Arabic Fiction Audiobook - Dramatic, Sincere, Thoughtful Narrator
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
Arabic (General) EgyptianTranscript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
prologue Our separation began in 1992 when my questioning of Islam became too much for this devoted muslim leader to bear. He refused to entertain my doubts and concerns and was enraged that I would dare challenge Mohammed or Allah or are once shared devotion. As a result, I distanced myself from this man and he from me. He spent many years hoping I would come to my senses and resume my place of as a righteous believer that was never going to happen. He once asked me, you say Islam is wrong and that it is not the truth. So what is the truth? Oh! How? That question tormented me. I had no idea what the truth was, but where to find it. I was completely lost. I knew there was a creator and there was a God somewhere. But where who? Finding the meaning of life was the one quest above all others driving me. I tried many times over the years to reconcile with his religious man. I called him on his birthday on my birthday on random occasions, seeking some sort of resolution. I am sure I should have known better. Islam would not allow him to budge so much as an inch if he had. He believed he would face the judgments of an unforgiving god. I knew that, but I was too persistent not to try. When I got a phone call instructing me to meet him in the early morning hours of March 29, I was surprised that for the first time in years he wanted to meet with me that was exuberant perhaps for the sake of preserving some sort of relationship. He was willing to call a truce. Perhaps he would satisfy himself with an agree to disagree. I hoped, deep in my soul this would be the day we reached our armistice. I did not want to waste a moment lest he changed his mind. I headed out the door that morning telling my wife Dina I would not be long as I drove to his medical clinic and walked up to his office. I couldn't help but feel hopeful. I hadn't felt hope for a very long time and it felt good to have a chance to think of the good times. The days of seeing eye to eye with him and meeting man to man. The door to his office in the clinic was characteristically open. I took this as an overture to indicate we could begin to meet regularly. Once again I smiled to myself thinking it would be nice to reach a truce of some sort. I opened the door of the darkened office, walked through the hallway leading to his personal office and tripped on the rug. I reached out with my hand to break the fall and my hand triggered what happened next. In that instant I heard a sound like a rush of wind and everything before my eyes erupted in flames. Before I could determine what happened, a surge of heat and an intense burning sensation overwhelmed me. This was one of those out of body experiences. You read about the kind in which you feel as if you are looking down on yourself as the scene unfolds around you in slow motion, couldn't process what was happening and could only think in a disjointed one syllable sort of way, Fire! Barron's hurt anger. Why looking back at the explosion? I believe tripping probably saved my life. Gathering myself from the floor. I thought for a second I should rush through the fire to save him from the blaze. But it dawned on me. I was the only one in the office at times, a cloud of smoke blinding our eyes Is all our hearts need to see clearly. This was one such time. I ran from the building out into the street, dazed, confused and screaming as I rushed headlong toward my car. The words get to the car, get to the car, drive home, circled around and around in my head. I can only imagine what the people on the street must have been thinking as they saw this fire scarred monster lunge out of the building toward his car, screaming like a wounded animal. I raced home, not stopping to look at myself in the rear view mirror to this day. I have no idea how I managed to find my way through Cairo's early rush hour traffic as I pushed open the front door. Deena's eyes met mine with a look of horror. Go to the bathroom hurry! She said. Don't let Alex see you. He will be frightened Alex. My son had every reason to be frightened. His grandfather, my father had just tried to kill me. There was no reason to believe he wouldn't try again.