the Quran directly from Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him!
    All of these thoughts passed through my head as I sat in front of my grandfather. He lay there as usual, nothing moving other than his lips. They keep uttering the name of Allah. Elyaseen looked at me every now and then with a gaze that went through me, as if he knew what I was thinking. I hoped to ask him for advice on how to get rid of Xanam, but I surely would not dare tell him what my cousin had in mind. Xanam could not harm my grandfather directly, as my mother always said protection words before she left him. Besides, a crime like that would cause an unimaginable war between our two families. That was why Xanam had come to me to help him kill my grandfather in a way that would not raise suspicion.
    The situation made me hate myself. There I was, putting my grandfather, my mother, and Sawsan at risk because of my foolishness. I cried as I never had before. I felt my grandfather’s hand on my head, and for the first time in years he pointed to the sky and smiled, his lips still uttering Allah’s name.

 
    (6)
    Father’s grave and Mother’s tears

 
    M other gave up on talking to me about Sawsan. I had to admit I had utterly broken my promise to her on that