Down the Rabbit Hole

*This happend today around 11 am*

Confrontation

Uncle: So, what have you decided on? Sam: Ehh, I don’t think this is for me. I am sorry, but I have to say No. Uncle: No? Are you sure? Is that your final decision? Sam: Yeah. Pretty much. Uncle: That’s a shame sam. That’s a pretty damn stupid choice. I thought you were smarter then that. Sam: No one is perfect Uncle. I guess everyone is bound to make a stupid choice every now and then. This is mine. Uncle: Heh. Just out of curiosity, why? Democracy and all that crap? Sam: It’s not crap. But that’s not it. I guess you could say that Opportunities are like shoes. This one just didn’t fit me. Uncle: Ahh.. ok. Did you tell your parents yet? Sam: Nope. But I am betting they wouldn’t be pleased either. Uncle: (matter of fact-ly) Your mother won’t be. You know how her days are numbered. Sam: Yeah, well, no one stays in the top forever. Uncle: Yeah, but you more then anyone knows what will happen to her when this happens. Sam: True. Uncle: And yet, you still say no? Sam: She made her bed. She might as well lie in it. Uncle: Is that so? Sam: You know that it is.

---

Slip

Uncle: That’s true. I do. Too bad. I really wanted you to do this. Sam: A. is still doing it. As your Son he will be more under your wing and control, than someone as stupid as I am. Uncle: Yeah, but you know he won’t be able to play the game half as well as you could, or at least as I thought you could. Sam: Ok, well, since this subject is brought up I have a question I want to ask you, and will you please be 100% honest with me? Uncle: Ok. Sam: A . isn’t really running is he? Uncle: (looks stunned, then laughs a short laugh) Now see, here is what I am talking about. Just as I am about to write you off as an idiot, you go and say something like this, assuring me that it was the right decision when we planned this. Sam: We? When WE planned this? Uncle: (innocently) Did I say we? I meant I. Sam: Oh my God. Of course. It makes perfect sense now. Uncle: What? Sam: This was all a set-up. You have been setting me up.

---

Revelations

Uncle: What are you talking about? Sam: Everything that has been happening since I came back. How you demanded that I come to this job since I came back because you “needed” me and yet there was rarely any work and get me to leave that Job I had in the World Bank. The salary that was reduced in half to assure that I don’t get too financially independent. The Bullshit assignments from my management and how my work was never appreciated. How you completely skipped my evaluation despite the fact that you told me you “had a plan for me” after the initial 6 months. You had a plan for me all right, but it was after a year, for this election. Everything you did prior to that was to make sure that I would do it. So that it would seem like a golden opportunity. To give me an offer I can’t refuse so to speak. Uncle: (amused) I don’t know what you are talking about. Sam: Ohh, your amused smile betrays you. You know exactly what I am talking about. And the We you are talking about. Was that you and my Mom? Uncle: Well, partly. Your dad was in on it too. Sam: My Dad? Even my dad was in on this? Uncle: How do you think we stopped you from getting that final interview and the Job at EFG? I had to make a phone call and ask as a personal favor from them not to hire you. Sam: (mumbling) Psycho-Fuck Family. Uncle: Huh? Sam: He told you. Of course. He was the one always telling me to stick it through. To go with you. To just “accept how things are”. And he is the one who told you about my Job offer. Jesus. How did you get him to do that? I mean, my Mom and her lust for power I understand. But my Dad is kind of farfetched, especially since he doesn’t really like you. How did you do it? Uncle: Ehh, wasn’t too hard really. You know your dad. Always obsessed with his womanizing, never thinking for tomorrow. I told him that I would take care of you, hook you up so to speak, and that he wouldn’t have to worry about you or supporting you financially from now on. This meant to him that he would have more money to spend on his “girlfriends”, so he didn’t argue much. Sam: This is why he sold my Car when I was abroad behind my back. Now I get it. Uncle: Mistresses are expensive Sam. Plus we had to make sure that you had very little to fall back on if we ever got you back here. A car in your name is an asset. Assets give you power to chose. We needed you powerless, so the car had to go. Sam: So that’s why he insisted on me coming back to Egypt last year, claiming that my Granny was sick, when he knew about my plans of marrying my Girlfriend at the time. Uncle: He knew that renewing the Visa under the 9/11 regulations would take at least 4 months, something you did not know, so it would mean you would get trapped here with us, with no way out. The distance would take care of the relationship and by the time you could get back, you wouldn’t be able to afford it. Sam: Damn.. Wow. It all makes sense now. And your phone calls to me in the states my last year there and your e-mails to me. This was all part of it. Damn. That’s a long haul plan man. You must’ve needed me pretty bad. What for? Uncle: To take care of A. Sam. I thought that was obvious. By putting you in there, and knowing how easily you make friends and set up your territory, I was assuring that when A. gets in 5 years down the line in the parliamentary elections, that he would have a strong ally to show him the ropes. You know, that he would have a Back, someone from the family, just in case something happened to me. Sam: Makes sense. Uncle: However, this is all over now. Guess I will have to rely on someone outside the family to do this for him. Sam: Awwww. Uncle: No need to be rude now. Because of your decision you are on thin ice. Sam: What are you talking about? Uncle: Well, as you said, my plan for you involved this. Now that you are not doing this, I am not sure I have use for you anymore. Sam: Hehe, are you threatening to fire me? Uncle: What’s so funny about that? Sam: That it’s a hollow threat. You and I know you won’t do it. Uncle: Really? What makes you so sure? Sam: Cause you know that by doing that you would get Granny upset at you, since you know, I am her absolute favorite. She is still the patriarch of the family, and you have spent long long years trying to get her to like you. You wouldn’t want that effort to go in vain , especially now that she is as old as she is. To put it bluntly: you don’t want her dying being angry or upset at you. And she would be if you fired me. It’s easier just to wait till my contract expires and then just not renew it. Uncle: True. Sam: And to make things easier for you, I would like you to know I have been expecting this reaction, which is why I was at a Job interview right before I came here. Uncle: Really? Now, see why I like you? You are a snake. You refuse to be pinned in a corner.

---

Conclusion

Sam: Learned from the best. Anyway, I won’t take anymore of your time. I have phone calls to make and parents to yell at. I mean My mom with her fake talk about all those US jobs she could help me get in order to keep me patient should guarantee her a big yelling at. And you don’t wanna even know what I am going to do to my father. Uncle: Well, Good luck with that. Sam: (smiling cheerfully) Thank you sir. Uncle: (slightly annoyed) Why are you smiling like that? You just found out that you have been manipulated by your own parents for the past 3 years and that you are probably not remaining in your job. What are you smiling so happily about? Sam: Cause of all of those reasons Uncle. Cause for the first time since I came back, I feel free. Not my family, and not my job. I am not losing anything but my chains. Ain’t nothing holding me back now. Uncle: That’s the answer I was scared of. Sam: (still smiling cheerfully)You should be. Have a good one.

---

And I left!