Stories V - Her name was Ursula

Taken on the 30th of June 2009, in Tripoli.


I was with Nour, my girlfriend. We were sitting in an open space in the ancient Tripoli Souk.
People started moving, looking, staring at the same place.
That women, dressed from head to toe in black, walking with chains and a lock on it appeared suddenly.
People's reaction was priceless. She walks fast, and provokes everybody staring for a long time, provokes anyone trying to make contact or trying to touch her.
She looked angry at some people. She didnt say a word though...
We were surprised.
A military man (photographed in the Clichés of Tripoli), tells us that this woman is seriously crazy/insane.
She's from Iranian origins.
He said that she wasn't always wearing this outfit.
That she's a very beautiful woman underneath...
I couldn't take a picture at the time.


After a couple of hours, walking in Tripoli, taking a picture of Nour behind the same background, she comes walking towards us. I jump on the occasion, and ask her if she would like to be photographed.
She doesn't say a word. She gets in the frame, she hugs Nour, starts caressing her back and hair in a weird manner. She seems to be smiling. I take pictures.
Nour gets out of the frame. And she looks at me, and give me this position.
I take the picture. I look at her with gratitude. She continues her way without saying a single word.


People who've seen me take a picture of her come to me "How the hell did she accept? She's a crazy person! She's violent when someone talks to her..."etc --> Everyone was very surprised of the kindness she was able to give us.


A couple of days later, we were driving in Jbeil, we see her on the road, waiting for the bus. We stop the car. She's behind us. We observe her from the mirrors of the cars for a good couple of minutes. A man, a taxi driver, knocks on my door. He asks us if we know her. We tell him we saw her before.
He's like 'I tried to offer her a ride, she kicked my car with her foot, who the hell is she? what is she???... '
We just say we don't know...
We get out of the car to say hello. She sees us. She remembered us right away. She's surprised. She screams. She hugs Nour very tightly. She tells me hello with enthusiasm.
Her eyes are colored. Her skin is very white. She really seems beautiful underneath...
She asks for our names, she tells us we're beautiful and cute together. I ask her if we can see her, in order to give her the pictures we took... she asks for our phone numbers. The bus comes. We give her our numbers, expecting hers in return, but she doesn't have any... she will be the one phoning us.
I ask her for her name. She says "Ursula".


Then again, a couple of days later, she phones us (always from different phone booths) a couple of times telling us she'd like to meet us because she has problems...
We finally set up a meeting with her. Same time and place, in Jbeil...
We get there on time. We wait for 30 minutes. She's not there. We go.
She calls me after a while. She was late. I tell her we cannot comeback, but we could set up a meeting again...
Ursula kept talking to me for around half an hour.
I am going to respect the conversation we had.
It was a lesson in life...


She never called again...


She said she wanted to fly.