Ya'aburnee
yah-ah-BOOR-nee
n.The wish to die before someone else, because living without them is unimaginable.
Arabic — 'you bury me'Cultural concept
The Order of Things
They had been married fifty-one years and had never once discussed it, which is why the argument, when it finally came, was so bad.
It started over a filing cabinet.
Yusuf had bought one. Grey, metal, four drawers, delivered on a Tuesday, and he had spent the afternoon labelling folders in his careful engineer's hand: DEEDS. PENSION. INSURANCE. MEDICAL. And then, in the same untroubled capitals, FUNERAL — MINE.
Amal found it at six.
"What is this."
"It's a filing cabinet."
"Yusuf."
"Everything is in one place now. If anything happens you don't have to look for—"