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Before the telephone came to Magdaluna, Im Kaleem's house was bustling at just about any time of day, especially at night, when the loud voices of the men talking, laughing, and arguing could be heard in the street below—a reassuring, homey sound. Her house was an island of comfort, an oasis for the weary village men, exhausted from having so little to do.
马格达路纳安装电话之前，伊姆·卡里姆家一天到晚都是热热闹闹的，尤其是晚上，男人们的谈话声、笑声以及争论声在楼下的街道上都可以听得见，这是一种令心情放松的、使人感到在家里一般无拘无束的声音。对于村里那些因无所事事而筋疲力尽的男人们来说,卡里姆的家是个舒适的小岛，沙漠里的绿洲。
But it wasn't long before many of those men—the younger ones especially—started spending more of their days and evenings at Abu Raja's dikkan. There, they would eat and drink and talk and play checkers and backgammon, and then lean their chairs back against the wall—the signal that they were ready to toss back and forth, like a ball, the latest rumors going around the village. And they were always looking up from their games and drinks and talk to glance at the phone in the corner, as if expecting it to ring any minute and bring news that would change their lives and deliver them from their aimless existence. In the meantime, they smoked cheap, hand-rolled cigarettes, dug dirt out from under their fingernails with big pocketknives, and drank lukewarm sodas that they called Kacula, Seffen-Ub, and Bebsi.
但没有过多久，男人们，尤其是年轻的，开始整日整夜地呆在阿布·拉贾的店里。在那里，他们吃喝、谈论、玩西洋棋和十五子棋，然后把椅子往后一仰，靠在墙上，这表明他们要向传接球一样，热烈讨论村子里的最新传闻。他们总是在玩游戏、喝酒、谈论的时候抬头瞥一眼角落里的电话，好像在期盼电话随时响起，为他们带来好消息，来改变他们的无聊生活，把他们从毫无目标的生活状态中解脱出来。与此同时，他们吸着廉价的手卷烟，用随身携带的小折刀抠着指甲里的泥，喝着不冷不热被他们称为可酷乐、七启和伯事可乐的苏打水。
