GG Mehmedović

Emir Mehmedović grilled ćevapi at the same stand in Mostar's old town for forty years and will tell anybody who asks that he has no rituals at the board, not one, then proceeds through exactly four every match without appearing to notice: the same opening greeting, the same way of squaring the dice, the same short pause before answering a cube, and the same word of thanks at the end whatever the result. Regulars have counted all four independently and compared notes. He denies it pleasantly and moves straight to the next round with the same four steps intact, unhurried at the board and content to let a position ripen the way he used to let the coals come up to heat. Forty years of a stand in the old town gave him English, and he uses it the way he grills: without hurry and without ceremony.