Authors: Parker Bilal

The Golden Scales (47 page)

Perhaps it was for the best, Makana thought. Now she would take over Hanafi Enterprises and run it the way she wanted to do. He had no doubt that she would do fine.

Then Aswani appeared with the food and everyone’s attention was diverted by their hunger. For the next couple of hours the three of them talked and ate, and ate and talked some more. They drank countless cups of tea and coffee.
Shisha
pipes were brought over and the sweet aroma of apple-flavoured tobacco filtered into the air. They compared notes, going back and forth, tying up loose ends, commenting on one aspect or another of the case. As the boy clicked his tongs and set fresh coals on the pipes, they turned the details over to view them from every conceivable angle. Sami wanted to clarify one or two points. Makana suspected that he was composing his book as they went along.

‘The way I see it now,’ explained Sami, ‘I shall begin with the broad facts of the case, of course, setting everything out clearly right from the start so there is no confusion.’

‘That, I’d like to see,’ said Makana.

‘But then,’ Sami raised a finger in the air, ‘I shall explore every aspect with a rational and scientific eye. Not too cold. There has to be room for poetry, of course.’

‘Of course.’

‘What would the human soul be without poetry?’

‘How can you listen to him talk such nonsense?’ Okasha demanded.

Sami was frowning fiercely. ‘I see this as an epic battle between rivals. An ancient feud which has lasted decades. Both of them ruthless predators . . . born gangsters. One is made respectable by a society obsessed with wealth and success. The other turns to religion in order to save the country from the very things which have made his rival a national figure. What do you think?’

Okasha took the long waterpipe from his mouth. ‘You will turn both of them into heroes.’

‘Don’t listen to him,’ said Makana. ‘You’ll sell thousands. In fact, it will probably change your life for ever and you’ll no longer have time for us. You’ll be too busy hanging out with glamorous models and beautiful film stars.’

Sami frowned. ‘You don’t approve?’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘You don’t have to say it. You condemn the whole enterprise with a single sentence.’

‘My apologies. Please go on.’

‘Apologies accepted.’ Sami swept his hands in a wide arc before him. ‘I can see it now . . . A series of character portraits. The princess in the tower. The evil father. The innocent young football player, the nation’s idol.’ He paused, lost for words momentarily as a serious thought occurred to him. ‘It’s really about the fate of this country and what is happening right now. It’s about everything.’

Okasha rocked his head from side to side, letting a cloud of aromatic smoke out of the side of his mouth. ‘He certainly has a way with words, you can’t deny that. It sounds like something you might see in the cinema. Where does Makana come into it?’

Sami smiled. ‘Oh, I think he remains the mysterious figure in the background.’

‘Well, that’s him, all right,’ agreed Okasha.

‘I don’t think he can hear us.’

His eye on the open doorway, Makana’s thoughts led him back to the day he’d first met Elizabeth Markham here. He would always be grateful to her, he realised, for bringing back the memory of his own daughter so vividly, if only for a brief time. He wished he could hold on to that feeling, just a little while longer.

‘He doesn’t even know we are here.’

‘No, he’s gone, carried off in the arms of jinns.’

A Note on the Author

Parker Bilal is the pseudonym of Jamal Mahjoub. Mahjoub has published seven critically acclaimed literary novels, which have been widely translated. Born in London, he has lived at various times in the UK, Sudan, Cairo and Denmark. He currently lives in Barcelona.

By the Same Author

(writing as Jamal Mahjoub)

Navigation of a Rainmaker

Wings of Dust

In the Hour of Signs

The Carrier

Nubian Indigo

The Drift Latitudes

Travelling with Djinns

First published in Great Britain 2012

This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

The moral right of the author has been asserted