Simmering onward

The summer simmers on, each day hotter and more humid than the last. We don't live from day to day. We overcome each day. I keep myself pre-occupied with resentments and hope. Construction workers shout and hammer away next to this flat we are trying to leave. We are having a problem. The Rose of Tehran finds a decent flat for us at a reasonable price, but when the owners or the building guards find out there is an American in tow, the price rises or the apartment isn't available (unless we grease the hand of the sleazy Egyptian building guard with a whole lotta backsheesh).