sacrifice

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The Sacrifice by Ghaib Tu'ma Farman... He told Abdullah, "I'll be gone for a few minutes," and left the café, crossing the alley to the left. Abdullah thought to himself, "As if the Zurkhaneh will do him any good," and watched him bend his tall frame and enter. The Zurkhaneh was an old house of unknown origin, similar to its neighbor, the Juma. Its single-leaf door, made of cheap wood, led to a square courtyard with a round, chipped pit in the center—the Jafra—now abandoned for the winter. To the left was a small iwan (a vaulted hall) with a long mud bench built against the wall, covered with a tattered wicker mat. At the far end of the iwan was a low black door; two mud steps led down to a small room with a round skylight in the ceiling. Inside the room was another, narrower mud bench, wooden shelves holding the Zurkhaneh's tools, individual pegs or large nails for hanging clothes, and a mottled, multicolored rug that marred the color of the old tanned leather. On the other side was another room where the caretaker of the zurkhaneh lived. The zurkhaneh didn't receive many visitors during the cold and rainy spells. The rain would fill the pit, soak the walls, and seep through the roof onto the floor. The playing room could only accommodate two or three players. The zurkhaneh was the "neighborhood" zurkhaneh, much like a local coffee shop. Men from the neighborhood would frequent it from time to time whenever they felt their bodies were heavy and needed a workout. It was simply a pastime, like swimming, playing dominoes, and smoking shisha.