In 2016, I said:
“I really like Evren (the name of this rando here); he’s not important in this specific story but he’s their first VIP client, who came in after a day or two trying to find his perfect carpet (for a star-studded dinner party) without much luck. He is desperate…and stumbles upon the odd couple selling a pretty decent variety. The guy you would think is THE carpet merchant isn’t; it’s his wife who negotiates, who has more control, a presence. The guy is just an assistant…but a very informative and perceptive assistant, he makes you feel comfortable, at home, and provides an accessible commentary on the aspects of the carpet shown. Evren is highly amused at Zeynel and Ayse but likes their weirdness (being a weird one himself, a person full of contradictions), and becomes something like a close friend for the both of them.”
Oh no, more teasing to the who-knows-when prose spinoff. xD
The other thing I didn’t elaborate on, but which will become a bit more evident in Volume Two, is Zeynel’s real talent as an educator. Zeynel’s personality is informed by several people in my life – my goody-two-shoes academically gifted cousin (who grew up to become a teacher), my sweet and socially warm close friend (also became a teacher) and my favourite kindly male teachers in childhood. Surprise surprise.
Zeynel, now a young man of twenty one, with longer hair and a well-kept beard, breaks this news to Ayse, “Our income isn’t moving.” He pauses, trying to reign in his guilt before it overwhelms him to tears. “So I… I’m thinking of going to the university in the morning. And take up teaching.”
Ayse, now a young woman of twenty two, looks at Zeynel, unable to suppress the sense of disappointment inside herself, for how slow the business is growing, and for failing to financially support each other. She gets why Zeynel has to teach. He needs to, in order to keep her dreams afloat. She feels like she failed him somehow. She feels like she failed the fire in her.
It is some time later. There is a client in the shop. He looks like an important man. He is a politician, he tells them. Right now he is enjoying a cup of coffee, and his conversation with this couple, who are both carpet merchants.
“Haha! Oh, I’m impressed! Are you a scholar, Zeynel?”
Zeynel, who is dressed as neatly as possible in his lecturer’s outfit, shrugs and smiles gently. “Well, I used to be, and yet I still am.”
The politician laughs. “Ah! Now this is interesting.” He turns to Ayse. “Tell me, Hanim Ayse, what did you do to convince him to a big career change? I may need your advice in the art of persuasion, to banish my rivals.”
Ayse smirks in amusement. “Sure, I’ll tell you how, but first…” She gestures to the carpets they have already picked out for the politician. “You must buy a carpet.”
The politician bursts into good-humoured laughter. “Hah! You know how to do politics too! Sure, how much for the Ushak?”
