To Maroun Bechara

I read with interest your article in which you told us about “the little girl” who had missed you in the old souk of Batroun, in the place where you used to display, at a nominal price, books for both the poor and the rich. A friend of mine read it on the Bazar Du Livre page, and she passed it on to me. I will not conceal from you. The article saddened me. I did not understand how a lady, whom you call the "bonbon vendor", who was bothered by the "crowding of people in front of books," could push you to carry your books and leave! Does she own the land on which you used to sit, or did she pit its owners against you? I know the souk in Batroun; I visited it last summer. I regret not having met you. I hope that, when you return to your place, you will write about your return. Visiting you is an obligation. I salute you, and I salute those who are like you in passion and work, and I salute with you the little girl and her brother. I am utterly convinced that the new Lebanon, that is sweeter than bonbon, can only be born from “the bellies of books”.