Children of Gebelaawi (51 page)

- It really happened. It was no dream.

- They found you unconscious?

- That was after the meeti ng.

- Perhaps you've mixed things up.

He groaned, suffering torment.

- I've mixed nothing up. The meeting was as p lain as day.

She hesitated a little, then asked:

- How do we know he's really the Founder's servant and his

messenger to you? Why not just someone high on dope like so

many men in our Alley?

He said stubbornly:

- I saw him climb over the wall of the Great House.

She sighed.

-There isn't a ladder i n the Alley thatwould reach half-way

up the wall.

- But I saw it.

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Qaasim

She was caught li ke a mouse in a trap but refused to give in.

She asked:

- Had you taken hashish?

He frowned sadly.

- You don ' t believe me, Qamar, and I can't force you to

believe me.

She was upset.

- It'sjust that I'm afraid foryou; you knowwhat i m ean. I'm

afraid for you and our home, for our daughter and our

happiness. I am wondering why he's fixed on you , and why he

can 't carry out his wishes himself when he's the master of the

Trust and the lord over all.

He in his turn asked:

- And why did he go to Gebel and Rifaa?

Her eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth tigh tened,

like those of a child about to cry. She lowered her eyes i n

dismay. He said:

- You don't believe me, and I can't force you to believe me.

She burst into tears and abandoned herself to them as if to

escape from her thoughts. Qaasim leaned over, took her hand

and drew her towards him. He asked gently:

- Why are you cryi ng?

She looked at him through her tears, and her words were

interrupted by sobs:

- Because I believe you. Yes, I believe you. I'm afraid the

easy days are over. (Then, in a low, anxious voice: ) What are

you going to do?

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The atmosphere in the drawing room was tense and anxious. Zakaria frowned, deep in thought. Uwayss kept fiddling 317

Children of Gebelaawi

with his moustache. Hassan seemed to be talking to himself.

Saadiq could not take his eyes off the face of his friend Qaasim.

Qamar was in the corner of the room praying to God to guide

them all on the right path. The coffee cups were empty, and

two flies buzzed round them. Qamar called Sakeena, who

came, picked up the tray and left, closing the door again

behind her. Uwayss puffed and said:

- What a nerve-racking secret!

A dog squealed in the Alley, as though hit by a stone or stick.

A date-seller cried his wares in a loud, sing-song voice. An old

woman cried out wretchedly: 'Oh God, deliver us from this

life ! ' Zakaria turned to Uwayss and said:

- Mr Uwayss, you 're the most important of us. Tell us what

you think.

Uwayss looked from Zakaria to Qaasim and said:

- I tell you honestly, Qaasim's a real man - and what a

man ! But his story's made my head spin.

Saadiq had been bursting to speak for some time:

- He tells the truth. I challenge anybody to think of a lie

he's told. He's to be trusted; I swear it to you by my mother's

grave.

Hassan said enthusiastically:

- That goes for me too. He'll always find me by his side.

Qaasim smiled f-or the first time, gratefully, studying his well

built cousi n with admiration. But Zakaria gave his son a critical

look, and said:

- This business is no game. Think of our lives and our

safety.

Uwayss nodded his agreement.

- You 're right. Nobody's ever heard anything like what

we've heard today.

Qaasi m said:

- They did. They heard as much and more from Gebel and

Rifaa.

Uwayss was shocked and stared at him disapprovingly.

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Qaasim

- Do you thi nk you're like Gebel and Rifaa?

Qaasim looked down unhappily and Qamar gazed at him

anxiously. She said:

- Uncle! Who knows how these things happen?

Uwayss fiddled with his moustache again . Zakaria said:

-What's the good ofhis thinking he's like Gebel and Rifaa?

Rifaa died the worst of deaths, and Gebel would have been

killed if his people hadn't u nited behind him. And who do you

have, Qaasim? Have you forgotten that our sector is called the

Desert Rats' and that most of its people are beggars or paupers?

Saadiq said forcefu lly:

- Don ' t forget that Gebelaawi has chosen him in preference to all others, including the strongmen. I don't suppose he'll abandon him when things get difficult.

Zakaria said angrily:

- That's what they said about Rifaa, and Rifaa was killed a

few yards from Gebelaawi 's house.

Qamar warned them:

- Don't talk too loud!

Uwayss stole a glance at Qaasim, thinking: 'How amazing,

this shepherd that my niece has made into a lord ! I admit he's

truthful and trustworthy, but is that enough to make a Gebel

or a Rifaa of him? Do great men come so easily? And what

would happen if his dreams came true?' Out loud he said:

- It's plain that Qaasim won't listen to our warnings. I

wonder what he wants. Is he worried that our sector alone

remains wi thout a share of the Trust? Qaasim, do you want to

be the strongman and trustee of our sector?

Qaasim looked annoyed.

- He didn 't tell me that. He just said all the people of the

Alley are equally his children, that the Trust is equally their

inheritance, and that strongmen are an evil.

Saadiq's eyes shone, as did Hassan's. Uwayss was taken

aback, but Zakaria said:

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Children of Gebelaawi

- Do you know what that means?

Uwayss said furiously:

- Tell him!

- You 're challenging the Trustee's power and the cudgels

of Guzzler, Bruiser, Pilgrim Grim and Omnibus.

Qamar went pale. Qaasim said quietly:

- That's right.

Uwayss laughed, to the annoyance of Qaasim, Saadiq and

Hassan. Zakaria took no notice but con tinued:

- It'll be the death of us all. We'll be trodden on like ants.

Nobody will believe you. They didn't believe the man who met

the Founder, nor the man who heard his voice and talked to

him; how can they believe a man he's sent one of his servants

to?

Uwayss said i n a new tone:

- Never mind what the stories say. Nobody saw the meeting

of Gebelaawi and Gebel, nor Gebelaawi and Rifaa. Those

accounts are handed down, but there were no witnesses. And

yet they brough t benefits to the people concerned, and Gebel's

sector became respectable, and so did Rifaa's. Our sector has

a right to the same thing, and why not? We're all descended

from that man who is hidden away in his Great House. But we

must handle the thing sensibly and carefully. Think of your

own sector, Qaasim; stop this talk of children and equality and

what's right and what's wrong. It' ll be easy to get Omnibus on

our side as he's your relative. We could make an agreement

with him to let us have a share of the revenue.

Qaasim scowled.

- Mr Uwayss, you're in a different world from us. I don't

want any bargain or any share o f the revenue. I 've set my heart

on carryi ng out our Ancestor's wishes as I was told them.

Zakaria groaned:

- Oh my God!

Qaasi m went on frowning. He thought of his times of

sadness and solitude, and of his conversations with his teacher

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Qaasim

Yahiaa. He thought of how relief had come to him through a

servant he had never met before, and of how new concerns

were appearing on the horizon. He thought of how Zakaria

was i nterested only in safety and Uwayss in the revenue. Life

would be good only when the horizon was faced, with all its

concerns. He sighed and said:

- Uncle, I had to begin by consulting you all, but I ' m not

going to ask anything of you.

Saadiq clasped him by the hand.

- I'm with you.

Hassan clenched his fist.

- I ' m with you too, in good times and bad.

Zakaria spoke sadly:

- Don 't be deceived by the words of these young men.

When the cudgels are lifted the bolt-holes will be fu ll of people

like them. And for whose sake are you risking death? There are

only ani mals and vermin in our Alley. You have the means to

live i n ease and luxury; be sensible and enjoy life.

Qaasi m wondered what the man was saying; it was as if he

were listening to some of his own thoughts: 'Your daughter,

your wife, your home, yourselfl But you've been chosen, as

Gebel and Rifaa were; let your answer be li ke theirs.' He said:

- I thought for a long time, Uncle; then I chose my path.

Uwayss struck his hands together in dismay and exclaimed:

- God Almighty! The strong will kill you and the weak will

mock you.

Qamar looked i n dismay from her own uncle to her

husband's, upset by Qaasi m's disappointment, and at the

same ti me afraid of the consequences if he persisted in his

views. She said to Uwayss:

- Uncle, you're the most important man round here; you

could use your influence to help him.

Uwayss was exasperated.

- What do you want, Qamar? You have your money and

your daughter and your husband; why should you care whether

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the Trust is shared out to everybody or kept by the strongmen?

We reckon that a man who aims to be a strongman is mad; what

do you think of somebody who aims to be trustee of the whole

Alley?

Qaasim was deeply hurt. He jumped up and said:

- I am not aiming at any such thing; I only want the good

that our Ancestor wants.

Uwayss tried to appease him with a forced smile.

- Where is this Ancestor? Let him come out, even if his

servants have to carry him, and let him put into effect the

Clauses of his Trust Deed as he wishes. Do you think anybody

in the Alley, however powerful, could look the Founder in the

eye if he spoke, or could raise a finger against him?

Zakaria added to this:

- And if the strongmen attack us, will he move an inch to

help us, or even care what happens to us?

Qaasim said miserably:

- I haven't insisted on anybody believing me or backing

me.

Zakaria went over to him and put his hand affectionately on

his shoulder.

- Qaasim, you've been touched by the Evil Eye. I know

these things. People have talked so much about your sense and

your good luck that the Evil Eye has got you. Pray to God to save

you from Satan. Realize that today you are one of the big men

in our sector; if you want, you can go i nto business with some

ofyourwife's money and enjoy great wealth. Give up your ideas

and be content with the goods and pleasures God has given

you.

Qaasim bowed his head in sorrow, then looked up at his

uncle and said with amazing conviction:

- I wouldn'tgive up my ideas even ifl was put in sole charge

of the whole Trust.

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Qaasim

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'What are you going to do? How long are you going to thin k

and wai t? And what are you waiting for? As long as your

relatives don ' t believe you, who ever will believe you? What's

the use of bei ng sad? What's the point of sitting alone at the

foot of Hind's Rock? The stars don 't answer, n or the darkness,

nor the moon. It seems you hope to meet the servant again; but

what do you expect from him that's new? You wander i n the

dark around the spot where it is said that your Ancestor met

Gebel. You stand for hours beneath the great wall in the place

where he is sai d to have spoken to Rifaa. But you have neither

seen him nor heard his voice, nor has his servant returned.

What are you going to do? That question will pursue you, as the

desert sun pursues the shepherd. All the time it will rob you of

your peace of mind, of the pleasure of good things. Gebel was

alone, like you, and yet he triumphed; and Rifaa knew his path

and followed it till he was killed, and then he triumphed. What

are you going to do?'

Qamar said to him reproachfully:

- You neglect your lovely baby badly. She cries and you

don 't comfort her; she plays and you don't play with her.

He smi led at the little face, and it consoled him for his

raging thoughts. He murmured:

- How sweet she is!

- Even when you're sitti ng with us, you're far away, as if we

no longer belonged to your world.

He moved closer to her on the sofa and kissed her cheek,

then covered the baby's face with kisses. He said:

- Don 't you see that I need your sympathy?

- You have my whole heart, with all the sympathy and love

it contai ns. But you must be merciful to yourself.

She handed him the li ttle girl and he hugged her and began