Khlifa the Ringworm Boy
(Khlifa Al-Agraa)

In this old district of pre-war Tunis, everyone depended on Khlifa, the Ringworm. This child of the streets, an orphan born,had become everyone’s errand boy and even the most jealous husbands tolerated him. Men who would slit the throats of anyone who even looked at their wives opened their doors to him and let him approach their wives and daughters. According to them, a man afflicted with ring worm wasn’t really a man. What women would be interested in a twenty- year-old boy who had lost all his hair ?