The al-Nusri Case by Dave Potter
This is another story by Dave Potter that involves some extreme body-modifications, this time in a fictional Arabian country. The entire story is a conversation between a judge and a detective, discussing a specific case of murder of a certain «al-Nusri». The detective recalls how that murder victim and lived, and especially what he had done with his two wives. As it turns out, the two wives had come from a very poor background and even during their ceremonies, they had already been completely covered and veiled, making it impossible to tell them apart. This then had gone even further, when both were encased in latex and other garments. Finally, after their wedding, the worst had come as the two were drugged and extremely surgically altered. Implants for their breasts and lips, as well as other permanent changes to their faces, had been done. Worst of all, their arms had been completely amputated, and the two were from then on unable to do anything any more.
When the detective finally comes to an end of the case, he reveals quite the secret, even the judge is shocked to learn the detective knows about.
The al-Nusri Case (WebArchive
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“Your Honour, so good of you to come. What would you like to drink?”
“No problem, Detective, it is always a pleasure. Just tea thanks, plenty of sugar.”
“Anyway, please sit down. I have something important to discuss.”
“Yes, you stated as much in your email. About the al-Nusri case. I must admit, I was surprised when that landed on my desk.”
“It was I that insisted the case be given to you.”
“But why? As you know, I normally deal with financial crimes. Murder is not my forte.”
“All shall become clear, Your Honour, ahhh, here is the tea. Yes boy, just lay it down there and we shall begin.”
“So, Your Honour, the al-Nusri case. A sad state of affairs if ever there was. Let me give you an outline of some of the details…”
“I have read the file, I am acquainted…”
“Please, please, indulge me. There are things that I am about to mention that are not included in the file. As I said before, all shall become clear.”
“Go on then.”
“Well, Ahmed al-Nusri, respected businessman and pillar of the community. His wife dies of cancer tragically five years ago and as is quite normal, he decides to remarry, a younger woman to give him some comfort in his middle years. That much is normal, but it starts to become unusual when he decides to marry two girls at the same time. Again, not too strange, since polygamy is common in our society, particularly amongst men of his class. However, it gets stranger when he picks two girls from poorer backgrounds, not noted for their prettiness or education, but because they are sisters and, what is more, identical twins.”
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| Originally Published | |
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Stats
| Word count | 3129 |
| Reading time | 18 minutes |
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