“What’s with this beggar woman?”
“What’s with her? She’s dirty like she’s supposed to be.”
“No. Look at her, she’s not begging.”
“Either her shift is over or that she’s too rich by now to keep begging, but
she’s used to the lifestyle.”
“What’s wrong with this city? Even beggars don’t beg. Remember when they
used to hassle – even assault us – in the streets? I will go and ask her if she
wants any money.”
“What you’re afraid she’s an unemployed beggar or something? Remem-
ber that 80s Frankie Goes to Hollywood T-Shirt… “Frankie Says: Arm the
unemployed.” What am I saying? It’s how the war started! They armed every
goddamn unemployed son of a bitch and gave him an AK47!”
“An AK what?”
“Nevermind, it’s the technical name for the Kalashnikov. Want change to
give to that lady beggar? I got a thousand to spare.”
“Oh, it’s the new edition of the thousand. What happened to our currency? It
used to so nice and stylish. We had monuments on it, remember? Anjar, and
Baalbeck, and Beiteddine. Then they replaced with these ugly things that
look like a polluted sea colliding with a smog-filled sky. And now this! OK,
let’s go give the lady beggar some money.”
“You know what? I want to be armed myself. I want an AK47 – a Kalashnik-
ov all to myself! When you’re through forcing that beggar to do after hours,
let’s go have a bit somewhere. And don’t choose somewhere expensive, I’m
inviting.”