Chapter 3: The basement

Khaled thought he was speaking to himself alone... and he didn't know that someone else was listening to his conversation with himself aloud outside the room...

Where his grandfather stood near the door of the room listening to what happened to him.

Despite this, no astonishment appeared on his face, as if what he heard from his conversation about going down to the basement didn't represent any difference to him, but it seemed as if it was something expected to happen.

He remained standing until Khaled fell silent, and the lights of his room went out, and silence prevailed in the place, only interrupted by the distinctive sound that he knows well when his grandson sleeps.

After that, he left, leaning on his stick, to his room where he sat silently on his couch for minutes, then he moved his stick to pull out a small wooden box that looked old, and opened it, and took out an old photo album covered with a lot of dust.

After removing the dust from it, he began to flip through its pages one by one, and looked at the pictures it contained... until he stopped at one of them...

The next day, both Khaled and his grandfather woke up early, as they always did; Khaled had his early work, and his grandfather didn't sleep after prayer, and he continued reading in the book of Allah until Khaled got up to have breakfast together.

The meal was prepared for them by a girl who lived next to them, and she had been used to doing this for years.

Khaled sat and occasionally looked at his grandfather as if he wanted to tell him something... until he broke the silence and asked his grandfather: "Abdo" (as he used to call him)... "Can you live alone?"

His grandfather looked at him, showing that he didn't understand his question:

"Do you want to travel or what?"

Khaled remained silent... then looked at him again:

"If I travel for a short period... can you live alone?"

Then he continued as if he was explaining: "I know my words shock you... but I've decided to leave the town for a while... and I swear to you I'll be back soon... and you won't feel my absence."

Then he tried to justify his talk: "I'll go anywhere I feel like I exist... Do you know what your grandson, a graduate of the College of Commerce, does for a living?"

"Oh... he works in a pharmacy warehouse..."

"Your grandson works as a porter in a pharmacy warehouse... Porter... Bring that box and put it here... Take this box and put it there..."

Then he stood up.. and said to his grandfather:

"I'll travel for a short period... "

Then he turned to leave, until his grandfather's words stopped him:

"Why are you lying, Khaled?!... Why don't you want to admit that you want to go down to the basement?!"

Those words were like a lightning bolt directed at Khaled after he concocted his desire to travel for a while so that his grandfather wouldn't know about it, and he would think he was going crazy... And he didn't know how his grandfather knew his intention... So he looked at him confusedly:

"Basement?! How did you know?!!.. I mean, what basement... and what nonsense?"

His grandfather continued: "I've known for a long time... a very long time..."

Then he ordered him to sit again and asked him seriously:

"Why do you want to go down to the basement?"

Khaled remained silent... then he spoke trying to make the conversation a joke:

"Why are you so insistent on this basement story... I'm telling you I'll travel..."

His grandfather repeated his question:

"Khaled... why do you want to go down to the basement?"

Unable to find a way out, he sighed heavily and answered:

"I want to go down to prove to Mona and her father that I'm brave... that I'm different from others..."

So his grandfather asked him:

"Just that?"

He answered in surprise: "Yes, just that..." and continued:

"And who knows, maybe I'll find the treasure you guys went down for before..."

His grandfather repeated his question:

"Just that?"

"Yes."

Then his grandfather said seriously:

"You don't want to go down for that reason... You want to go down for a completely different reason... A reason that runs in our blood... My blood, your blood, and your father's blood... The reason is our love for the unknown... Our love for rebellion... Our love for discovering something new... Our love for being different..."

And he added: "When you were young, I used to tell you about the basement when you used to cried... and maybe you thought it was just a story to calm you down, but believe me, I knew that one day you would grow up and I would tell you again about the basement... just a little story about it and you would be excited from within..."

And he continued: " Mona's father has rejected you many times... and I knew the reason for his rejection... So why this time did you want to be the hero...

until yesterday, the same thing happened to you as happened to your father when I told him about the basement... but the difference is that I knew you wanted to go down, but he suddenly left..."

Khaled interrupted him: "Did my father go down to the basement?!"