Children of Gebelaawi (71 page)

eaten you . (Then, after clearing his throat: ) That's enough

about Gebelaawi and Saadallah. Tell me about your weapon;

what is it?

He replied cunningly:

- A magic bottle.

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The Trustee looked at him suspiciously.

- Explai n !

Feeling for the first time a li ttle easier, Arafa said:

- Only magicians understand the language of magic.

- Won't you explain, even if I promise you safety?

Arafa laughed inwardly, but remained outwardly serious.

- I have only spoken the truth.

The man stared at the floor for a while, then looked up and

asked:

- Do you have many of them?

- I have none at the momen t.

The, Trustee ground his teeth and shouted:

- Child of vipers!

- Search my house and see for yourself.

- Coulci you make some more?

- Certainly.

The Trustee hugged himself with excitemen t.

- I want lots of them.

- You shall have as many as you want.

For the first time they exchanged understanding looks.

Arafa said boldly:

- Your Honor wishes to dispense with those damnable

strongmen?

With a strange glint in his eye, Qadri asked:

- Tell me what made you break into the Great House.

- Only curiosity. I didn 't mean to kill that faithful servant.

The Trustee stared at him suspiciously.

- You caused the death of the great man.

- I was heartbroken over that.

The Trustee shrugged his shoulders and said:

- If only we could live like him.

Arafa thcbught: 'You dreadful hypocrite ! You're only interested in the Trust. ' But he said:

- May God grant you a long life!

The Trustee still sou nded suspicious:

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- You really wen t just out of curiosity?

- Yes!

- An d why did you kill Saadallah?

- Because, like you, I wan t to get rid of the strongmen.

The Trustee smiled.

- They're a great evil.

Arafa thought: 'You only hate them because of the money

they take from the Trust, not because of their wickedness.' But

he said:

- You 're quite right, sir.

- You ' ll become richer than you ever dreamed.

Arafa said crafti ly:

- That's all I wanted.

- You needn 't bother to work for milliemes; you'll have all

your time to make magic for my defence, and whatever your

heart desires shall be yours.

1 0 6 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the sofa sat the three of them - Arafa describing what

had happened, and Awaatif and Hanash following his words

with anxious attention. Arafa finished by saying:

- We have no choice. Saadallah is not yet buried. It's either

accept or be destroyed !

Awaatif said:

- Or run away!

- There's no escape from his spies who are all around us.

- We shan 't be safe under his protection.

He ignored her words, and would have liked to ignore her

thought. He turned to Hanash and asked:

- Why don't you say something?

Hanash said sadly:

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- We came back to this Alley with simple, modest hopes.

You alone have to answer for the change that came about later

- for the high hopes we came to have. I was against your

ambition at first, but I didn't hesitate to help you. I began to

be convinced by your views, little by little, till my only hope was

the Alley's hope offreedom and perfection. Now you surprise

us with a new p lan by which we' ll become a terrible tool for

oppression - a tool that can 't be resisted or destroyed,

whereas a strongman can be fought or killed.

Awaatif said:

- An d after that there will be no safety for us; he may get

what he wants from you and then get rid of you by a trick, as he

is now preparing to do with the strongmen.

Deep down Arafa could not help agreeing with what they

said, but he spoke as if trying to persuade himself:

- I'll make him need my magic always.

Awaatif said:

- At best you' ll be his new strongman.

H anash backed her up:

- Yes, one whose weapon is a bottle i nstead ofa cudgel. And

remember how he feels about the strongmen; then you'll

know how he'll feel about you.

Arafa became angry.

- Well, well ! lt's as ifl was the greedy one and you were both

pure. But it's me that you came to believe in. I only spent my

nights awake in the back room and risked death twice for the

good of the Alley. If you don't want to accept what's being

forced on us, tell me what's to be done.

He gave them a look of angry defiance. Neither of them

spoke. Pai n was crushing him and he saw the world as a stifling

nightmare. He was overcome by a strange feeli ng that his

suffering was in revenge for his cruel trespass on his Ancestor.

His grief and anguish grew worse. Awaatifwhispered i n desperate entreaty:

- Let's run away.

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He asked angri ly:

- How?

- I don't know, but i t can 't be harder for you than getting

i nto Gebelaawi 's house.

He puffed.

- The Trustee iswaiting for us, and his spies are all around;

how could we possibly escape?

There was a silence li ke that ofGebelaawi's tomb. Arafa said

reproachfully:

- I don't want to bear failure alone.

Hanash said apologetically:

- We have no choice. (Then, brigh tly: ) The future may

bring a chance to escape.

Arafa said absen tly:

- Who knows!

I-Ie went to the back room, followed by Han ash . They began

packi ng glass and gravel and other i ngredients into bottles.

Arafa said:

- We must i nven t symbols for our magic procedures and

write them in a secret book so that our efforts don ' t risk getting

lost - and so that my death will not mean the end of the

experiments. Besides, I hope you 'll be ready to learn magic,

for we have no idea what fate has in store for us.

They wen t on worki ng with great care. Arafa glanced at his

companion and saw that he was scowling. He did not hide his

thoughts, but made the best of the strange situation.

- These bottles wi ll finish off the strongmen.

Hanash said, almost in a whisper:

- Not to our advantage nor that of the Alley.

Arafa spoke without pausi ng in his work:

- What has the rebec told you? In the past there were men

like Gebel, Rifaa and Qaasim; why shou ldn ' t such men come

in the fu ture?

1-Ianash sighed.

- I al most thought sometimes that you were one of them.

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Arafa laughed a short, dry laugh.

- Has my failure made you change your mind about that?

Hanash said nothing. Arafa went on:

- I shall never be like them from one point of view at least:

they had a following, but as for me, nobody understands me.

(He laughed. ) Qaasim could win a staunch follower by a single

kind word, but it will take me years and years to train one man

in mywork and make him i nto my follower. ( He finished filling

a bottle, put the cork in and held it up to the lamp admiringly. )

Today these just frighten people and cut their faces; tomorrow

they may kill. I tell you, there will be no end to magic.

1 0 7 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Who would be Strongman of the Alley? N o sooner had

Saadallah been laid in his grave than people began to wonder.

Each faction started pushing its own man. Gebel's people said

Yoosuf was the most powerful and the one most certai nly

related to Gebelaawi, and the Rifaaite's said they were the

followers of the finest person the Alley had ever known, the

man Gebelaawi had buried in his own house and with his own

hands. Qaasim's people said they were the ones who had used

victory not just for the benefit of their own sector, but for the

benefit of everyone, and that the Alley had been united in the

days of their hero and ruled by justice and brotherhood. As

usual, the differences began as whisperings over the hashish,

which spread and grew till people were preparing for the

worst. The strongmen stopped going about alone, and if they

stayed up late in a cafe or hashish den they were surrounded

by supporters armed with cudgels. Each bard prayed to the

sound of his rebec for the strongman of his sector. The

shopkeepers and peddlers scowled and looked gloomy, and

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people were so worried and afraid that they forgot about the

death ofGebelaawi and the murder ofSaadallah. U m Nabawia

the bean seller expressed the general feeling when she cried

out at the top of her voice:

- Damn this life ! Those who die are the lucky ones.

One evening a voice shouted from a roof in Gebel's sector:

- Listen, you people, and let reason judge between us and

you: Gebel's sector is the oldest and Gebel was the first of our

heroes, so it will disgrace nobody if you accept Yoosuf as

strongman.

Shouts of derision rang outfrom the Rifaaites and Qaasimites,

mixed with obscene i nsults and curses. In no time urchins had

gathered chanting:

Yoosuf with your lousy face i t's you,

You who fi nd a crazy thing to do!

People's hearts became still harder and blacker. The only

thing that put off disaster was that three factions were involved;

two would have to unite, or one must withdraw from the

competition. Inciden ts began happeni ng far from the Alley.

Two peddlers fought at Beit el-Qadi; one- a Qaasimite - lost

some teeth while the other - a Gebclite - lost an eye. At

Hammam e)-Sultan there was a battle between women from all

three factions, naked in the baths. They scratched and bit each

other and tore at each other's hair. The air was thick with flyi ng

jugs, pumice stones, luffas and pieces of soap. Two women

fainted and one had a miscarriage, and blood was everywhere.

Later the same day, after the amazons had trooped back to the

Alley, they resumed battle on the rooftops, and the sky was

fil led with missiles, and filthy insults flew up to the clouds.

The Truslcc sccretlysenta messenger to Yoosuf, Lhe Gebclite

strongman, asking him to come for a meeti ng without letting

anyone know. The Trustee received him graciously and asked

him to do somethi ng to calm people down in his sector,

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especially as i t was the one next to Trustee's House. When he

shook his hand to say goodbye, the Trustee said he hoped that,

the n ext time they met, Yoosuf would be Strongman of the

Alley. The man left intoxicated by the thought of this frank

support and believing power was i n his grasp. Soon he had

organized his people, and they whispered to one another

about the power and prestige that tomorrow held i n store for

them. The news got out to the rest ofthe Alley, and feelings ran

high. Not many days passed before Fisticuff and Harpstrings

met secretly and agreed to join forces to destroy Yoosuf and

then, after victory, to draw lots to become strongman.

Next day at dawn the men ofQaasim and Rifaa gathered and

attacked Gebel's sector. There was a fierce battle and Yoosuf

and many of his men were killed. The Gebelites submitted i n

despair to superior strength. The afternoon was chosen for

lots to be drawn as agreed, and at the appointed hour the

Qaasi mite and Rifaaite men and women hurried to the top of

the Alley, filling the area between Trustee's House and

Strongman 's House, which would belong to the wi nner of the

draw. Harpstrings and Fisticuff arrived, each with his gang,

and greeted each other amicably and peacefully. They embraced i n front of everyone, and Fisticuff said i n a voice that all could hear:

- You and I are brothers and we'll remain brothers what-

ever happens.

Harpstrings said with enthusiasm:

- Always!

The two factions stood opposite one another, separated by

a space i n front of the entrance of the Great House. Two men

came forward, one from each side, with a basket full of paper

bags. They pu t it down in the space and retreated, each to his

own people. It was announced that the hammer was Fisticuffs

symbol and the cleaver Harpstrings', and that models of each

were equally divided between the bags. A young man was led

blindfold to the basket to make the draw. In the tense silence

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he dipped in his hand and pulled out a paper bag. Still

blin dfold, he opened it, took out its content and held it up.

The Qaasimites shouted:

- The cleaver! The cleaver!

Harpstrings stretched his hand out to Fisticuff who took and

squeezed it, grinning. There were excited shouts of:

- Long live Harpstrings, Strongman of the Alley!

From the ranks of the Rifaaites a man came towards