2. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGIN. STORIES OF A FUTURE TO BE TOLD (ENG VERSION)

26. The grandmother

The day which for Can and Sanem had ended prematurely, was not so for the rest of Fikri Harika. It was in mid-afternoon that Cey Cey, left alone as he was returning to his counter, received a phone call.

The number was unknown to him, but he decided to answer anyway.

"Hello?" he said.

An unmistakable voice could be heard on the other end.

"Cey Cey, son, why aren't you doing anything? Work!" said an old woman. It was the grandmother.

"Grandma?" asked Cey Cey surprised. He looked at the phone screen double-checking the number.

"Eh, and who else could it be, silly!" replied the woman in her usual brusque and direct manner.

"Grandma, what number are you calling with?" he asked her.

"I changed the number. Did you think that by blocking me, your grandmother couldn't trace you? Well, you're wrong!" she told him with a laugh.

"Look grandma..." started Cey Cey stuttering.

"I'm dying," she told him.

"Again? What are you dying, come on grandma! Use another tactic. And that's it!" he blurted out.

"Fool that you are, I tell you I'm dying!" she insisted.

"But your voice sounds good to me for a dying woman." replied Cey Cey.

"I am dying, I tell you! Donkey!" she scolded him.

Cey Cey took a deep breath and sat down in the meeting room.

He closed the door behind him and took a seat at the head of the table.

As soon as he sat down, seeing the overview of all the empty chairs around him made him imagine for a moment a meeting with him at the head.

"Yes, gentlemen, we are gathered here to figure out "is grandma dying or not?" let's face the evidence we have together." he said in a formal almost news-like tone.

"You fool! What are you doing? I can see you!" she shouted.

Cey Cey nearly fell out of his chair. He was forced to pull the phone away from his ear. His dream vanished in an instant.

"What are you kidding? I die!" she insisted.

"Ah, and what would you be dying of? Let's hear it." said Cey.

"Not of what, you fool! But 'why'!" his grandmother corrected him.

"Hmm, why?" he then asked.

"Because you won't let me see my grandchildren." she said.

"But what grandchildren, grandmother! You are delirious!" he said.

"That's what you're dying for, huh? You are going mad. Say it now." sneered Cey Cey at her.

"Shut up! Fool that you are! I'm telling you the grandchildren are coming and I won't see them. And it's all your fault!" said the grandmother.

"I'm dying for it!" she ranted.

"Again with these grandchildren..." he commented. "And then why is it my fault?" he asked.

"Because you block me, you don't call me, I can't call you. Me, if you don't let me see them, I die. Understand?" insisted the grandmother, complaining.

"But what do I have to show you, grandmother? There is no grandchild!" lost patience Cey Cey.

"You are lying! You don't want to tell me, but I know. I can feel it." she said with a clairvoyant manner.