Hamid and Ali were playing in the street one day when Hamid asked a poignant question.
“Who do we belong to?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well firstly I know we belong to our families at home.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Secondly, if we are all together at school, we would belong to the school!”
“Yes, that is also true.”
“But out here, who do we belong to?”
“Well, we are playing football.”
“So, do we belong to Real Madrid like Bale?”
“Do you really support Real Madrid?”
“Well, I also like Liverpool.”
The boys looked at each other.
“What happens at the World Cup?” asked Hamid.
“Easy. We support Egypt!”
“Well, that answers it. When we are in the street, we are Egyptians!”
“Cool!”
“So, should we wear an Egypt football shirt?”
“I don’t know. I mean if we are not wearing one, are we still Egyptians?”
“Well, we can’t wear one when we go to school can we?”
“So, what else can we do?”
“We need a flag!”
“We can’t wear that either!”
“So what do we do?”
“I have an idea,” said Ali. He whispered in Hamid’s ear.
That evening they met up after supper and sneaked into Hamid’s father’s workshop.
They each got home before their families noticed.
The chatter started the following day.
“Hey, who painted the Egyptian flags on the corner? They are amazing!”
“No idea. Doesn’t it make you proud to be Egyptian, though?”
*
“Do you ever feel that you belong?”
“After I have been on a first date, I always feel as though I belong. What about you?”
“I wasn’t thinking about boys. I was thinking about our place in the world.”
“Our place in the world is to look out for our friends and put a good read on the bedside table.”
“Don’t you think we should get these stories on the bedside table?”
“Are you sure about that? It might give people ideas.”