Men in the Sun

Marwan came out of the shop belonging to the fat man who smuggled people from Basra to Kuwait, and found himself in the crowded covered street, which smelt of dates and big straw baskets. He had no definite idea where to make for now; there, inside the shop, the last threads of hope that had held together everything inside him for long years had been snapped. The last words the fat man had spoken were decisive and final; it seemed to him that they were forged from lead.

"Fifteen dinars, can't you hear?"