Hisham Abbas, a pop singer from Egypt, sang" sebtek" or " I dumped you" in my IPod classic as I passed the Catholic high football field. I can't get the smell of the wet blades of grass out of my nostrils. Those football boys were working hard at it. The field was at a lower level than the ground, that it felt to me they put the field in this huge pit of grass and mud. I always envied those boys that participated in an athletic team at catholic high. I always felt they were so in shape and that they really work hard to be at the level they are at. What I clearly remember was how I was always wondering how those fat kids who practiced in the football team could run so fast, and be that agile and light.
I really admired how they finished school that ran from 8 to 3:15 and still had such energy to run and gun. their coach, Coach Register, whom i always thought his name was another because i couldnt understand how anyone can be called Register, killed them at practice. Other coaches i remember very well were Coach Boone, he taught me Religion in of the terms, and Coach Estes, who taught Biology to sophomores. I never quite grasped how they can be such great teachers, and also great coaches to the boys at Catholic. Coach Register had white hair, and had kind of a limp, they told me he had had a hip surgery because he had broken it many years ago. Coach Boone was this huge man, sort of bald, and had such sense of humor that made us all crack up in religion class. I had an incident with Coach Estes when we were practicing singing some hymn for an event at school, and of course as a muslim, I didnt want to sing. So he came up to me and told me to sing, he probably didnt know I was Muslim, or that I was a foreigner even for that matter. I was 15 back then and I almost made a big deal out of it but things passed and all went well. We can talk about the football team and my experience with it later.
So I passed the football field on my left, listening to Hisham Abbas on my iPod, and then left to University Avenue. I recall very well seeing the Little Rock public bus passing by, with a sign on it that read " University". I guess they called it University Avenue because it led to the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, or UALR. I pass the street, go left a couple of blocks, then right to John Gould Fletcher Public Library. John Gould Fletcher, as came to my knowledge later, was an imagist poet, born in Little Rock, and worked with other very well known American imagist poets, namely Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound. I always went to that library after school, as it was the closest to Catholic, because whoever my ride was, Linda, or Jenny Rainwate, a great friend and a neighbor, came at 4:30 and so I had to kill the time till they picked me up.
So I go thought the doors of the library and I just get fired up. The scent of Air fresheners, mixed with feminine perfumes and the rich smell of books always prostrated me. I would go to reserve my hour on one of the computers from a machine and wait till my time came. I can't forget this lady who worked there, a tall gorgeous blonde who always walked around running errands inside the library. The 15-year old me was so infatuated by her. I didn't know her but I definitely wanted to be friends with her.
I sat on the computer and accessed the Internet, and checked my newly acquired Facebook account because that was basically how I checked on my family and caught up with what was going on in Egypt. I remember very well that YouTube was how I found out about two very important events. One, that Egypt had won the African cup in soccer. Two, the frenzy of Turkish Soap operas had invaded Egypt and everyone there was talking about it. I remember one time I had the headphones in my ears and was listening to "Nary Nareen" , also by Hisham Abbas, and I got so excited listening to it and I started singing, till I found out I was so loud the black lady sitting next me was giving me a dirty look that told me to shut up or she will shut me up for good. I only accessed the Internet at the library because Linda didn't have a computer at home, so going to the library was pretty crucial. Once I finished my hour I would go to the book shelves and just stare at books, almost all of which I didn't know, which depressed me temporarily. I always saw one or two students from Catholic or Mount St. Mary's, the catholic school for girls and basically our sister school. I recognized them of course because it was the only school in town where girls wore uniforms.
When I listen to the Beatles, I definitely remember the great Mr. Bienvenue. The Louisianan man who was my neighbor when I was living with My first host mother, Jane Martin. He played the Beatles as he gave me and his son rides to and from soccer practices. I remember first time I saw the short bald man with the frameless glasses when he came up to the door and rang the bell a couple of times. I was at home alone and I didn't know if I was supposed to open the door or not. It was the beginning of the year in America, and I still felt I wasn't at home. In Egypt, if you are a guest, you almost never answer the door unless you are told to. But he kept ringing that bell till I was freaked and so answered the door. He started talking, and I couldn't understand a single thing. He had the weirdest accent I had ever heard in my life. Lousiana Accent. It sounded a lot like French I guess. That's why his name, Bienvenue, meant "welcome" in French and his son's name was "Beaux", or "handsome"in French. I could only understand the word Soccer which he pronounced SAAkar. He wanted me to join the team and play with his son. We traveled a couple of times together, I Mr. Bienvenue and his son Beaux. He was such a nice man and he never let me chip in with hotel expenses, and he would buy us food and drinks. I listen to the Beatles, and I can't help not to think of the awesome Mr. Bienvenue.
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