Soheir Khashoggi

But things change, people change, Gaby. Otherwise what would be the point of living?

Was it always to be like this? she wondered. A moment of joy followed by a new sorrow?

She realized that the photograph had caused his reaction. It came to her almost as a revelation. Think of it: a photographer presses a button. A few hours later and half a world away, some dots of ink on a news print showed what he had seen-and had the power to touch peoples emotions, perhaps to change their way of thinking.

Death wasn't a movie where the pretty star faded away with a touch of pale makeup and every hair in place.

I'm like my mother, she thought, I search my joy for signs of sorrow ahead.

The end came as dusk fell on a gloomy winter day of cold rain.

Well, memory can play tricks. Most people, I think, tend to remember the good rather than the bad when someone close to them dies.