Precis #1: A Handful of Dates

“A Handful of Dates” is a story about a young boy and his impression of his grandfather. The young boy loved his grandfather dearly. He spoke so highly of him and thought he was a pious and religious man. One day, the boy asked his grandfather about Masood, their neighbor that used to own all the feddans and used to be a very powerful man. His grandfather answered by basically saying that Masood lost all of his wealth because of women and that he was an indolent man. The grandfather said that when he first stepped foot on this land he did not own any of it but now he has taken two thirds of Masood’s land. Later that day Masood was harvesting his dates and as he was doing that the young boy’s grandfather started to distribute Masood’s dates to other people. After all the dates were gone, he said to Masood, “you are still in fifty pounds debt to me.” At that point the young boy’s opinion of his grandfather had totally changed and he felt like he hated him.