My New Old Roommate

Tammam and I were roommates on a train and on a boat, then on a train again, and now we're roommates for a couple more days. Why? Because his apartment burned down.



That's an interesting phrase, 'burned down', because the building is still there and people are still living in it, but his apartment is unlivable. He and Khaled are looking for a place right now.

Apparently there was an electrical issue and the outlet behind his couch in the front room caught fire, which spread to the couch and the table. Some glass shattered, Tammam heard it, and opened the door to inhale a bunch of smoke. He opened the window to breathe, and called Khaled who came running from the internet cafe a couple of streets over.

The only way to open the door was by either of their keys, so Tammam was considering throwing his keys to a lady hanging up her clothes on a balcony some floors away, so she could come up and open up his door for him to run out. I went afterward and looked at the balcony and it was really a one-in-a-million shot. He had three keys, so he actually thought, "I have three shots at this".

Thinking he was about to die, he said the testimony but continued yelling for help. Khaled arrived, and opened the door, and the fire was blocking his way in. He yelled to Tammam, who covered his face, ducked down, and ran.

So, we were dangerously close to being Tammam-less. Like for serious, he could've been asphyxiated. I left out a lot of details and some afterward story, but there it is. Ahamdolillah ala salaamatuh.

Puts things into perspective though. What's important to you, what you could do without. Turns out you can do without most things. But not without Tammam.