March 13, 2008
ULYSSES
| IVAN FAUTE |
When Fahid meets people, he usually says, “There is a pickle on my elbow.” He thinks it is the greatest joke. No one has any idea what he means, but he believes he is communicating, which is all that matters.
Fahid was born in Turkmenistan but had to flee to Saudi Arabia when his father offended the government by referring to someone important as the son of a someone inappropriate. Fahid was three.
They had to flee to England when his mother’s veil fell off while she was shopping for birthday cakes in the market. Fahid was six.
They didn’t quite flee from England to Detroit, but Fahid did have to wear the same Power Rangers t-shirt for six days until they could get some donated clothes from the refugee center. It had something to do with Fahid’s older brother confusing the phrase “big treat” when referring to Princess Anne’s visit to his school.
Now Fahid is quadro-lingual. He is a character too. Always cracking jokes. His favorite are knock-knock jokes. He tells this one to everyone new he meets:
Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
Happy.
Happy who?
Happy garbage dolphin. (Followed by great waves of laughter. It is very hard to get him under control for several minutes.)
His family encourages his dreams. They are saving money to move to a warmer place, as soon as Fahid’s sister has her baby.
Ivan Faute is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is at work on a novel about a Hindu deity and a stage play about an elephant.