The girl with the red scarf
Amina Al-Zaman came to Victor because he was the only American within several miles of Beni Suef. They were riding the train back from Cairo when she decided to speak to him. She had never spoken to a strange man before. Every instinct inside her said that talking to a foreigner and a non-Muslim would be trouble. But she couldn't help her desire. She had to know what the letters meant. She couldn't speak English. She was an illiterate peasant girl from the villages and had the equivalent of a fifth grade education. She had no knowledge of the subjects that glorify and criticize our known existence such as philosophy, history, politics and art. She knew enough math to keep herself from getting swindled and she could read just enough Arabic to read the newspapers.
Amina had been holding on to something would have been considered old news, trash to most people. A couple of years ago she was cleaning out an apartment in Shubra and came across a box left by the owners, who had sold the place. She assumed they forgot about the box, so she approached the doorman to see if he knew them. He told her that they had not lived in the apartment since 1981. They left shortly after Sadat was shot and never returned. The doorman looked at the contents and saw that they were letters written in English.
"They were Americans and must have been writing to their families back home. I'm sure they're with them now and have no need for this stuff. Throw it in the trash"
Amina dutifully took the box and headed for the street. She didn't like the thought that their private lives were left behind so that any stranger could take them and read them. She held onto the box and decided that the best thing to do would be to burn them with the trash in a place where no one would want to take a look.