Children of Gebelaawi (47 page)

- It's bad manners at your age.

There was silence i n the cafe, as though all ears and even the

very walls were listening to Omnibus' words. Saadiq gave his

friend a sympathetic glance, for he knew how sensitive he was.

Hassan hid his look of anger behind his cup of ginger so that

the strongman would not see i t. Taza picked up his rebec and

started playing. Mter saluting Rifaat the Trustee, Guzzler,

Strongman of the Alley, and Omnibus, master of the sector,

the bard began:

Adham i magined he heard footsteps, slow and heavy. Submerged memories flooded back like a wonderful but elusive fragrance. He turned h is head towards the door of the hut and

saw it open. Then the doorway seemed to be filled by a huge

person. He gazed iri astonishment and with a mixture of hope

and despair. He sighed deeply and murmured:

- Father? !

It seemed that he heard the old voice saying:

- Good evening, Ad ham !

His eyes swam with tears and he tried to stand up but could

not. He felt a joy he had not known for over twenty years.

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Sakeena, the maid, said:

- Wait, Qaasim ! I have something for you.

Qaasim stood where he had tethered the ewe to the base of

the palm tree, waiting for the maid, who had gone inside. His

heart pounded, for he told himself that the thing she promised could come only from the generous heart of the mistress of the house. He longed to see her glance or hear h er voice and

for her beauty to soothe his body which had burnt all day long

in the desert. Sakeena came back with a package which she

gave him, saying:

- A pancake; en joy it!

- My than ks to the generous lady!

l-Ie heard her voice from behind the window, saying gently:

- Thanks be to God, my dear boy!

He made a gesture of gratitude with his hand without

looking up, and left. He repeated her words to himselfjoyfu lly:

'my dear boy'. The shepherd had never heard anything like it

before. And who had said it? The most respected lady i n his

wretched sector. He looked with affection at the Alley in the

gathering darkness and thought: 'In spite of our Alley's misery, it is not empty of things that could bring happiness to troubled hearts. '

He was roused from his daydreams by a voice shouting: 'My

money! My money is stolen !' He saw a man in a turban and a

flowing jellaba hurrying towards the top of the Alley, coming

from the Gemalia end. Everyone turned towards the shouting

man; urchins ran after him; peddlers and people sitting i n

their doorways craned their necks. Heads were poked out of

windows, and faces peered up from basements . The customers

came out of the cafes, and the man was soon surrounded on all

sides. Qaasim saw a man standing near to him, scratching his

back with a stick through the neck of his jellaba and watching

the scene with languid eyes. Qaasim asked him who the man

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was, and he answered without ceasing to scratch:

- An upholsterer who has been working in Trustee's

House.

The strongmen of the three sectors arrived on the scene

Omnibus, Pilgrim Grim and Bruiser. They quickly made the

crowd move back a few paces. A woman shouted from a

window i n Rifaa's sector:

- The man's been touched by the Evil Eye.

And another woman's voice came from the first house in

Gebel's sector:

- She's right. There's nobody who didn't envy him the

money he was going to make out of upholstering the Trustee's

furniture. God preserve us from the Evil Eye !

A third woman called from where she stood in a doorway

delousing a boy's head:

- He was laughing as he came out of Trustee's House. He

didn't know he'd soon be screaming and crying. Damn money!

The man was yelling at the top of his voice:

- All the money I had on me: stolen! A week's wages! And

more besides that was in my pocket! Money for the house and

the shop and the children! Twenty-odd pounds! Perish the

bastards!

Bruiser, strongman of Gebel's sector, shouted:

- Sh! Quiet everybody! Quiet you sheep! The good name

of the Alley is in the balance, and any blame will be put on the

strongmen in the end.

Pilgri m Gri m, strongman of Rifaa's sector, said:

- My God ! There had better not be any blaming! But how

do we know he lost the money in our Alley?

The upholsterer shouted hoarsely:

- It was stolen in your Alley: I'll divorce my wife if l lie. I got

it from the gatekeeper of his Honor the Trustee, and when I

felt i n the breast of my jellaba at the other end of the Alley I

found no trace of it.

There was a hubbub of voices. Pilgrim Grim shouted:

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Qaasim

- Quiet, you cattle! Listen, man; where did you realize your

money was gone?

He pointed to the end of the Desert Rats' sector:

- In front of the tinner's shop, but, to tell the truth, nobody

was near me there.

Omnibus said:

- Then it was stolen before he got to our sector.

Pilgrim Grim said:

- I was in the cafe when he went past, and I didn' t see

anybody in Rifaa's sector go near him.

Bruiser roared:

- There are no thieves among Gebel's people; they're the

lords of this Al ley.

Pilgrim Grim retorted:

- That' ll do, Bruiser, my friend ! You 're wrong about the

lords.

- Only a fool can deny it.

Pilgrim Grim thundered:

- Don 't tempt the devil in me! Damned bad manners!

Bruiser shouted as loudly:

- A thousand curses ! There's no bad man ners like that i n

our sector.

The upholsterer said tearfully:

- Gentlemen, my money was lost in your Alley. You're all

lords I'm sure, bu t where's my money? Poor Fanjari is ruined.

Pilgrim Grim said decisively:

- We must make a search. Let us search every pocket, every

man, every woman, every child, every corner.

Bruiser said contemptuously:

- Search away; you won 't disgrace any of us.

Pilgrim Gri m said:

- The man left Trustee's House and passed first through

Gebel's sector, so let's begin by searching Gebel's people.

Bruiser snorted:

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- Over my dead body! Remember who you are, Pilgrim

Grim, and who I am.

- I have more scars than hairs on my body.

- Scars leave no room for hair on my body.

- God, don't let the devil in me get loose!

- Send me all the devi ls in the world!

Fanjari yelled again:

- Look here! My money - doesn't itworryyou that people

wil l say it was stolen in your Alley?

A woman shouted furiously:

- Careful, owl-face, with your insults !

A voice asked:

-Why should the money not have been stolen in the Desert

Rats' sector, where most of them are thieves and beggars?

Omnibus shouted:

- Our thieves don't steal in their own Alley.

- How do we know that?

Omnibus grew red with rage.

- We don't need any more bad manners; the search will

uncover the thief, or it's goodbye to the Alley.

More than one voice shouted:

- Begin with the Desert Rats.

Omnibus roared:

-Anybody who changes the natural order of the search wi ll

get my cudgel i n his face.

He brandished his cudgel and his men flocked round him.

Pilgrim Grim did likewise, and Bruiser withdrew to his sector

and did the same. The upholsterer took refuge i n a doorway,

crying. Night was about to fall. Everyone expected a bloody

battle. Suddenly Qaasim rushed to the middle of the Alley and

shouted at the top of his voice:

- Stop ! Bloodshed won't bring back the lost money. People

in Gemalia and Derrasa and Otou f will say that anybody who

enters Gebelaawi Alley is robbed, even if it's protected by its

Trustee and its strongmen.

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One of Gebel's people asked:

- What does the shepherd boy want?

- I have a plan for giving the money back to its owner

without a fight.

The upholsterer ran towards him, shouting his gratitude.

Qaasim addressed the crowd:

- It will give the money back to its owner without exposing

the thief.

There was complete silence. All eyes were fixed on Qaasim.

He continued:

- Let's wai t ti ll it's pitch dark, which it soon wi ll be. Not a

single candle shall be lit. Then we'll all walk from one end of

the Alley to the other, so that suspicion doesn't settle on any

one sector, and while we do that the one who has the money

will be able to throw it down without giving himself away. Then

we'll fi nd the money and avoid a nasty battle.

The upholsterer seized Qaasim's arm in desperate entreaty

and shouted:

- A good solution; accept it for my sake!

Someone echoed this:

- A sensible solution, young man !

Someone else called:

- A chance for the thief to save himself and save the Alley!

A woman whooped wi th joy. The people looked from one to

another of the three strongmen, half hopeful and half afraid.

But each of them was too proud and haughty to be the first to

announce his acceptance. The people waited and wondered

whether reason would prevail or whether the cudgels would

fall and the blood would flow. Then there came a voice they all

knew: 'Look here ! ' Every head jerked rou nd in its direction.

There stood Guzzler, Strongman of the Alley, not far from his

house. Silence fell, and everyone hung on his words. He said

contemptuously:

- Accept the plan, you vagabonds! If you weren't such

idiots you wouldn 't have to be saved by a shepherd boy.

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A murmur of relief ran through the crowd, and there were

more whoops of joy. Qaasim's heart pounded. He looked at

Qamar's house, feeling certain that her dark eyes were gazing

at him from one of the two windows that overlooked the road.

A glow of happiness filled him, and he felt the pleasure of a

great triumph such as he had never known before. Everyone

was waiting for nigh t, looking now towards the sky, now

towards the desert, following the gradual darkening. Landmarks disappeared; faces blurred; people became shapes. The two paths into the desert on either side of the Great House

were swallowed up in the darkness.

At last the figures began to move and walked up to the Great

House and then hurried down towards Gem alia. Then they all

went back to their own sectors. Guzzler shouted: 'Lights on ! '

The first to appear was in Qamar's house, i n the Desert Rats'

sector. Then the lanterns were lit on the barrows, and the

lamps in the cafes, and the Alley came back to life. People

began searching the ground, and soon the cry went up: ' Here's

the wallet! ' Fanjari rushed straight over, seized the wallet and

counted the money, then hurried off to Gemalia, taking no

notice of anyone or anything and leaving in his wake a tumult

of laughter and shouting. Qaasim found himself the focus of

attention, the center for congratu lations, jokes and commentaries.

When Qaasim went with Hassan and Saadiq to the Desert

Rats' cafe that evening, Omnibus greeted him with a smile of

welcome, and called:

- A hookah for Qaasi m on my account!

6 8 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

His face flushed, his eyes shini ng, his expression open and

his heartjoyful, Qaasim went i nto Qamar's courtyard to collect

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the ewe, calling ou t a warning to wear veils. He was untethering

Grace from the foot of the stair when he heard the door

creaking open, and her voice saying:

- Good morning!

He gave a heartfelt reply:

- A very good morning to you, madam!

- What you did for our Alley yesterday was a great good.

His heart pounded.

- God was my guide.

She spoke in admiring tones:

- You've taught us that wisdom is better than strongman

methods.

'And your affection is better than wisdom,' he thought to

himself. He said:

- You're very kind.

There was a smile in her voice as she said:

- We saw you shepherding the people as you shepherd

your flock. Goodbye and bless you !

He set off with Grace, and, with every tenement-house he

passed, he added a bi lly goat or a nanny goat or a ram or a ewe

to the procession. Everyone greeted him. Even the strongmen,

who had always ignored him, returned his salutations. He

followed the long file of sheep and goats up the p ath by the wall

of the Great House on his way to the desert. He was met by the

burning heat of the sun, which was just up over Muqattam, and

by warm puffs of morning wind. At the foot of the Jebel could

be seen some shepherds. A man i n tattered clothes passed him,

playing a bamboo flute. In the cloudless bowl of sky kites