The Interpreter – by Mariam Tokhi

Mir was a patient man. When the receptionist glanced up at the waiting room, she barely noticed him, quietly slumped over his phone. He was used to clinic waiting rooms with their bustle, anxiety and constantly ringing phones; their warning posters of sad, unvaccinated children; the griefs and elations of the people who swung out of the clinic rooms. When Mir was younger, an aspiring doctor himself, he loved watching people, playing a game with his sister Aliza where they guessed the stories of those around them …