rooftops of cairo

[rm]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-rooftops29nov29,1,7419742.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Funny how lives end up. Alia Qotb was born in the basement of this building and now she's living on its roof. In between she bore seven children, visited a fine Beirut hotel, kept house for a Saudi princess. Her first husband stole her heart. By day he painted walls, at night he took his easel to the bridges over the Nile and made portraits. He willed life into art, and a man who can do that is a man she'll remember. But he's gone. They came together long ago, after that day she sewed him a shirt and he asked her brother for her hand in marriage.

She was 12.