CHAPTER 24

I Am Philothei (5)

I went too far when I was looking for hórta, and there was almost nothing because of the time of year, and I was so busy looking that I forgot where I was and suddenly I took fright, because I heard a noise and I thought it might be Markala or some other demon because they like deserted spots, but it was only Ibrahim, and I sat down on a rock because I’d been so frightened in case it was the demon, and I had demons on my mind because it was only the day after epiphany and we’d just burned Siphotis to get rid of the evil and filth.

They tied the rope across from the door handle of my father’s house over to the door handle of Iskander’s house, and they sealed up the cat in the jug and hung it from the middle of the rope, and then they lit the fire of thorns and twigs at one end of the rope, and when the rope broke the jug fell and shattered, and the cat was freed, and that was how Siphotis was got rid of, and everyone danced and sang around the embers, and then the men went round with the coals and put some smoke in everyone’s house and in the stables, and then the men collected gifts, and Ibrahim was tagging along with the men who came to our house to put smoke in it, and somehow he managed to put his hand against my breast when no one was looking, and I practically fainted from the possible shame.

So when he came to the rocks when I was out on the day after epiphany, I turned away and wouldn’t talk. When he gave up and left, I regretted it, though, and I went to the top of a rock to watch him go, and he turned and saw me, and I was caught out and embarrassed, but he just raised his hand in that small gesture that he has, and then he went on his way.