Gebel
room, where he found his wife standing, a scowl on her face.
She said:
- A strange business, with worse to come ! It'll be the talk of
the whole Alley. If we don' t take it seriously it'll be goodbye to
us.
The Effendi said wi th disgust:
- Scum and chi ldren of scum! And they want the Trust!
Who can know his origin in an Alley like a beehive?
- Have a showdown. Call Thudclub and arrange things. He
takes a share of the revenue of the Trust without doing
anything in exchange; let him earn the money he's stolen.
The Effendi gave her a long look, then asked:
- And Gebel?
She said confidently:
- Gebel! He's our foster child - my son. He knows no
home but ours. As for l l amdaan 's people, he doesn 't know
them, and they don ' t know him. And if they counted him as
one of them, that wou ld only attach him still more to us. I ' m
sure of him. He'II b e back from his round o f the tenants i n time
for a meeting.
Thudclub came at the Trustee's request. He was of middle
height, stocky and strongly built, with coarse, ugly features and
scars on his neck and chin. They sat down conspiratorially and
Thudclub said:
- I've heard bad news.
Hudaa sai d angri ly:
- Bad news travels fast.
The Effendi looked crafti ly at Thudclub.
- We're as worried as you are.
Thudclub bellowed:
- Some time has passed since we used our cudgels or shed
any blood.
Hudaa smiled and said:
- What an arrogant lot, these people of Hamdaan ! They
1 1 1
Children of Gebelaawi
haven't produced a si ngle strongman and yet the lowest of
them thinks he's lord of the Alley.
Thudclub said wi th disgust:
- Peddlers and beggars! A spineless people will never
produce a strongman.
The Effendi asked:
- An d what's to be done, Thudclub?
- I'll crush them like cockroaches.
Gebel heard Thudclub's words as he entered the hall. He
was red in the face after his tour in the desert. Youthfu l energy
pulsed i n h is tall, powerful body and i n his face with its strongly
marked features, especially his straight nose and his big,
i ntelligen t eyes. He greeted the company politely and began
saying something about the tenancies that he had been deali ng with, but Hudaa cut him short, saying:
- Sit down, Gebel. We've been waiti ng for you because of
something terribly im portant.
Gebel sat down, his eyes reflecting the anguish i n hers. She
said:
- I think you can guess what's worrying us.
He said quietly:
- Everybody outside is talki ng about i t.
She looked at her husband.
- You hear that? Everybody is waiting for our answer.
Thudclub's face grew still uglier.
- A fire that can be put out wi th a handful of sand ! I wan t
to get o n wi th the job.
Hudaa turned to Gebel.
- Have you anything to say, Gebel?
He looked at the floor to hide his distress.
- It's your problem and your solution.
- I need to know what you think.
He thought for a long ti me, conscious of the Effendi 's hard
stare and Thudclub's angry gaze, then he said:
- I have the good fortu ne to be your foster son, but I don't
1 12
Gebel
know what to say. ltsjust that I'm one of Hamdaan's people.
Hudaa said sharply:
- Why do you mention Hamdaan when you have neither a
father nor a mother nor any relations among them?
The Effendi let ou t a grun t of scorn like a stifled laugh, bu t
said nothi ng. Gebel's face showed that h e was suffering real
pain, bu t he answered:
- My father and mother belonged to them; you can ' t deny
it.
Hudaa sai d:
- What vain hopes I had of my son !
- God forbid! Muqattam itself couldn 't change my devo-
tion to you. But denyi ng the truth doesn't change it.
The Effendi stood up, his patience exhausted, and said to
Thudclub:
- Don ' t waste your time listening to this rubbish !
Thudclub stood up, grin ning, but Hudaa said to him,
glancing secretly at Gebel:
- Don't be unreasonable, Thudclub, my dear sir; we want
them disciplined, noL destroyed.
Thudclub left the hall, and the Effendi gave Gebel a re-
proachful look and as ked sarcastically:
- So you 're one or 1-Iamdaan 's people, Gebel?
Gebel was silent, and Hudaa had pity on him and said:
- In his heart he's wi th us, but it was too hard for him to
deny his origins in front of Thudclub.
Gebel said wi th feeli ng:
-They are wretched, although they have the noblest origi n
of anybody i n the Alley.
The Effendi yelled:
- An alley wiLh ou L any origi ns !
Gebel said earnestly:
- We are the children of Ad ham, and our Ancestor - God
preserve him - is sLill alive.
The Effendi asked:
1 13
Children of Gebelaawi
- Who can be sure that he's the son of his father? There's
no harm i n a man sayi ng he is from time to time, but i t's no
excuse to rob others of their wealth.
Hudaa said:
- We mean them no harm as long as they don ' t have
designs on our property.
The Effendi wanted to end the conversation, and said to
Gebel:
- Get back to work, and don' t bother your head with
anythi ng else.
Gebel left the drawi ng room and went to the Trust office i n
the garden house. H e had to record i n the ledgers the number
of tenancies and to check the totals for the month. But his grief
distracted him. It was strange that Hamdaan's people did not
like him. He knew this, and remembered how coldly he had
been received in Hamdaan 's cafe the few times he had gone
there. In spite of that, he was upset by the trouble that was
being prepared for them; he would have loved to protect
them, if he had not been afraid of displeasing the home that
had adopted him, shel tered him and brought him up. What
would have become of him if Lady Hudaa had not given him
her love? Twenty years ago she had seen a naked child splashi ng about in a pool of rai nwater and had been charmed by the sight. Being childless, she had been strongly attracted to him
and had sent someone to bring him to her, and he had come,
crying and afraid. She had inquired about him and learnt that
he was an orphan looked after by a woman who sold chickens.
Hudaa had sent for her and asked to be allowed to have the
child - an opportunity that the woman had been only too
happy to seize.
Thus Gebel had grown up in the home of the Trustee,
under whose protection he had enjoyed more motherly love
than any other child in the Alley. He had gone to school and
learnt to read and write, and when he had reached manhood,
the Effendi had put him in charge of the Trust. Wherever
1 14
Gebel
there was Trust property they called him 'your Honor', and
looks of respect and admiration followed him wherever he
went. Life had seemed friendly and full of the promise of
happiness till Hamdaan's people rebelled. Now Gebel found
he was not one person, as he had always supposed, but two, one
loyal to his mother, the other asking in dismay: 'And what
about 1-Iamdaan 's peop le? '
2 8 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The rebec tuned up for the story of Humaam's death at the
hand of Qadri . All eyes turned to Radwaan the bard with a
mixture of in terest and anxiety. Tonight was not like other
nights; it concluded a day of revolt, and Hamdaan's people
were asking themselves whether it would end peacefully.
Darkness enfolded the Al ley. Even the stars were hidden
behind autumn clouds, and no light showed except the glow
from shuttered wi ndows and from a few barrows, round whose
lanterns noisy urchins clustered like moths. Henna spread a
sack on the ground in front of one of the tenement-houses i n
Hamdaan 's sector and sang: 'At the gate of our Alley stands
Hassan's cafe.'
There was caterwau ling from tomcats as they scrapped over
food or females. The bard's voice grew louder as he told how
Adham shouted in Qadri's face: 'What have you done to your
brother? 'just at that moment Thudclub appeared i n the circle
of light cast by the lamp of the cafe, as suddenly as if the
darkness had been torn open to reveal him. He looked sinister
and threatening, ready to hate and be hated. His eyes sparkled
wi th malice and he gripped his terrible cudgel. He glared
down at the people sitti ng in the cafe as if they were insects.
1 15
Children of Gebelaawi
The words died i n the throat of the bard, and Dumpling and
Mulehead were roused from their stupor. Digger a n d
Lamplighter Ali stopped whispering and Abdoon ceased running to and fro. As for Hamdaan, his fist tightened on the tube of the narghile. There was a deathly hush.
There followed a flurry of movement. The clients who were
not Hamdaan's people left hastily. The strongmen of the
various sectors arrived - Qidra, Lionheart, Quicksilver,
Barakaat and 1-Iamooda - and lined up behind Thudclub.
The news spread quickly, as if a house had collapsed. Windows
were flung open, urchins came running, and people were torn
between anxiety and sadistic pleasure. Hamdaan was the first
to break the silence. He stood up to receive them.
-Welcome Thudclub, my dear sir, Strongman of our Alley!
Please sit down !
Thudclub ignored him as though he neither heard nor saw
him, but went on glancing cruelly around; then he asked
roughly:
- Who's the strongman of this sector?
Hamdaan answered, though the question was not addressed
to him:
- Our strongman is Qidra.
Thudclub turned to Qidra and asked sarcastically:
- Are you the protector of Hamdaan's people?
Qidra stepped forward - a short, squat man wi th a quarrel-
some face.
I protect them agai nst everybody except you, chief.
-
Thudclub smi led grimly.
- Cou ldn' t you find anythi ng better than the women's
sector to protect?
He shouted into the cafe:
- You women, you bastards; don't you realize that the Alley
has a Strongman?
Hamdaan spoke, his face drained of color:
116
Gebel
- Thudclub, my dear sir, there's nothing but goodwill
between us and you.
Thudclub yelled:
- Shut up, you scabby old fool ! You lick my boots now? After
the way you attacked your masters !
Hamdaan spoke i n an agonized voice:
- There was no allack at all; it was a complain t that we
brough t to his Honor the Trustee.
Thudclub shouted:
- You hear what the bastard says? Hamdaan, you stink.
Have you forgotten what your mother used to do? By God, not
one of you will walk safely i n this Alley till he has shouted at the
top of his voice: 'I'm a woman '.
He lifted his cudgel quickly and brought it down hard on
the counter, scattering cups, mugs and spoons, ti ns of coffee,
tea, sugar, cinnamon and ginger, teapots and coffee jugs ...
Abdoon sprang back, bumped into a table and fell over with it.
Thudclub aimed a sudden blow at Hamdaan 's face; the man
lost his balance and fell sideways on to the narghi le, smashing
i t. Thudclub lifted his cudgel again, shouting:
- There's no cri me without punishment, you bastards!
Digger took a chair and hurled it at the big lamp, which
smashed, plu nging the cafe into darkness just before the
cudgel crashed down on the large mirror behind the counter.
Henna screamed and the women of Hamdaan echoed her cry
from their windows and doorways. It was as ifa gigantic dog was
howling in pai n. Thudclub went berserk and let fly in every
direction, hi tti ng people, walls, chairs. Screams, groans, shouts
for help followed, wave upon wave. Ghostly figures fled i n all
directions, falling over one another. Thudclub thundered:
- Everybody is under house arrest!
They all hurried to carry out the order, whether they were
Hamdaan's people or not. There was a stampede. Lionheart
brought a lamp, and its light revealed Thudclub surrounded
by the other strongmen in the deserted Alley, where all that
1 1 7
Children of Gebelaawi
could be heard was the wailing of women. Barakaat spoke,
laying on the flattery:
- Save yourse If for more important things, chief; we'll deal
with these cockroaches.
Quicksi lver said:
- If you wanted, we' d make Hamdaan 's people into dust
for your horse to trample on.
Qidra, strongman of Hamdaan 's sector, said:
- If you ask me to Leach them a lesson it will be an honor
to serve you, chief.
Henna's voice came from behind a door:
- Damn the tyrant!