Rearranging a family album, a woman notices that her aunt is missing from its photographs. An easy explanation becomes harder to sustain as they turn the pages together.
01Read the Arabic story
مَا أَغْفَلَهُ أَلْبُومُ الْعَائِلَةِ
حِينَ أَعَدْتُ تَرْتِيبَ أَلْبُومِ الْعَائِلَةِ، اخْتَرْتُ الصُّوَرَ الْوَاضِحَةَ وَنَزَعْتُ مَا تَكَرَّرَ مِنْهَا. أَرَدْتُ أَلْبُومًا أَخَفَّ يَسْهُلُ عَرْضُهُ عَلَى الضُّيُوفِ. كَتَبْتُ تَحْتَ صُورَةِ رِحْلَةٍ قَدِيمَةٍ: كُنَّا جَمِيعًا هُنَا. ثُمَّ عَدَدْتُ الْوُجُوهَ، فَلَمْ أَجِدْ وَجْهَ خَالَتِي سَلْمَى. ظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهَا غَابَتْ عَنِ الرِّحْلَةِ؛ كَانَ هَذَا أَسْهَلَ مِنْ مُرَاجَعَةِ الْجُمْلَةِ الَّتِي كَتَبْتُهَا بِثِقَةٍ.
قَالَتْ خَالَتِي، وَهِيَ تُقَلِّبُ الصَّفَحَاتِ، إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ وَرَاءَ الْعَدَسَةِ. أَرَتْنِي طَرَفَ كُمِّهَا عِنْدَ حَافَةِ صُورَةٍ أُخْرَى، ثُمَّ أَخْرَجَتْ مِنَ الدُّرْجِ آلَةَ تَصْوِيرٍ سَوْدَاءَ تَآكَلَ حِزَامُهَا. تَذَكَّرْتُ أَنَّنَا كُنَّا نُنَادِيهَا كُلَّمَا اجْتَمَعْنَا، لَكِنَّنِي لَمْ أَتَذَكَّرْ أَحَدًا يَأْخُذُ مِنْهَا الْآلَةَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ. بَدَتْ لِيَ الْفَرَاغَاتُ الْقَلِيلَةُ فِي الْأَلْبُومِ مُخْتَلِفَةً.
سَأَلْتُهَا إِنْ كَانَتْ تُحِبُّ التَّصْوِيرَ. قَالَتْ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ تُحِبُّهُ، وَشَرَحَتْ كَيْفَ كَانَتْ تَنْتَظِرُ زَوَالَ الظِّلِّ عَنْ وُجُوهِنَا. ارْتَحْتُ لِإِجَابَتِهَا أَكْثَرَ مِمَّا يَنْبَغِي، فَأَضَافَتْ أَنَّهَا أَحَبَّتْ أَيْضًا أَنْ تَظْهَرَ مَعَنَا. لَمْ تَقُلْ ذَلِكَ بِلَوْمٍ، أَوْ لَعَلَّنِي فَضَّلْتُ أَنْ أَسْمَعَهُ هَكَذَا. مَدَدْتُ يَدِي إِلَى صُورَةٍ أُخْرَى قَبْلَ أَنْ أُجِيبَ.
أَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَصِفَ لَهَا فُسْتَانَهَا يَوْمَ الرِّحْلَةِ، لِأُثْبِتَ أَنَّنِي أَتَذَكَّرُهَا خَارِجَ الصُّوَرِ. لَكِنَّنِي لَمْ أَعْرِفْ إِنْ كَانَ الْفُسْتَانُ الْأَبْيَضُ الَّذِي خَطَرَ لِي يَخُصُّ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ أَمْ مُنَاسَبَةً أُخْرَى. سَكَتُّ، وَتَرَكْتُهَا تَصِفُ الرِّيحَ الَّتِي أَسْقَطَتِ الْأَكْوَابَ عَنِ الطَّاوِلَةِ. تِلْكَ لَحْظَةٌ لَمْ تَصْلُحْ لِصُورَةٍ مُرَتَّبَةٍ، فَخَرَجَتْ مِنْ رِوَايَتِي لِلرِّحْلَةِ أَيْضًا.
أَضَفْتُ اسْمَ خَالَتِي بِقَلَمِ رَصَاصٍ تَحْتَ الصُّوَرِ الَّتِي الْتَقَطَتْهَا، وَتَوَقَّفْتُ عِنْدَ صُورَةِ الْبَحْرِ. قَالَتْ إِنَّ خَالِيَ هُوَ الَّذِي الْتَقَطَهَا، فَمَحَوْتُ اسْمَهَا. لَمْ تَكُنْ كُلُّ صُورَةٍ تَغِيبُ عَنْهَا مِنْ عَمَلِهَا. بَقِيَ الْقَلَمُ بَيْنَنَا عَلَى الطَّاوِلَةِ، وَعَادَتْ هِيَ إِلَى صُورَةِ الرِّحْلَةِ. سَأَلَتْنِي عَنْ أَسْمَاءِ شَخْصَيْنِ فِي الْخَلْفِ؛ لَمْ نَتَّفِقْ عَلَى أَحَدِهِمَا.
Show English translationHide English translation
When I rearranged the family album, I selected the clear photographs and removed the duplicates. I wanted a lighter album that would be easy to show visitors. Beneath a photograph of an old outing, I wrote: we were all here. Then I counted the faces and did not find my aunt Salma’s. I assumed she had missed the outing; that was easier than reconsidering the sentence I had written so confidently.
Turning the pages, my aunt said she had been behind the lens. She showed me the edge of her sleeve at the side of another photograph, then took a black camera with a worn strap from the drawer. I remembered that we used to call her whenever we gathered, but could not remember anyone taking the camera from her afterwards. The few gaps in the album looked different to me.
I asked whether she had enjoyed photography. She said she had, and explained how she used to wait for the shadows to move off our faces. Her answer relieved me more than it should have, so she added that she had also wanted to appear with us. She did not say this reproachfully—or perhaps I preferred to hear it that way. I reached for another photograph before replying.
I wanted to describe her dress on the day of the outing, to prove I remembered her beyond the photographs. But I did not know whether the white dress that came to mind belonged to that day or another occasion. I fell silent and let her describe the wind that had knocked the cups off the table. That moment had not suited a tidy photograph, so it had also disappeared from my account of the outing.
I added my aunt’s name in pencil beneath the photographs she had taken and paused at the photograph of the sea. She said my uncle had taken it, so I erased her name. Not every photograph she was absent from was her work. The pencil remained between us on the table, and she returned to the outing photograph. She asked me the names of two people in the background; we disagreed about one of them.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| أَعَدْتُ تَرْتِيبَ | I rearranged |
| بِثِقَةٍ | confidently |
| الْعَدَسَةِ | the lens |
| تَآكَلَ حِزَامُهَا | its strap had worn away |
| زَوَالَ الظِّلِّ | the disappearance of the shadow |
| بِلَوْمٍ | reproachfully |
| خَطَرَ لِي | came to mind |
| رِوَايَتِي | my account |
| بِقَلَمِ رَصَاصٍ | in pencil |
| فَمَحَوْتُ | so I erased |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Separate what the photographs show from the assumptions made about them. Open the English support when needed.
What to remember
- A photograph records a view, not everyone who made the moment possible. The narrator’s caption initially claims more than the picture supports.
- Self-correction does not produce complete certainty: the narrator checks authorship, questions her own tone-reading and leaves a disagreement unresolved.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Arabic Relative Pronouns: Joining Ideas with Alladhi and Allati
الْجُمْلَةِ الَّتِي كَتَبْتُهَا بِثِقَةٍ
Link the feminine noun for a sentence to the relative clause describing who wrote it.
Arabic Past-Tense Endings: I Wrote, You Wrote and We Wrote
كَتَبْتُ تَحْتَ صُورَةِ رِحْلَةٍ قَدِيمَةٍ
Use the -tu ending in katabtu to identify the narrator as the person writing the caption.
