The Thief and the Dogs

The next evening, Said visits a café. The staff and the customers welcome him warmly, including the owner Tarzan who sits with Said. Tarzan and Said complain about the state of the world and reminisce. Said asks Tarzan for a gun, admitting that he has no money to pay for it. Tarzan tells him not to worry. As Said stares out the window, he overhears two young men discussing security, courage, and death. Said is intrigued by their abstract conversation and thinks about his own youth, when he was ready to take up arms in the name of "the national cause" (25). Tarzan brings a revolver for Said.

In the café, Said reunites with an old friend named Nur. He remembers her fondly: she loved him once, but he was already in love with Nabawiyya. Nur is a prostitute and Said notices that she has grown old and thinks that her revealing clothes suggest that she has "given up all claims to self-respect" (26). Nur greets him with a smile and tells him that she will go to the Martyr's Tomb later with a rich client. Said decides to rob Nur’s client. Nur is worried because her client is the son of a powerful family, but Said tells her to act naturally so that no one will suspect that she is involved.