Children of Gebelaawi (43 page)

one boy noticed him and warned his friends with a whistle,

pushing the barrow over to distract him from giving chase. The

cucumbers spilt all over the ground while the urchi ns bounded

away li ke locusts. Adham was furious and poured forth a

torrent of the foulest curses. Then he bent down to gather up

the cucumbers which were smothered in dirt. His rage mounted

without any outlet till he burst out passionately:

- Why did your rage burn everything up? Why did you love

your pride more than your own flesh and blood? How can you

be happy with your life of ease and plenty, knowing that we are

trampled on like insects? Mercy and sweetness and tolerance

are all lacking in your Great House, you tyrant.

He took hold of the shafts of the barrow and was about to

push it far away from this wretched alley when he heard a

jeeri ng voice:

- How much are those cucumbers, mister?

He saw ldrees standing wi th a mocking smile on his lips.

A woman shouted, drowning the bard's voice:

- Oyez! Oyez! A child is lost. Oyez!

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The companions passed the time talking, butjasmine was in

torment. Hussein wanted to take a look at the Alley, but

Kareem protested that someone might see him and wonder

what was up. Zaki wondered whether they had attacked Rifaa's

home but Rifaa pointed out that there was nothing to be heard

except the drone of the rebec and the shouti ng of urchins. Life

went on as usual in the Alley, and there was nothing to show

that a cri me was being prepared. So many thoughts whirled

round and round in jasmine's head thatshe was afraid her eyes

would give her away. She wished her torment would end, i n any

way and at any price. She wished she could fill herself with

drink and forget what was goi ng on around her. She said to

herself that she was not the first woman in Bayoomi's life and

would not be the last; stray dogs gather round garbage. But let

this torment end at any price! As ti me went on, silence

gradually swallowed up the noises. The urchins' shouts and

the peddlers ' cries ceased, and only the drone of the rebec was

left. A sudden hatred for these men came over her, simply

because they were, in a way, what tormented her.

Kareem asked:

- Shall I get the brazier ready?

Rifaa sai d firmly:

- We need to have our wits about us.

- I though t it would help us to bear the passing of ti me.

- You 're more frightened than you need to be.

Kareem denied this charge:

- There doesn 't seem to be any reason to be frightened.

Indeed, nothing had happened and Rifaa's home had not

been attacked. The music stopped and the bards left. There

were the sou nds of doors being locked, the chatter of men on

their way home, coughs, laughs, then silence. They watched

and waited till the first cock crowed. Zaki got up and looked

out of the window at the road:

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- Silent and empty. The Alley is as it was the day ldrees was

thrown out.

Kareem said:

- Time for us to go.

Jasmine was in anguish. She wondered what would become

of her if Bayoomi was late or had changed his mind. The men

stood up, each carrying his bundle. Hussein said:

- Good-bye to you, hellish Alley!

Ali led the way. Rifaa pushed Jasmine gently in front of him

and followed her with a hand on her shoulder as though afraid

he migh t lose her i n the dark. Next went Kareem, then

Hussein, then Zaki. They crept out one by one through the

door of Kareem's lodgings, and climbed the stairs, guiding

themselves by the handrail in the thick darkness. The roof

seemed less dark, though there was not a star to be seen. A

sheet of cloud i n headlong flight across the sky hid the moon

and diffused its light. Ali said:

-The roofs almost touch. We can help Jasmine if she needs

us.

They followed one another on to the roof. As Zaki, the last

of them, came up, he sensed a movement behind him. He

turned to face the trap door and saw four figures. In a panic he

asked:

- Who's that?

They all stopped dead and looked round. Bayoomi's voice

spoke:

- Stop where you are, you bastards!

To his right and left stood Jaabir, Khaalid and Handoosa.

Jasmine let out a ery, slipped from Rifaa's hand, and ran to the

trap door. None of the strongmen stopped her, and Ali said to

Rifaa in dismay:

- The woman has betrayed you .

In a moment they were surrounded. Bayoomi peered at

their faces, one by one, asking: 'Where's the exorcist? ' till he

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recognized Rifaa and seized his shoulder i n a grip of iron,

jeering:

- Where are you off to, you friend of devils?

Rifaa said:

- Our presence here annoys you; we prefer to go away.

Bayoomi gave a scornful laugh and turned to Kareem.

- And you; what was the use of hiding them in your place?

Kareem swallowed hard and trembled with fear as he said:

- I didn 't know of any quarrel between you and them.

With his free hand, Bayoomi hit him in the face. Kareem fell

down but i n a moment scrambled up and fled in terror over

the roof of the next tenement-house. Hussein and Zaki rushed

after him. 1-Iandoosa leapt at Ali and kicked him in the

stomach. He fell to the grou nd, groaning from the depths of

his bei ng. At the same time Jaabir and Khaalid started after

those who had fled, but Bayoomi said contemptuously:

-There 's nothing to fear from them. They won't say a word

- or they're doomed.

Rifaa's head was twisted sideways by the pai n of Bayoomi's

tight grip. l-Ie said:

- They've done nothing to deserve punishment.

Bayoomi hit him in the face and asked mockingly:

- Tell me; haven't they heard Gebelaawi as you did? (Then,

pushi ng him forward: ) Go in front of me and keep your mouth

shut.

Rifaa moved off, surrendering to fate. He went carefully

down the dark stairs, followed by their heavy footsteps. He was

overwhelmed by the darkness and the hopelessness and the

evil that threatened him, and he hardly thought of those who

had fled or betrayed him. A deep sadness i nvaded him completely, even smotheri ng his fears. It seemed to him that this darkness wou ld always cling to the world. They stepped i nto

the Alley and went through the sector where, thanks to him, no

one was sick. Handoosa led them towards Gebel's sector, and

they passed the barred and bolted Victory House, so that Rifaa

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imagined he could hear his parents breathing. He wondered

abou t them for a moment and thought he heard Abda weeping in the stillness of the night, but in no ti me he was reclaimed by the darkness and hopelessness and the evil that threatened.

Gebel 's sector looked in silhouette like a huge ruin. How dark

it was, how deeply asleep! The squeaking of the executioners'

shoes in the thick blackness was like the laughter of demons in

the night.

Handoosa led them to the desert opposite the walls of the

Great House. Rifaa looked up at the house, but he saw it was

as dark as the sky. A figure appeared at the end of the wall and

Handoosa asked:

- Dungbeetle?

- Yes !

He joined them without another word. Rifaa's eyes remained on the house. Did his Ancestor know of his plight? A word from him could save him from the clutches of these

tyran ts and frustrate their schemes. He could speak to them as

he had done to him in this place. Gebel had been cornered like

this and had then escaped and been victorious. But he passed

the wall wi thout hearing a thing, except the footsteps and

heavy breath ing of the villains. They went deep into the desert,

and the sand slowed their steps. Rifaa felt lost and remembered that the woman had betrayed him and that his friends had fled. He wanted to turn towards the house, bu t Bayoomi 's

hand pushed him suddenly in the back and he fell on his face.

Bayoomi raised his cudgel and shouted:

- Dungbeetle? !

The man raised his stick.

- With you all the way, ch ief.

Rifaa asked in despair:

- Why do you want to kill me?

Bayoomi cracked his cudgel down on his head and Rifaa

cried out from the depths of his being: 'Gebelaawi ! ' A moment

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Rifaa

later Dungbeetle's cudgel caught him on the back of the neck

and blows rai ned down.

Silence fell, broken only by his death rattle.

Their hands began furiously digging in the dark.

6 1 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The murderers left, heading for the Alley, and very soon

they had melled i nto the darkness. Four figures rose from a

hiding place not far from the scene of the cri me. They moaned

and sobbed till one of them shouted:

-You cowards; you wi nded me, and so he was ki lled without

anybody to defend him!

Another said to him:

- If we'd listened to you we'd all be dead and he still

wouldn't have been saved.

Ali spoke again:

- You're cowards -just cowards.

Kareem said tearfully:

- Don 't waste ti me talking, we have to work hard before

morni ng.

Hussein looked up at the sky with his eyes full of tears and

murmured:

- Daybreak is near, we must hurry.

Zaki cried out:

- It flashed past like a bad dream, but in that short time we

lost the best friend we've ever had.

Ali started towards the place of the crime mu ttering: 'Cowards! ' The others followed him, fanning out i n a semicircle, and knelt down, feeling the ground. Kareem suddenly yelled

as though he had been bitten:

- Here! This is his blood.

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At that moment Zaki yelled out:

- This soft place is his grave.

They gathered round him, scrabbling at the soil. No one in

the world was more miserable than they over the loss of their

friend and over their inability to save him. In a moment of

madness Kareem said stupidly:

- Perhaps we'll fi nd him alive.

Ali spoke contemptuously as his hands worked away:

- Listen to the coward 's delusions!

Their nostrils were filled with the smell of earth and blood.

From the direction of the jebel they heard dogs howling.

Ali exclaimed:

- Go slowly! This is his body.

Their hearts almost stopped beating. Their hands searched

gently. In anguish they felt his clothes and they wept aloud.

They worked together to free the body from the sand and lifted

it out carefully. From the streets and alleys came the crowing

of cocks. One of them urged haste, but Ali insisted that they fill

up the hole. Kareem took off his jellaba and spread it on the

ground, and they lifted the corpse on to it. They worked

together again to fill i n the hole. Then Hussein took off his

jellaba and put it over the corpse, and they carried it towards

Bab el-Nasr.

The darkness began to thin out over the Jebel, revealing