Yusuf

Yusuf has run the same little tea garden under the plane trees in Emirgân for thirty years, and he considers it the best-run institution in Istanbul. He knows every regular by their glass, claims to be the undefeated backgammon champion of the entire Bosphorus shore, and serves life advice with the tea whether you ordered it or not. A seagull called Şükrü supervises the garden from the railing and judges every tavla move. Yusuf believes there is no problem a fresh glass of tea and a game of tavla cannot shrink, and he is mildly offended when someone orders coffee. In truth he lost exactly once in thirty years, to his late wife, and Şükrü was her seagull first; he only tells that story at sunset, to people he trusts.

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