The Kitchen Boy — Vocabulary
Alaa Al Aswany
translated by Davies
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In the August heat, for example, Dr. Bassiouni will wear a short-sleeved shirt like any other citizen, but—inevitably—he will wear around his neck a tie so long that it reaches to below his belt.†2 more

At this point the patient and his family would inevitably plead with Dr. Mansour to prescribe another drug for them, so he would take the prescription sheet, resolutely cross out the first medication and then write in another (which usually was no different from the first).†4 more

Hisham knew that they were lying and started asking his colleagues in the other departments.†3 more

Hisham was appointed a resident in General Surgery, an outcome with which he was genuinely pleased.†1 more

a question that would agitate even the most confident and severe among them†1 more

This time, however, Hisham stayed ...and stayed ....until, after an hour had passed since he'd gone in, the doctors in the department started whispering to one another in anxiety and surprise.†1 more

His mother noticed how irritable he was and reproached him frequently for his excessive smoking.†1 more

Such a problem could have been enough to destroy Hisham's future but, as soon as he heard the news, early in the morning, he picked up the phone and called Dr. Bassiouni at home (which is something no one had ever dared to do before) and Dr. Bassiouni quite understood the situation and immediately contacted the relevant people, and before midday, Hisham had received the news of his appointment as an assistant lecturer in the department of general surgery.†

He would, for example, wait until a doctor had prescribed a certain medication for a patient and, as soon as he caught sight of the expression of gratitude in the patient's eyes or heard the patient's family thanking the doctor, would approach and ask the doctor in a low voice what he had prescribed, then give a smile of private (but nevertheless observable) sarcasm and announce to him that what he had prescribed was totally wrong (it never happened that Dr. Mansour found that any doctor had got it right).†

Hisham took refuge in silence.†1 more

At his insistence, she would wake him every day at daybreak, almost weeping out of pity for his weak, exhausted body.†1 more

Hisham's eyes, on the other hand, did not shine at all, and were small too.†1 more

Thus if he finds a car parked in his private parking space, he at once orders that its four tires be deflated and then leaves (we may imagine the subsequent difficulties faced by the owner of a car with four flat tires) and if he catches sight of a ward orderly making tea beside the patient's family, he pounces forthwith upon the teakettle and flings it out of the window (it isn't important on whose head the kettle may land; that is the problem of the person passing by in the street).†

In addition, he chooses clothes of bright clashing colors that he seems to have chosen deliberately to not match (though they say that he acquired this practice during his stay in America).†

Nor would Dr. Mansour omit to explain in a clear and audible voice the complications that would follow if the patient were to take that medication, which was known to totally destroy the liver.†

"I want to know why I failed," Hisham insisted obstinately.†

The upshot was that, in twenty years, only four students had persevered to the end and obtained a degree under Dr. Mansour's supervision and the young doctor to whose fate it fell to have Dr. Mansour as an advisor would receive the heartfelt condolences of his colleagues, as though someone dear to him had died.†

When his mother got the news (she was peeling potatoes in front of the television at the time), she was thrilled and gave whoops of joy, then wept, blessed the Lord, and performed two prayer prostrations in thanks to Him.†

The upshot was that, in twenty years, only four students had persevered to the end and obtained a degree under Dr. Mansour's supervision and the young doctor to whose fate it fell to have Dr. Mansour as an advisor would receive the heartfelt condolences of his colleagues, as though someone dear to him had died.†

When the professors emerged from the chairman's office, he repeated everything he had done the time before, starting with knocking on the door and introducing himself, since Dr. Bassiouni had, in the few minutes that had elapsed, completely forgotten about him.†