Children of Gebelaawi (26 page)

back, leaving me too old to marry again. (He pointed to the

left. ) We'll be sleeping i n here.

The shorter girl 's voice came from some steps at the side,

which led up to the roof:

- Shafeeqa, help me with the washi ng and don't stand

there like a block of stone.

Balqeeti shouted:

- Sayida, you 'll wake the snakes; and you, Shafeeqa, don 't

stand there like a block of stone.

So her name was Shafeeqa! What a lovely girl ! Her rebuff

had not been meant hurtfully, unspoken thanks had been i n

her dark eyes. How would she know that h e had only accepted

this dangerous hospitality for the sake of her eyes?

Balqeeti opened the left-hand door and stepped aside for

Gebel to enter, then followed him i n and closed the door. He

led Gebel to the sofa which stretched the whole length of the

right-hand wall of the li ttle room, and they sat down together.

Gebel took in the whole room with one glance. He saw a bed

with a grey bedspread on the far side, and, on the floor

between bed and sofa, decorated rush matting, in the middle

of which lay a brass tray stained by long use. On it stood a

brazier wi th a pyramid of ash, a hookah resting on its side, a

spatula, tongs, and a handful of honeyed tobacco. There was

one window, which stood open, and through it he could see

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only the desert and the pale sky and one of the sheer, black

cliffs of jebel Muqatlam in the distance. Through it came the

cry of a shepherd girl in the terrible silence, and a breeze laden

with the heat of the sun.

Balqeeti was examini ng him to an annoying degree, and he

thought of distracting him with conversation. But the ceiling

shook under the feet that walked on the roof, and Gebel at

once pictured her feet, and his heart was full of a longing that

happiness might come to this house, even if the snakes were let

loose. He said to himself: 'Perhaps this man will murder me

and bury me in the desert as I buried Qidra, without my

beloved knowi ng that I am her victim .. .' Balqeeti's voice

roused him from his daydream:

- Do you have a job?

He answered, remembering the last of his money in his

pocket:

- I shall fi nd a job, any job.

- Are you perhaps in no great hurry?

The question alarmed him and he said:

- Oh yes; I'd better look for a job today rather than

tomorrow.

- You have the body of a strongman.

- But I hate fighting.

Balqeeti laughed and said:

- What work did you do in your alley?

He hesi tated a little, then said:

- I worked. in the Trust office.

- Bad news ! Why did you leave such a good position?

- Fate !

- Did you fix your eyes on some fine lady?

- God forbid!

- You 're very cagey, but you'll soon get used to me and tell

me all your secrets.

- Perhaps so.

- Have you any money?

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He was alarmed agai n but did not show it.

- I have a little, bu t it won't save me from having to work.

Balqeeti said with a wink:

- You're a clever devil; don 't you think you' d make a good

conjurer? Perhaps we could work together. Don ' t be surprised! I'm an old man and I need an assistant.

Gebel didn ' t take him seriously, but he had a deep desire to

strengthen the bond between them and he was about to speak

when Balqeeti got in first:

- We can be thinking about that. And now ...

The old man stood up, bent over the brazier and carried i t

out to light it.

Early in the afternoon the two men set out together, and

Balqeeti went on his rou nds wh ile Gebel made for the bazaar

to look round and do some shopping. I n the evening he

returned to the desert and fou nd his way to the lonely house

by following the gli mmer of light that came from a window.

When he reached the house he heard voices raised in argument and cou ld not help listening. He heard Sayida's voice.

- If what you say is true, Father, he has committed some

crime, and there's nowaywe could resist the AIIey's strongmen.

Shafeeqa said:

- He doesn't seem like a criminal.

Balqeeti said sarcastically:

- Do you already know him that well, you little snake?

Sayida asked:

- Why should he run away from a comfortable life?

Shafeeqa protested:

- There's nothing strange about a man running away from

an alley that's famous for the number of its strongmen.

Sayida asked spi tefully:

- Where did you get this power ofknowing what is hidden?

Balqeeti sighed.

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- Keeping the company of snakes has made me father two

vipers.

- Are you goi ng to put him up without knowing anything

about him, Father?

- I know several things about him, and I shall soon know

everything. I have a pair of eyes that can be relied on when

need be. And I 've invited him to stay because I'm impressed by

his character. I'm not going back on my opinion. He'd have

thought twice about running away in any other circumstances.

Hasn 't he left his comfortable home without hesitation? But

he'll obey the power that's brought him to this house.

Gebel was overjoyed to hear this voice defending him, this

kind voice that dispelled the loneliness of night in the desert

and made the pale new moon over thejebel look like a smile

in the darkness. l-Ie stayed a while peering into the night, then

coughed, went up to the door and knocked. The door opened

to show Balqecti 's face lit by the lamp he held in his hand. The

two men went to their room. Gebel sat down after putti ng a

package on the brass table. Balqeeti gave it an enquiring

glance, and Gebel said:

- Dates and cheese and sesame cakes and hot falafel.

Balqeeti smi led and, poi nting at the package and the pipe,

said:

- The best evenings are spent with these things.

He patted Gebel's shoulder and added:

- Aren 't they, son of Gebelaawi?

His heart con tracted in spite of himself, and a procession of

images passed through his mind - the lady who had adopted

him - the luxuriant garden with its trellises of jasmine, i ts

songbirds and i ts ru nning streams - peace and stillness and

pleasant dreams - the comfortable world that had vanished

- unti l life was on the point of losing its savor. But suddenly,

a wave of feeling picked up the memories that had been

drowning in an ocean of misery and swept them ashore to the

thought of this lovely girl, and of the magical power that had

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brought him to a house with a snake-pit. Unexpected enthusiasm leapt up in him like a flame fanned by a puff of wind, as he said:

- Life is good here with you.

3 5 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

He could not get to sleep till a little before dawn, for he was

ful l of fears. Her image haunted him in visions of decay, like

jasmine petals falling on dead grass crawling with insects. He

suffered the terrors that bred in the darkness of the u nfamiliar

house. He said to himself: 'You are just a stranger in this house

of snakes, pursued by a crime and tormented by love.' Left to

himself, all he wanted was peace and quiet. He did not fear the

snakes as much as he feared treachery from the man now

snoring in bed. How could he tell that the snores were

genuine? Nothing and no one seemed genuine any longer.

Digger hi mself, who owed him his life, would give away the

secretin his stupidity, Thudclub would be enraged, his mother

would be miserable, and trouble would blaze up in the wretched

Alley. As for the love that had brought him to this house and

to the conjurer's bedroom, how could he know he would live

to reveal his secret feeli ngs? So it was that he did not sleep till

a little before dawn, after a night of worry.

He opened his tired eyes when the light of day filtered

through the shutters. He saw Balqeeti sitting up in bed,

bending forward to rub his legs under the sheet with his

wrinkled hands. Gebel smiled with relief although his head

ached from lack of sleep. He cursed the fantasies that had

teemed in the dark and had fled like bats in the light. Yet were

they not fan tasies fit for a murderer's bad conscience? Yes,

crime had been in the blood of his 'glorious' family for a long

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time. He heard Balqeeti let out a long yawn that rose and fell

like a dancing snake, then cough so long and so hard that

Gebel imagi ned his eyes would drop out. When he had

finished he heaved a deep sigh and Gebel said:

- Good morni ng!

He sat up on the sofa, and Balqeeti turned towards him, his

face still red from coughi ng.

- Good morni ng, Mr Gebel! So you hardly slept all night!

- Does my face show it?

- No; I remember how you tossed about in the dark, and

kept turning your head towards me as if you were afraid.

The old snake! Let him be a harmless snake for the sake of

her dark eyes.

-The fact is it was just being in a strange place that kept me

awake.

Balqeeti laughed and said:

- You lay awake for one reason: you were afraid of me. You

thought: 'He'll ki ll me and steal my money and bury me i n the

desert just as I did with the man I killed.'

- You ...

- Listen, Gebel, fear does great harm, and a snake bites

only where there is fear.

Gebel felt defeated.

- You read in people's hearts things that are not there.

- You know I haven't strayed from the truth, you who

managed the Trust.

A voice i nside the house called 'Get up, Sayida ! ' filling him

with unexpected joy. This dove in a nest of adders, who had

judged him innocent and given him hope! Balqeeti took his

cue from Shafeeqa's call.

- We get busy early in this house. The girls go off to fetch

water and stewed beans to feed their old father. Then they

send him ofT wi th his bag of snakes to earn a living for himself

and for them.

His mind was set at rest, and he felt he was a member of this

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family. Affection fi lled him, and he opened up and surrendered to his fate spontaneously:

- I'm going to tell you my true story.

Balqeeti smiled and started rubbing his legs again. Gebel

wen t on:

- I am a murderer as you say, but there is a story behind it...

And he told him the story. When he had fi nished Balqeeti

said :

- What tyran ts ! And you 're a fine man, I was n o t wrong

about you. (Then si tting more comfortably: ) It's on ly right

now for me to answer frankness with frankness. Well, I come

from Gebelaawi Alley myself origi nally.

- You!

- Yes! I ran away from it in my early youth because I

couldn ' t bear the strongmen.

Gebel was sti ll recovering from his surprise.

- They are the curse of our Alley.

- Yes ! But we can 't forget the place i n spite of them. And

that's why I took to you when I knew where you came from.

- Which sector are you from?

- From Hamdaan 's, like you.

- How amazi ng!

- You should n't be amazed at anything in this world. But

that is all ancien L history, and nobody there knows me now, not

even Henna who is my relative.

- I know that brave old woman. But which strongman were

you up against - Thudclub?

- In those days he was only the petty strongman of one

sector.

- They really are the scourge of our Alley.

- I spit on the past and everything in i t. ( His tone became

tempting. ) From now on concern yourself with your fu ture. I

tell you, you have what it takes to be a good conjurer. We have

a good district to work in, south of here, far away from our

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Alley. Anyway your strongmen and their hangers-on aren't