By virtue of being neighbors, I had been invited to a feast of the wealthy. They were specifically wholesale merchants. My relationship with them was a regular one, limited to greetings like 'Hello, hello, neighbor'.
Apart from (Mudi Affandy), they greeted the other hundred guests with a lukewarm welcome. It was neither warm nor cold.. sort of in-between, but a welcome not without snobbish airs and airs of superiority because of their obscene wealth.
I remember clearly that when Mudi Affandy entered, they greeted him with bending bows, a strikingly fiery reception, and each one of them kissed him ninety-nine times, they humbled themselves to him, and they kept on excessively welcoming him, they stood rooted in front of him continuing to offer greetings, praises, flattery, and prayers for higher ranks and long life. They seated him at the forefront on a plush seat, wearing at the time a majestic suit, orange leaning towards yellow, looking stern, silent, and grim, not turning to the attendees, and what happened was that the feast was unknown to us held in Mudi’s honor, and we were in his company.
Then we wondered who might this be? It was said that he was the manager of the major institution that bought their goods at an unreasonable price, and that he represented a major cornerstone of their wealth. They dedicated a special table to him, and circled around him as he chewed his food, then one of them accompanied him to the washroom and handed him a towel, sprayed a precious perfume on his hands, and then poured him coffee, wished him health and wellness, and they bid him farewell as warmly as they welcomed him, and when he thanked them they said (We owe you a double favor).
The following year, the feast was repeated and (Badr Affandi) came, the successor of Mudi Affandy who was retired, and they received him with a legendary welcome just as they had welcomed Mudi the previous year, and when we asked the major merchant about how Mudi was doing? He said by God, I don’t know (Khaberni).
Poor Mudi... he didn’t have a 'double favor' with them as they had promised. They had thrown him out and, from their perspective, he had become just a used functional tool with no value now... and Badri would face the same fate.
