Tales and Stories

Chapter 22 - Desert Hospitality

Baba Gene looked up to meet the response from his enigmatic tale. However, Gypsy Lou was thoroughly absorbed in trimming her toe nails with a tiny pair of scissors and Kifkef was missing altogether..

“Where is he?” Baba Gene complained. “Did he even listen to how it ended?”.

“How what ended?” His companion asked with a yawn..

Kifkef came scuffling back at that moment with a tray full of sweet delicacies and a pot of coffee blended with cardamon..

“These are balclava,” he announced, “The best that you will find in the Middle East. They are made with the utmost care; each layer of filo pastry filled with a slice of pistachio, almond, honey or fig. They are to be tasted in the middle of the tongue, tiny bite by tiny bite, savouring the craftmanship and thought that went into each-“.

“Pour the coffee, Sandman.” Gypsy Lou ordered, hoisting three of the pastries into her mouth and swallowing them a moment later..

Kifkef paused for a moment to control his irritation that could not be vented upon a guest. He poured the dark coffee into small glasses and remarked..

“While we love to have visitors, we are still grateful for the wisdom of tradition which decrees that ‘guests are like fish - After three days both begin to smell.’.

You call me ‘Sandman’? Well, I should be honoured to receive such a title. For he is one of the heroes of the desert.

The Story of the Sandman