They saw him arrive one summer evening.
It was hot, very hot. Man and beast seemed to sleep in the shade of the walls. Wrapped from head to toe, barely able to open an eye, they seemed forever petrified into statues, turned in on themselves, alone..
Leïla Sebbar is an acclaimed Franco-Algerian writer, born in colonial Algeria, subsequently living in France. More on her life and work can be found here.