Children of Gebelaawi (14 page)

ldrees spoke with mock seriousness:

- Me too I say work is a curse. It's an i nsult to human

dignity.

- You 're inviting me to be a crook, which is worse than a

curse.

- If work's a curse and crookery's worse, how's a man to

live?

Adham did not like talking to him and kept quiet. ldrees

waited for him to speak but, getting no response, he continued:

- Perhaps you want to get a living without work? But that

would be at the expense of other people.

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Adham

Adham still kept quiet, so he went on:

- Or perhaps you want to get a living without work and still

not harm anybody? (He laughed hatefu lly. ) It's a problem, son

of a slave.

Umayma shouted furiously:

- Go home! The devil has bitten you.

His wife called him with a piercing voice, and he went the

way he had come, si ngi ng 'Strange things, my God, strange

things ! ' Umayma implored her husband:

- Don't get mixed up wi th him at any price.

- I keep fi nding him standing over me without knowing

how he came.

Silence reigned and they fou nd in it a refuge from their

anxiety. Then Umayma spoke again, gently:

- My heart tells me I ' ll make this hut into a house like the

one we've been thrown out of, including the garden and the

nightingales, and our child will know ease and pleasure in it.

Adham stood smi ling a smi le she could not see in the

darkness. He spoke sarcastically as he brushed the dust from

his jellaba:

- 'Fine gherkins! Sweet cucumbers ! ' The sweat pours from

my body, and urchins bait me, and my feet kill me, and all for

a few piasters.

He went into the hut and she followed, saying:

- But the day of wealth and happiness will come.

- If you suffered more you 'd have no time for dreams.

They both lay down on the straw-filled sacking, and she said:

- Isn't God able to turn our hut into a house like the one

we've been thrown out of?

Adham yawned.

- What I wish for is to go back to the Great House itself.

(Then, yawning more:) Work is a curse !

She whispered:

- Maybe, bu t a curse you get rid of only by working!

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Children of Gebelaawi

l 2 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

One nightAdham woke to the sound of groaning. As he was

half asleep, i t was a little time before he made out Umayma's

voice crying: 'Oh my back! Oh my tummy! ' He sat up at once,

peering at her, and said:

- You're always in this state these days, and then it turns out

to be nothing. Light the candle.

- Light it yourself! This time it's real.

He got up, groping for the candle in its place among the

pots and pans. Having managed to find it, he lit it and set it on

the table. Umayma appeared by its feeble light, lying propped

up on her elbows, moaning and raising her head to breathe

with obvious difficulty. He said anxiously:

- That's what you say every time you feel pai ns.

Her face crumpled up.

- No, no! I'm sure it's the real thi ng this time.

He helped her to lean her back against the wall and said:

- It'll be soon anyway. Try to bear it while I go to Gemalia

for the midwife.

- Mi nd how you go! What time is it now?

Ad ham went out of the hut and looked at the sky:

- It'll soon be daybreak. I ' ll be straight back.

He hurried off towards Gemalia. When he made his way

back through the darkness he was leading the old midwife by

the hand. As they drew near to the shack, Umayma's cries

reached him, shattering the stillness. His heart pounded and

he strode faster till the midwife complained. They rushed i nto

the hut together and the woman took off her cloak and said to

Umayma, laughing:

- The worst is over. Your patience wi ll soon be rewarded.

Adham asked her:

- How are you?

She groaned:

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Adham

- The pai n's almost killing me. My body's bursting. My

bones are breaking. Don't go !

But the midwife said:

- He must wait quietly outside.

Ad ham left the hut for the open air and caught sight of a

figure standing nearby. He knew him even before he could

make him out clearly, and his chest tightened, but ldrees put

on a polite tone and said:

- She's in labor? Poor girl! My wife went through this not

long ago, as you know; but i t's a misleading pain and soon goes.

Then you ' ll meet what the Knower of the Unseen has allotted

you, just as I met Hind - a charmi ng baby, but she's always

piddling or crying. Courage!

Adham was suffering. He said:

- God is Master of all things.

Idrees let out a harsh laugh and asked:

- Did you fetch the midwife from Gemalia to her?

- Yes.

- Dirty, greedy old woman ! I fetched her too. She asked for

too much, so I chased her off, and she still curses me whenever

she sees me go past her house.

Adham hesitated, then said:

- You shouldn't treat people like that.

- You fine fellow! Your father taught me to be rude and

tough with people.

Umayma's voice went up in a pitiful cry that seemed to echo

the rending inside her. Adham clenched his teeth on what he

was about to say and went anxiously towards the hut, calli ng

out i n a weak voice:

- Courage!

Idrees repeated his words loudly:

- Courage, sister-in-law!

Ad ham was worried about his wife hearing this voice, but he

hid his annoyance, saying:

- We'd better get further away from the hut.

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Children of Gebelaawi

- Let's go to my place; I'll give you some tea and you can

see Hind snoring.

But Adham moved away from his hut without going towards

Idrees's, cursing him silen tly and hiding his anger. Idrees

followed him saying:

- You'll be a father before sunrise. It's an important

change in your life. One good thing is that you'll know the

bond your father breaks so easily and so stupidly.

Adham gave vent to his feeli ngs:

- This talk is an noying me.

- Maybe, bu t there's nothing else to occupy us.

Adham hesitated, then said:

- Idrees, why do you follow me about, when you know

there's no love between us?

Idrees guffawed loudly.

-What a shameless child you are! Your wife's cries woke me

from a delicious sleep, but I didn't let it annoy me. On the

contrary, I've come to help you if you need any help. Your

father must have heard her cries as clearly as I did, but he just

went back to sleep as if he had no heart.

Adham said curtly:

- The fate he's decreed for us is bad enough; can't you

ignore me as I ignore you?

- You hate rne, Ad ham, not because I was the cause of your

being thrown out, bu t because I remind you of your weakness.

You hate your own rotten self i n me. Now I no longer have any

reason to hate you. On the contrary, today you're my comfort

and consolation. Don' t forgetwe're neighbors, the first people

to live in this desert. Our chi ldren will crawl here side by side.

- You enjoy tormenting me.

ldrees said nothing for a while, so that Adham hoped for

release, but then he went on, asking in a serious voice:

- Why can't we agree?

Adham said with a sigh:

- Because I'm a street trader, as my circumstances require,

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Adham

and you 're a man whose pleasure is i n attacking people.

Umayma's cries became louder again, and Adham looked

up at the sky implori ngly. He noticed at once that the darkness

was less intense and that day was breaking over the Jebel. He

shouted:

- Pain is a curse.

ldrees said laughing:

- Such softness is charming. You were made for managing

the Trust and playi ng your flute.

- Make fu n of me as much as you like; I'm suffering.

- Why? I though t it was your wife who was suffering.

Adham shouted:

- Leave me alone !

ldrees asked wi th ag!,JTavating cal mness:

- Are you hoping to become a father wi thout paying for it?

Adham kept qui et, breathing heavily, and ldrees spoke

enticingly:

- You're a sensible man. I've come to propose a job by

which you cou ld bring happiness to your future children. The

event you can hear being announced is the first but not the

last. Our desires wi ll be satisfied only by bui lding a mountain

of screaming children. What do you thi nk?

- It's almost day. Go back to bed!

The cries came agai n, continuously, till Adham could no

longer bear to stay where he was and returned to the hut from

which the darkness was lifting. He reached i t as Umayma let

out a deep sigh like the dying away of a sad song. He came to

the door, asking:

- How are things with you?

He heard the voice of the midwife telling him to wait. He

prepared to relax, for the voice seemed to him to be triumphant. Very soon the wo man appeared at the door, saying:

- You 've been blessed wi th two sons.

- Twi ns? !

- May God provide for them!

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Children of Gebelaawi

From behind him came Idrees's ear-splitting laugh, and he

heard him saying:

- Now ldrees is father to a girl and uncle to two boys .. .

A n d he went o ff to his hut singing:

Where is luck, where's fate?

Tell me where, of late !

The midwife spoke again:

- Their mother wants to call them Qadri and Humaam.

Buoyant wi th happi ness, Adham murmured:

- Qadri and Humaam ! Qadri . . . and Humaam ...

1 3 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Qadri sai d as he wiped his face on the corner of hisjellaba:

- Let's sit down and eat.

Humaam stood looki ng towards the sun, which was starting

to sink.

- Yes, time's been flying.

They sat down cross-legged in the sand at the foot ofjebel

Muqattam. Hu maam undid the knot in the striped red handkerchief, revealing bread, falafel and leeks. They fell to, glancing from time to time at their sheep, some of which

wandered about while others stood chewing peacefully. There

was nothing in the twi ns' features or build to distinguish them,

except that Qadri had a defi nite hu nter's look in his eye, which

gave him a disti nctive sharpness of expression. Qadri spoke

again, chewi ng a huge mouthful:

- If only this whole desert belonged to us alone, we could

graze our sheep wi thou t any worries.

Humaam said wi th a smile:

- But this is where shepherds come from Otoufand Kafr el-

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Adham

Zaghari and 1-lusseinia. IL's best to be friendly with them and

avoid trouble.

Qadri laughed scornfully, spitting out a shower of crumbs,

and said:

- Those places have only one answer for anybody who tries

to be friendly: punches!

- But. . .

- There's n o but I only know one way; I grab the man by

hisjellaba and bang his head ti ll he falls on his face - or his

back for that matter.

- And that's why we can hardly count our enemies.

- Who asked you to count them?

Humaam was serious and seemed very far away. He whistled

to himself, then stopped and fell back i nto a reflective silence.

He picked out a leek, stroked it with his fingers, put i t in his

mouth with relish, smacked his lips and said:

-That's why we're alone and have to go a long time wi thou t

anybody to talk to.

- What need is there for you to talk when you 're always

singi ng?

Humaam looked at him trustingly and said:

- It seems to me that this loneliness gets you down sometimes.

- I'll always fi nd a reason to be gloomy, whether it's

loneliness or something else.

Silence fell, broken by the smacking of lips. Far away

appeared a group going back from the jebel towards Otouf,

singing a song, one leading and the others chanti ng the

responses. Humaam said:

- This part of the desert is in our district. If we went off to