Children of Gebelaawi (39 page)

forgotten her gratitude. She threw the sash off her shoulders

and eyed him seductively. He said:

- You 'll be the first to find happiness.

- Yes i ndeed! I have some wine.

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-I drank a little at supper. It was enough.

She thought for a while, bewildered, then said:

-I have some good hashish.

-I tried it, and found I couldn't take it.

She said with amusement:

-Your father's a real dope-head. I once saw him coming

out of a session at Blubberlips', and he couldn't tell night from

day!

He smiled and said nothing. She turned her eyes away in

defeat,jumpcd up and went to the door, bursting with anger,

then came back and stood under the lamp. Her lovely body was

visible through her thin dress. She looked into his peaceful

eyes till despair overcame her.

-Why did you save me?

-I can't bear anybody to suffer.

She was furious.

-Because of that you married me? Just because of that?

-Don't go back to the days of anger.

She bit her lip and said in a low voice:

-I thought you loved me.

He said simply and sincerely:

-I do love you, Jasmine.

Her eyes filled with amazement, and she murmured:

-Really?

-There's no creature in this Alley that I don't love.

She groaned and stared at him doubtfully.

-I understand. You'll stay with me a few months and then

divorce me.

His eyes widened. He muttered:

-Don't go back to the old thoughts.

-You bewilder me. What can you give me?

-True happiness.

She said resentfully:

-I sometimes enjoyed that before ever I saw you.

-There's no happiness without honor.

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She laughed in spite of herself:

- It will take more than honor to make us happy.

He said sadly:

- Nobody in our sector knows real happiness.

She took a few slow steps towards the bed and sat down

listlessly on its edge. He looked at her affectionately:

- You 're like all the people in our sector; you only think of

the lost Trust.

Her face was ful l of resentment.

- God help me to understand your riddles.

- They'll solve themselves when you 're rid of your unclean

spirit.

She shouted:

- I like myself as I am!

- That's how Dungbeetle and the others speak.

She puffed.

- Are we goi ng to go on talking like this till morning?

- Go to sleep ! Sweet dreams!

She moved further on to the bed and lay on her back,

looki ng from his eyes to the space beside her and back again.

He said:

- You can settle down. I'll sleep on the sofa.

She had a fit of giggles, but not for long. She said sarcastically:

- I'm afraid your mother will come tomorrow to warn you

against overdoing it!

She looked at him to enjoy the revenge of seeing him

embarrassed; but he looked at her with calm, pure eyes and

said:

- I'd love to set you free from your u nclean spirit.

She shouted:

- Leave women 's work to women.

And she turned her face to the wall, her heart burning with

anger and dismay. Rifaa stood up, turned down the wick of the

lamp and put it out. Darkness fell.

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Rifaa

5 3 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The days that followed the wedding saw Rifaa's life full of

ceaseless activi ty. He more or less stopped going to the shop,

and but for his father's love and sympathy he would have had

nothing to live on. He began calling on all he met of Gebel's

people to put their trust in him, so that he could deliver them

from their spirits and enable them to enjoy undreamed of

happiness. Gebel's people whispered that Shaafiy's son Rifaa

was wrong in the head and must be counted a lunatic. Some

said it was because of his natural eccentricity, while others

attributed it to his having married a woman like Jasmine. Such

discussions went on in the cafes and tenement-houses, around

the barrows and in the hashish dens.

Mother-at-Heart was astounded when Rifaa whispered i n

her ear wi th his usual gentleness:

- Won't you let me cure you?

She clapped her hand to her heart and said:

- Who says I'm possessed by an evil spirit? Is that what you

thi nk of the woman who's loved you like a son?

- I only offer my services to people I love and respect. You

do good and bring blessings; but you're a bit greedy, and so

you make a trade of sick people. If you were delivered from

your ruling spirit you 'd do good free of charge.

She couldn't help laughing as she said:

- Do you want to ruin me? God help you, Rifaa!

Mother-at-Heart's story was passed round amid laughter.

Even Shaafiy laughed, though without joy, but Rifaa said to

him:

- Even you need my treatment, Father; it's my duty as a son

to start with you.

Shaafiy shook his head gloomily and hammered the nails i n

front of him wi th a ferocity that betrayed his distress.

- God give me patience!

Rifaa tried to persuade him, but he said miserably:

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- lsn 't it enough for you to have made us the talk of the

sector?

Rifaa went away into a corner of the shop, dejected. Shaafiy

looked at him suspiciously.

- Have you really given your wife the same i nvitation as

you've given me?

- And she like you does not want happiness.

Rifaa went to Blubber lips' hashish den in the ruins behind

the cafe. He found Blubberlips, Hijaazi, Brahoom, Farhaat,

Hanoora and Zaytoona round the brazier. They looked at him

queerly and Blubberlips said:

- Welcome, son of Shaafiy; has marriage shown you the

value of hashish?

Rifaa put down a packet of honey cakes on the table and said

as he sat down:

- I've brought you this in honor of the company.

Blubbcrlips passed round the hookah, saying:

- Thank you for your generosity.

But Brahoom laughed and said unkindly:

- The next thing will be that Master ' Up-in-the-Air' Rifaa

wi ll offer to cure us of our devils.

Zaytoona glared at Rifaa with hatred and snarled in his nasal

voice:

- Your wife is possessed by a devil called Bayoomi; free her

from him if you can.

The men looked embarrassed at this rudeness. Zaytoona

pointed to his squashed nose:

- Because of him I had my nose broken.

Rifaa seemed not to be angry. Farhaat looked at him sadly

and said:

- Your father's a good man and a wonderful carpenter. But

you're giving him no end of trouble with this behavior of yours.

The man 's scarcely got over your marriage when you march

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out of his shop to free people from devils. May God restore you

to health !

- I'm not ill. All I want is your happiness.

Zaytoona inhaled a long puff and held it, glaring at him,

then spoke as he breathed out the smoke:

- Who told you we aren't happy, Master Up-in-the-Air?

- Our Ancestor wants something different for us.

Farhaat guffawed.

- Leave our Ancestor out of it! How do you know he hasn 't

forgotten us?

Zaytoona fixed Rifaa with a look of hatred and anger, bu t

Hijaazi gave him a warning prod.

- You must respect the company and not be unfriendly.

He wanted to change the atmosphere, nodded his head and

gave his friends a signal. They sang:

Here is the boat - bringing my lover.

Trai ling her hair - over the water.

Rifaa left, followed by pitying looks, and went home dejected.Jasmi ne met him wi th a peaceful smile. At first she had scolded him for his behavior, which had made a laughing stock

of them both. But she had given up in despair, and bore this

life patiently, though she did not know where it might lead,

and she even treated him kindly and gen tly.

There was a knock at the door, and there stood Dungbeetle.

He came in uninvited, and Rifaa rose to greet him, but the

strongman seized his shoulder with a grip like that of a dog's

jaws. He asked Rifaa without any preli minaries:

- What did you say about the Founder at Blubberlips'

hashish den?

Jasmi ne went pale with fear, but Rifaa spoke cal mly, though

he was like a sparrow in the talons of an eagle:

- I said our Ancestor wants our happi ness.

He shook him violently.

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- How do you know that?

- It's one of the things he said to Gebel.

The hand gripped his shoulder still tighter:

- He talked to Gebel about the Trust.

Rifaa was drained by the effort of bearing the pain.

- The Trust doesn't concern me at all. The happiness that

I 've so far been u nable to give anybody doesn't come from the

Trust or drink or hashish. I 've said that all over Gebel's sector,

and everybody's heard me say it.

He shook him again and said:

- Your father was a rebel and then thought better of i t.

Mind you don't go his way, or I 'll squash you like a bedbug.

He pushed him backwards on to the sofa and left. Jasmine

hurried over to comfort Rifaa. He was bending his head over

his aching shou lder, and she rubbed it. He seemed almost in

a daze, and murmured as if to himself:

- It was my grandfather's voice that I heard.

She looked into his face with alarm and anxiety, and

wondered whether he was right out of his mind. She did not

mention to him again what he had said. Fear such as she had

never known gripped her.

One day Rifaa went out, and a woman who was not one of

Gebel's people stood in his path and greeted him warmly:

- Good morning, Mr Rifaa, sir!

He was amazed at the tone of respect in her voice and at the

way she called him 'sir'. He asked her:

- What do you want?

She beseeched him:

I have a son who's possessed. I hope you can cure him.

-

Like all Gebel's people he looked down on the others i n the

Alley, and he was unwilling to pu t himself at her service lest his

people should despise him still more. He said:

- Isn't there an exorcist down the Alley?

She almost cried as she said:

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Rifaa

- Yes, but I'm a poor woman.

His heart warmed to her and he rejoiced at her having come

for help to him - to him who met with nothing but scorn and

mockery from his own people. He looked at her, his mind

made up, and said:

- I'm at your service.

5 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jasmi ne was looking down from her window on the Alley,

enjoyi ng her new view. Urchins played in front of the tenemen t-house and a woman was crying her wares of palm nuts, while Melon head had a man by the collar and was punching

him in the face. The man tried to placate him, but i n vain.

Rifaa, who sat on the sofa cu tting his toenails, asked her:

- Do you like our new home?

She turned to face him:

- Here we have the Alley below us; there we used to see only

the dark passage.

- If only the passage had remai ned ours! It was a blessed

place, for in it Gebel won his victory over his enemies. But i t

wasn't possible to slay o n wiLh people who mocked u s a t every

step. But here the poor people are good. And good people, not

Gebel's people, are the real lords.

- I 've hated them ever since they decided to persecute me.

He smiled.

- So why do you tell the neighbors you're one of Gebel's

people?

She laughed, showing her pearly t�;eth, and said proudly:

- So that they' ll know I'm above them all.

He put Lhe scissors down on the sofa and set his feet on the

rush matting, saying:

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- You 'll be a better person when you conquer vanity.

Gebel's people are not the best in the Alley; the best are those

who do most good. I used to make the same mistake as you, and

paid attention only to Gebel's people. But the only ones who

deserve happiness are those who seek it sincerely. Look at the

way the good accept me and are cured of evil spirits.

- But everybody here works for wages except you.

- Ifitwasn ' t for me, the poor wouldn't have found anybody

to heal them. They can be cured, but they can 't pay the price.

I didn't have any real friends before I knew them.

She refused to argue and looked resentful. Rifaa said:

- If only you 'd submit to me as they do ! Then I cou ld cure

you of wh at spoils the joy of life.

- Do you find me that annoying?

- Some people love a devil without realizing it.

She shouted indignantly:

- How I hate this talk!

He smiled:

- You're one of Gebel 's people, and all of them refused to

submit to my healing, even my own father.

A knock at the door announced the arrival of a new patient