“Did you like it?” he asks. “It was … interesting,” I say. “But why was it so perfect for me?” I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I can’t help myself. I am puzzled and it just comes bursting out that way. “Ah,” he says. “That is a very good question.” “Thank you,” I say. “But what is the answer?” “Sometimes you have to let the perfect book sit in your mind for a while before it begins to mean something.” He hands me two more books. “One for now, one for later.” When I thank him, he smiles and nods at me, his Number One Patron. That afternoon my mother gets ready to go shopping. She has cleaned the house until she is satisfied that it is spotless and ready for Rafiq Uncle’s visit. Now we need to buy vegetables and fruits, so he will not think for a minute that we don’t eat properly.
