Children of Gebelaawi (23 page)

Thudclub yel led at her:

- Henna, I challenge any man of Hamdaan to count the

number of men you 've slept wi th.

Henna shouted :

- God is our wi Lness: Hamdaan 's people are lords of the ...

Her last words were stifled by a hand over her mouth.

Thudclub spoke to the strongmen in a voice that was meant for

Hamdaan's people:

- If any man of Hamdaan leaves his tenement-house he's

to be beaten up.

Qidra shouted:

- If anybody calls hi mself a man, let him come out!

Hamooda asked:

- And the women, chief?

- Thudclub deals with men , not women.

Day dawned bu t not one of Hamdaan 's men left his tenement-house. Each of the strongmen sat in front of the cafe i n his own sector watching the road. Thudclub patrolled the

Alley every few hours and people vied with one another in

greeting him and praising and flattering him: 'By God, the

Strongman of our Alley is a lion.', 'Well done; you're a great

man, you've made 1-Iamdaan wear a yashmak. ' , 'Than k God

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Gebel

you've brought down the stuck-up people of Hamdaan,

Thudclub. ', and no one was upset at all.

2 9 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

'Do you like this tyranny, Gebelaawi?' asked Gebel, lying on

the grou nd at the foot of the rock where the stories say Qadri

lay with Hind and where Humaam was killed. He looked at the

sunset, but with eyes that saw only imperfection everywhere.

He was not one of those who seek solitude because of their

many worries, bu t lately he had been feeling an overwhelming

desire to be alone, for the fate of Hamdaan's peop le had

shaken him to the core. Perhaps i n the desert the voices that

tormented and reproached him would be silent, voices that

shouted from the wi ndows as he passed: 'Filthy trai tor to

Hamdaan ! ' and voices that cried from the depths of his own

being: 'Life at the expense of others cannot be happy. '

Hamdaan 's people were his people; his father and mother had

been born among them and buried in their tomb. They were

oppressed, horribly oppressed, and cheated of their property;

and by whom? By his generous patron, the man whose wife had

picked him up from the mud and raised him to the level ofthe

people in the Great House.

' Everything in the Alley is ru n on a basis of terror, so it is not

surprising that its lords arc prisoners in their houses. Our Alley

has never known a day of justice or peace; its fate was sealed

when Adham and Umayma were driven out of the Great

House. Don 't you know that, Gebelaawi? It is plain that the

longer you are silenl lhe deeper the darkness. How long wi ll

you say nothi ng, Gebelaawi? The men are under house arrest,

and the women risk every insult when they go out; and I

swallow the humi liation without a word. How strange that the

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Children of Gebelaawi

people of our Alley should laugh ! What are they laughing at?

They think the world of whoever wins victory and rejoice in

whoever is powerful, and they worship cudgels; and so they

hide the terror that is in their hearts. We eat degradation with

every mouthful in this Alley. Nobody knows when his turn will

come for the cudgel to crack down on his skull.'

He lifted his head to the sky and found it still, peaceful and

soothing, embellished by distant clouds, the last kites flying

away. There were no more people going about, and the hour

had come when i nsects settle. Suddenly Gebel heard a rough

voice shouti ng nearby: 'Stop, you bastard! ' . He was roused

from his thoughts and stood up, trying to remember where he

had heard that voice before. He wentround Hind's rock to the

south side and saw one man fleeing frantically and another

about to catch up with him. He looked hard and recognized

the man in flight as Digger and his pursuer as Qidra, strongman

of Hamdaan's sector. He understood at once, and watched

anxiously as the chase drew nearer to him. In a moment or two

Qidra overtook Digger and grabbed him by the shoulder.

They stopped runni ng, panting hard, and Qidra snarled with

what breath was left:

- How dare you leave your hole, you viper? You're not

going back in one piece.

Digger protected his head with both arms, yelling:

- Leave me alone, Qidra. You 're our strongman and you're

supposed to defend us.

Qidra shook him till the turban fell from his head and

shouted:

- You know, you son of a bitch, that I ' ll defend you against

anybody except Thudclub.

Digger caught sigh t of Gebel and recognized him. He called

out:

- Help me, Gebel, help me; you 're one of us more than one

of them.

Qidra rasped out defiantly:

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Gebel

- Nobody can help you agai nst me.

Gebel found himself walki ng over to them. H e said calmly:

- Go easy on the man, Qidra.

Qidra stared at him coldly.

- I know what I have to do.

- Maybe it was necessary for him to leave his house.

- It was his fate that made him leave it.

He squeezed Digger 's shoulder till he moaned loudly, and

Gebel said sharply:

- Go easy on him; can'tyou see he's older and weaker than

you?

Qidra let go of Digger's shoulder and punched him so hard

on the back of the head that he doubled up, then kneed him

in the back so that he fell on his face. In a moment he was

kneeling on him, rai ning blows on him and hissing in a voice

full of hatred:

- Didn't you hear what Thudclub said?

Gebel's anger blazed up and he shouted:

- Damn you! And Thudclu b! Let him go you shameless

monster!

Qidra stopped hitting Digger and raised an astonished face

to Gebel.

- Do you say that, Gebel? Didn't you hear his Honor the

Trustee order Thudclub to teach Hamdaan a lessrm?

Gebel shouted still more furiously:

- Let him go, you shameless monster!

Qidra's voice quivered with rage.

- Don't get the idea your work in Trustee's House will

protect you against me if you want your reckoning.

Gebel sprang at him as ifhe were out ofhis mind, and kicked

him over sideways, shouting:

- Get back to your mother while she still has you.

Qidra leapt up, seizi ng his cudgel from the grou nd, then

raised it quickly, bu t Gebel was too quick for him and punched

him hard in the stomach. He staggered about in agony, and

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Gebel seized this chan ce to snatch the cudgel from his hand

and stood watching him carefully. Qidra drew back two paces,

then bent down swiftly and grabbed a stone; but before he

could throw it, the cudgel cracked down on his head. He

screamed and spu n round, then fell on his face, the blood

gushing from his forehead. Night was falling, and Gebel

looked round and saw nobody except Digger, who stood

brushing his jellaba and feeling his bruises. Then he came over

to Gebel and said gratefully:

- I've been saved by a real brother, Gebel.

Gebel did not answer him, but ben t over Qidra and turned

him on his back. He murmured:

- He's out cold.

Digger bent over him too, then spat on his face. Gebel

dragged him right away, then bent over Qidra again and began

shaki ng him gently, but he showed no signs of reviving.

- What's wrong wi th him?

Digger ben t over him agai n and put his ear to his chest, then

peered into his face and lit a match. Then he stood up and

whispered:

- He's dead.

Gebel's flesh crept and he said:

- You 're lying.

- Dead as dead. I swear it on your head.

- How dreadful!

Digger made light of the matter:

- Think of all the people he's beaten up or killed! Let him

go to Hell !

Gebel said sorrowfully, as though talking to himself:

- But I 've never beaten or killed anybody.

- It was in self defence.

- But I didn't mean to kill him; I didn't want to.

Digger said seriously:

- You 're tough, Gebel, you needn't be afraid of them; why,

you could be a strongman if you wanted.

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Gebel

·Gebel struck his forehead with his hand and cried ou t:

- Good grief! Have I become a murderer with the first blow

I struck?

- Come to your senses. Let's bury him now, otherwise there

will be trouble.

- There will be trouble whether we bury him or not.

- I don 't care. It'll be the others next. H elp me to bury this

brute.

Digger took the cudgel and began digging i n the ground

not far from the spot where Qadri had once dug. Soon Gebel

joined him with a heavy heart. The work wen t on without a

word till Digger said, to lighten the load of Gebel's feelings:

- Don 't be sad; killing in our Alley is as easy as eating palm

nuts.

Gebel sighed:

- I never wanted to become a murderer. 0 God! I didn ' t

think I had such a temper.

When they had finished digging, Digger stood wiping his

forehead with the sleeve of hisjellaba and blowing his nose to

get rid of the earthy smell that filled it. He said:

- This grave is big enough for that bastard and the other

strongmen too.

Gebel said resentfully:

- Respect the dead man; we all die.

- When they respect us alive we'll respect them dead.

They lifted the corpse into the grave and Gebel put the

cudgel by its side. Then they heaped the earth over i t. When

Gebel looked up he found that night had covered the world

and all that stood on it, and he sighed deeply, holding back his

tears.

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3 0 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

'Where ' s Qidra? ' wondered Thudclub and the other

strongmen. Their col league was no more to be seen i n the

Alley than were the men of Hamdaan. Qidra had lived in the

sector next to that of Hamdaan. He was a bachelor and used

to spend nights out, not coming home till dawn or later. He

was often away for a night or two, but he had never been

missing for a whole week without anyone knowing where he

was. It was specially strange during this blockade which needed

his special watchfulness. Suspicion hung over Hamdaan's

people and a search of their homes was decided. The

strongmen, led by Thudclub, burst i nto their tenement-houses

and searched them thoroughly from top to bottom, digging

up the yards from end to end. The men of Hamdaan met with

every ki nd of humiliation, and not one escaped bei ng kicked

or punched or spat on. But the searchers found nothing

suspicious. They went all along the fri nge of the desert asking

for information, bu t no one could tell them anything of any

value.

Qidra remai ned the topic of conversation as the hookah

wen t round at Thudclub's hashish den under its vine trellis i n

his garden. Darkness was all around, bu t a small lamp stood on

the ground a couple of feet from the brazier, and by i ts fain t

ligh t Barakaat cut u p and pressed the hashish and crumbled

the charcoal for the pipe. The lamplight dancing in the breeze

fli·ckered over the scowling faces of Thudclub, Hamooda,

Lionheart and Quicksi lver, revealing the crafty looks behind

their puffy eyelids. The croaking of the frogs sounded like

muffled cries for help in the sti llness of the night. Lionheart

asked as he took the pipe from Barakaat and passed it to

Thudclub:

- Where's the man gone? The earth seems to have swallowed him up.

Thudclub inhaled deeply, tapping the stem of the pipe,

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Gebel

then breathed out a thick cloud of smoke and said:

- The earth has swallowed Qidra, and he's slept in its

bowels for a week.

They all looked up anxiously at him, except Barakaat who

was absorbed in his work. Thudclub wen t on:

- A strongman doesn't disappear without a reason; and I

know the smell of death.

After a fit of coughi ng that bent his back as a strong win d

bends a reed, Quicksi lver asked:

- And who ki lled him?

- Amazing! Who else if not one of Hamdaan's men?

- But they haven't left their houses. And we've searched

them.

Thudclub struck the side of his cushion with his fist and said:

- What do the other people in the Alley say?

Hamooda said:

- The people in my sector say that Hamdaan had a hand i n

Qidra's disappearance.

-Listen, you dope-heads: ifthey're saying one ofHamdaan's

lot ki lled Qidra, it's up to us to act as if he did.

- Even if the kil ler was from Otouf?

- Even if he was from Kafr el-Zaghari ! It's less important to

punish the righ t man than to deter others.

Quicksi lver exclaimed admiringly:

- Great God !