Series: Debts to the Desert Sand

There were now four weeks until the next court date. Four weeks of dread hanging over him like a storm cloud, dark and heavy. So what? What did it matter if there was still time? He still had no hope of paying the debt or getting out of it in any way. The deadline was

One week later, the trial date arrived. Jabr had thought — had hoped, really — that the affair would be quiet and unobserved, a matter settled in a near-empty courtroom with only the necessary officials present. But when he stepped inside, the air was thick with murmurs, and the benches were crowded with faces he

But he had to face the immediate threat—the loss of his house. Soon, there would be no more ancestral dwelling, no place to lodge his growing family. The walls that had sheltered generations, now felt like they were closing in on him, as if warning him of their impending demise. The house, with its creaking

The troubles continued to pile up on Jabr, each one heavier than the last. His thoughts of his debts grew like vines around his feet, and his attempts to move forward seemed only to tangle him further. There was a suffocating sense that he was sinking, that every effort to climb out of his predicament

Sunday afternoon had arrived again, and with it came the familiar sense of dread. Jabr’s worries clung to him like a heavy cloak, too overwhelming to allow any thought of church. He would sit for a few moments, staring at the floor, before springing up to pace the room with a restless energy. The walls

On the fifth day, just as the heat of the afternoon began to sink into the earth, the ship Denton Flowers arrived early, its smokestacks catching the sun. The wind had been kind to Mary’s ship, but unkind to Jomana and Jabr, pushing them further into a sea of doubt. The two stood side by

Maybe the visit to Dandy would settle him down somehow. Jabr hoped that seeing his friend’s success might help him find a way out, even though any believable mechanism for that eluded him. Dandy was like a lighthouse, a beacon of hope and accomplishment, steady in the face of all the challenges life threw at

But the morning brought no peace. Though Jabr and Jomana had managed to sleep through the night, the weight of the debt problem and the unspoken conflict between them hung in the air like a heavy fog, refusing to lift. The issues between them were as raw and unresolved as ever. No miraculous solution had

An hour later, Janiah intercepted Jabr as he was about to leave for the souk. She caught his arm, pulling him aside with a firmness that belied her years. “What’s going on? I suppose you’ve told her about the debt by now. It’s really weighing on you, isn’t it?” Jabr looked away, unable to meet

His brief respite was shattered by a sharp, insistent knock at the door. Startled, Jabr jolted awake, the remnants of sleep slipping away. Janiah’s voice cut through the silence, firm and demanding. With heavy steps, he descended the stairs, each movement weighted by the growing apprehension in his chest. In the living room, two strangers