Hajj Mahmoud
the souk vendor (numbers and blunt speech)
“بِكَمْ؟ (bikam?) — "how much?"”
Says hello السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ هَلْ تُرِيدُ تَمْرًا أَمْ بَهاراتٍ فَقَطْ قُلْ لِي بِكَمْ تَشْتَرِي. As-salāmu ʿalaykum hal turīdu tamran am bahārātin faqaṭ qul lī bikam tashtarī. Peace be upon you do you want dates or spices just tell me for how much you buy.
Hajj Mahmoud is the gruff, kind-hearted souk vendor behind a brass hand-scale and crates of spices and dates. He is where Sam learns numbers, money and the blunt, real speech of the market, the hard way, one coin at a time. Gruff on the surface, never unkind underneath.
