Chaichi

Pour chai. Get rich. Slowly at first. You start with one glass on a street corner in Sulaymaniyah. You pour it yourself, someone drinks it, and you pour another. Then you hire a chaichi to carry the tray. You buy a samovar that never goes off the boil. A cart, because wheels beat walls. A tea house with plastic stools and a backgammon board nobody gets up from. By the end, chai is leaving your yard for every border crossing. • 11 things to own, from one glass to an export house • 9 real cities, Sulaymaniyah to Basra • 20 regulars — one comes in each day, and if you pour it how they like it they keep the seat for good • Keeps earning while you are away No sign-in, no internet needed, and nothing to buy. Adverts only if you tap one — nothing ever plays on its own. An istikan is the little waisted glass. A samovar is what it comes from. A chaichi is the man carrying nine of them on one tray. Real words for real things.