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sure she could appeal to his senseof duty as a doctor and win him over, especially since things had changed since their last visit. Yehya had begun the necessary procedures: he had a place in the queue and would stay there until he received the permit. It was simply a matter of time now, nothing more, so maybe Tarek would show a little compassion and agree to help Yehya before all the paperwork was finished. There was no time for delay, or for adherence to arbitrary rules that weren’t helping anyone. Yehya nodded, took a small bite of cake, and slowly stood up, clutching his side.
    They were nearly out the door when the telephone rang, and Amani hesitated a moment before returning and picking it up. Nagy’s baritone sprang out of the receiver, and he was pleased to hear her voice—it had been a long time since he’d seen her, maybe not since Yehya had been injured. He’d just finished his errands and was returning to the queue, and offered to walk Yehya back, but Amani asked him to meet them at the hospital instead. It was a chance to meet up after not having seen each other for a while, even if the place itself held bad memories for all three of them. Yehya took the phone from her to remind Nagy to be on his guard and watch his words if he arrived before them, to say nothing to Tarek about the other people waiting in the queue or why they were there. As Amani and Yehya walked down the stairs, she reminded him about the letter she’d sent him through Um Mabrouk; Yehya hadn’t told her what he was going to do about the suspicious doctor who’d dropped by the office where they worked. Yehya realized with surprise that he’d completely forgotten about it. Her vague letter had confused and worried him when he received it, and he’d meant to ask her to explain what had happened. It held only one real piece of information: Zephyr Hospital, theplace the man worked. Nothing aside from that, no name or rank or even his job title. The doctor hadn’t asked her to do anything, not even to inform Yehya that he had come—he’d just asked Amani a brief question and then left. Although this enigmatic message was the reason Yehya had left the queue to visit Amani, it had evaporated from his memory, its place filled with pain. But again they put the discussion aside: it was getting late, and they hurried to catch Tarek.
    Nagy took the quickest route he knew to the hospital. The streets practically looked like a carnival these days; ever since the Events had ended, they were overflowing with street vendors selling all kinds of food, drinks, clothes, and an array of everyday items. He enjoyed the lively, bustling atmosphere. Most important for him, it was a gold mine of books and papers. He noticed a wooden birdcage covered in a pile of newspapers and magazines in a dimly lit corner, and a man sitting cross-legged next to it, half asleep, his head drooping onto his shoulder as if he were about to wake at any moment. Nagy scanned the headlines, searching for something in particular. Without waking the man he left money for a copy of
The Truth
and a magazine—in theory a quarterly but now published only as often as its editors could manage. Hunger stirred in the depths of his belly, and he paused in front of a cart where sweet potatoes were roasted and sold. But the smoke rising from it brought back memories of those recent unsettling events. He stood there, frozen for a moment, and then quickly walked on, empty-handed but for the newspaper and magazine.

THREE

Document No. 3
    Examinations Conducted, Visible Symptoms, and Preliminary Diagnosis
    The patient is conscious, alert, and aware of his surroundings; blood pressure and pulse are normal; visible symptoms include: signs of choking and disruption of the nervous system, bleeding around entry and exit wounds caused by a [redacted], sign of recent abrasions and bruising on the back, pelvis, and forearm regions, [redacted;
injury
written above it] penetrating the pelvic region along