Moroccan short stories

The Sidewalk

This is a story that took place in the city of Mohammedia in 1993. At that time, the city started to welcome more and more new residents. Routes and bridges were built as the population of the city grew rapidly. Among the established residents were several foreigners, just like Frankassa, who owned several villas and had privileges from the City. Frankassa had a long mustache, was a strutting peacock, and was very proud of himself. The City treated him above all the other residents of Mohammedia and never poked his ego. The sidewalk in front of his villa was always cleaned, in a good state, and most importantly, it had no curved lines or concentric circles. The City knew too well that Frankassa strongly believed that curved lines and concentric circles and the red color have an immense negative effect on the intelligence, the thinking, and the imagination. Therefore, all the sidewalks in Frankassa’s neighborhood must be done with special care. The sidewalks must be constructed out of running bond brick only, and the curbside must not have any coloring applied to it. Each morning Frankassa woke up very early, sat on the balcony, and looked down the sidewalk in front of his villa. He stretched his arms high above his head and smiled broadly. He was very happy with the view, unlike the local residents of the city who were gnashing their teeth in rage and anger.

Many residents had complained to the City, but the City had no ears to hear them. Its silence infuriated them even more and pushed them to spread the inequality of city services to many places.

One day in the summer, Frankassa was walking home, but his foot throbbed with pain. He saw an empty bench, but it was on a sidewalk that had curving lines, concentric circles, and red-colored curbside. He looked to his right and to his left and saw nobody. He whispered to himself, “If I rest for only five minutes on this bench, it will do me real good, and I will close my eyes while I am sitting.” And so he rested on that bench with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, an elderly woman passed by and saw him. As soon as she reached home, she told her daughter. Her daughter gazed out the window and saw him too. She took a picture of him and sent it to all her friends. Her friends sent it to their friends. And their friends sent it to their friends. And so on. When Frankassa knew about the photo, he was very angry and right away phoned and complained to the City.

The City approved and processed his complaint urgently. Within a couple of hours, special units were sent to change the sidewalk and make it without curved lines and concentric circles, and above all, they changed the curbside and constructed a new one that wasn’t painted with the red color. FranKassa took a picture of himself resting on that bench, but now the bench had no curved lines, no concentric circles, and no red-colored curbside. And then he posted it proudly on the Internet to make untrue the original photo.

Next morning, all residents of the city of Mohammedia knew about the sidewalk story. They quickly understood the power of a photo, and they acted very quickly too. Within a couple of minutes, they altered the background of the original photo by putting a new background photo of a sidewalk that had curved lines and concentric circles and a red-colored curbside. The altered photo was almost real, and in the middle of it, FranKassa was sitting on a bench. And then they sent it to their friends. Their friends sent it to their friends. And their friends sent it to their friends. And so on.

When FranKassa knew about the altered photo, he again turned black and called the City making a new complaint. The City special units couldn’t stop the spreading of the altered photo but hurried to the area and changed the sidewalk and the curbside of the place that was on the altered photo. Now and again, FranKassa was happy but a little worried.

When the local residents of the city of Mohammedia knew about how quick the City changed the second sidewalk, they again altered the original photo, but this time they made several altered photos that equaled the exact number of the city benches that had curved lines and concentric circles and red-colored curbsides. And then they sent them to their friends. Their friends sent them to their friends. And their friends sent them to their friends. And so on.

The City knew about the altered photos and immediately requested all construction units to change all the sidewalks and curbsides of the entire city of Mohammedia, and no red coloring should be used.

All residents of the city of Mohammedia were happy with the changes, and everyone enjoyed the benches without curved lines and concentric circles on the sidewalk and without red-colored curbsides or benches.