When a man loves a woman
So, part of living in Paris is having "your" bodega. You will have your grocer and butcher and baker, but the bodega is the place where you turn outside of normal business hours. We are very fortunate in ours, in that it is literally open 365 days a year -- this is almost unheard of. Yes, even in August.
The store is run by Abumousa, who I think owns it though I haven't asked. His son works for him. Abumousa's either dad or uncle (I'm not clear and they use Arabic family terms which I don't know for each other) has been hanging out for the past month or so, mostly sitting in the back and trolling Abumousa, and occasionally running the checkout and just letting people take stuff essentially for free because "we seem nice".
Abumousa's son, Atif (I'm about 80% sure that's his actual name rather than his dad describing him as "nice" ), has been sweating this either Somali or Tuareg girl who comes into the store. She's gorgeous (he's not) and it would seem like an unlikely match, but I see her hanging out longer than she needs to and laughing a little too loudly at everything he says, and they're two kids in their 20s and God bless them and such, but Abumousa (the dad) always seems to tut tut and send Atif off whenever they start getting a little too friendly.
So I went into the store tonight to get an Orangina, and a couple of seconds behind me the Somali-or-Tuareg girl comes in. Atif inflates with joy; Abumousa scowls. The grandfather, who is sitting in the back right next to the control of the PA system, presses a few keys. And the linked song starts playing.
I don't know the story between Abumousa and his father-or-uncle, but I know this old man is absolutely reveling in seeing Atif fall for a girl Abumousa disapproves of.
And so the species continues.
= new reply since forum marked as read
