Children of Gebelaawi (55 page)

servility to hide their anger and they stayed away from the

wake, skulki ng in their shops or by their barrows or sitting on

the ground. Later in the morning the bier was carried out,

followed only by the family and close relatives, and by Qaasim,

who ignored the strongman's furious looks. The widow's

brother was angry and said to Qaasim:

- You kill the man and then attend his funeral !

He bore this i n silence till someone else asked harshly:

- Why did you come?

He answered firmly:

- To fight on as my friend fought, God rest his soul! He was

brave. You're not like him; you know who killed him but you

ven t your anger on me.

Most of them fell silent. The women gathered together

behind the men, hurrying along with bare feet, dressed i n

black, pouring dust o n their heads and beating their cheeks.

The funeral passed through Gemalia towards Bab ei-Nasr.

When the burial ceremony was over the mourners all left,

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except that Qaasim walked slowly till he was separated from

them and then returned to the grave to find his friends waiti ng

for him. His eyes swam with tears and they all began to cry.

Qaasi m wiped his eyes and said:

- Anybody who wants safety had better leave.

Hamroosh said:

- Ifwe had wanted to be safe, you wouldn't have found us

around you.

Qaasi m put his hand on the tombstone.

- I'm very sad to lose him. He was brave and enthusiastic,

and he's gone just when we need him most.

Saadiq sai d:

- He was kil led by a treacherous strongman . Some ofuswill

live to sec the death of the last strongman i n our Alley.

Hamroosh said:

- Bu t we mustn't get caught by treachery as our friend was.

We must think about tomorrow, and how we can win our

victory, and how we can meet to exchange views.

Qaasi m said:

- Thi nking about that has been my on ly consolation in my

imprisonment. I've come to a conclusion; not an easy one, but

there is no escaping i t.

They clamored to hear it. He went on:

- Leave our Alley! Each of us must make his arrangements

and leave. We shall move out as Gebel did long ago, and as

Yahiaa did more recently. We must set up in some safe place i n

the desert till we have built up our strength and our numbers.

Saadiq exclai med:

- That's the answer.

- We can rid the Alley of strongmen only by force, and we

can carry out the Founder's conditions only by force, and

justice and mercy and peace can reign only by force. Our force

won't be tyrannical; it wi ll be the first just force.

They listened eagerly, gazing at Qaasi m and at the tomb

behind him, and it seemed to them as if Shaabaan were

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listening too and giving them his blessing. Bullrush said with

feeling:

- Yes ! The problems will be solved by force; by just, not

unjust force, Shaabaan was on his way to you when Omnibus

met him; if we'd been with him the brute would have met a

force he couldn't easily have overcome. Damn fear and division!

Qaasi m heaved a sigh of relief and pleasure.

- Our Ancestor has put his trust in us, certainly believing

that some of his children are worthy of it.

8 1 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Qaasi m came home in the middle of the night, but he found

Qamar awake waiting for him. Her concern and sympathy for

him were even greater than usual. He was sorry that she had

stayed awake till such an hour. Then he detected weakness i n

her eyes and the redness that follows weeping as twilight

follows sunset. He asked anxiously:

- Have you been crying?

She did not answer, as though too busy with the mug of

warm milk she was preparing for him. He spoke again:

- We 're all unhappy about the death ofShaabaan, God rest

his soul!

She immediately responded:

- I was crying for Shaabaan before, but then I cried at that

man's hatred for you; you're the last man to deserve to have

dirt poured over his head.

- That's nothing compared to what happened to our poor

friend.

She sat down beside him, handed him the mug of milk, and

murmured:

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Qaasim

- And I ' m upset by what they say about you.

He smiled, pretending to make little of i t, and raised the

mug to his lips. She went on indignantly:

- Bruiser tells Gebel's people you want the Trust all to

yourself, and Pilgrim Grim says the same to Rifaa's people, and

they spread it around that you're beneath Gebel and Rifaa.

He did not hide his grief.

- 1 know; and I also know that but foryou I wouldn ' t be alive

today.

She caressed his shoulder tenderly, and began for no reason

thinking of bygone days of endless conversation and happiness, the luminous nights of joy after I hsaan was born. And now she did not possess any of him; indeed, he did not possess

himself. She even concealed from him the pains of illness,

which troubled her from ti me to time; he did not think about

himself, so how cou ld she trouble him with her problems? She

was afraid of adding to his burden and helping his enemies

wi thout meaning to. Who cou ld assure her of him when life

might soon be over just as the easy days were over? God forgive

you, old Alley! Qaasim said:

- I haven't lost hope, even at this dark hour. What a lot of

good friends I have, even ifl seem alone ! One of them defied

Omnibus; and who would have dared do that before? The

others are like him, and courage is what our Alley needs most

if it isn 't to live for ever u nder tyranny. Don ' t advise me to play

safe; the dead man was killed on his way to my house, and you

wouldn't wan t your husband to be a mean coward.

Qamar smiled, taking back the empty mug. She said:

- The strongmen's wives screech with joy over battles,

which are evil; how could I rejoice less over what is good?

He realized that she was more u nhappy than she seemed.

He stroked her cheek and comforted her.

- You 're everything in the world to me, you're the best

companion in life.

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She smiled, i nvi ting back the peace of mind needed for

sleep.

Shantah the tin ner was amazed by the disappearance of

Saadiq. He visited his home but found no trace of him or his

family. In the same way Abdul Fattaah, the dried-fish merchant, cou ld find no sign of his man Bullrush. Wagtail stopped going to Hamdoon's nut stall without giving any notice. And

where was Hamroosh? Hasoona the baker said he had disappeared as if the flames of the oven had devoured him. Others vanished too. The news was all over the Desert Rats' sector and

i ts echo reached the rest of the Alley. People i n Gebel's sector

and Rifaa's said scornfully that the Desert Rats were all leaving

and that Omnibus would soon find no one to pay him protection money. Omnibus summoned Zakaria to Freewheeler's cafe and said menacingly:

- Your nephew would be the best person to tell us the secret

of the disappearances.

- Omnibus, my dear sir, don 't blame him. The man hasn 't

left his house for days ... weeks . . . months!

The strongman roared:

- Child's play! But I 've sent for you to warn you what may

happen to your nephew.

- Qaasi m is your own flesh and blood. Don't do anything

that will please his enemies!

- He's his own enemy as well as mine. He thinks he's the

Gebel of today. This damned nonsense is the quickest way to

a grave at Bab ai-Nasr.

- Steady on, my dear Omnibus; we're all under your

protection.

When Zakaria returned home he met Hassan coming back

from Qaasi m 's house, and he vented on him the fury with

which Omnibus had filled him, but Hassan cut him short,

saying:

- Calm down, Father! Qamar is ill, very ill.

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Qaasim

All the Alley learnt ofQamar' s illness, even Trustee's House.

Qaasim stayed beside her, overcome with sorrow. He kept

shaking his head hopelessly and saying:

- All of a sudden you lie down helpless.

She said i n a weak voice:

- I was hiding my state of health from you to spare you, with

all your other worries.

- I should have shared your suffering from the begin ning.

Her pale lips parted i n a faded smile.

- My health will come back.

That was what he was praying for. But what was this mist that

covered her eyes? Why was her face so drai ned? What was this

power of concealing pain? 'All this is because of you. Oh God

watch over her with your mercy! Preserve her for me, and have

pity on the baby's constant tears. '

- Your forgiveness for m e makes it that I can't forgive

myself.

She smiled again, almost reproachfully.

Urn Saalim was brought to burn incense for her, and Urn

Atia to mix her some ointments, and Ibrahim the barber to cup

her, bu t Qamar seemed to resist all remedies. Qaasim told her:

- I wish I cou ld bear your pain for you.

Her reply was hardly audible:

- May no harm touch you ! Dearest of men!

He said to hi mself: 'The sigh t of her makes the whole world

look dark in my eyes. ' She spoke again:

- Thinking people like you are the hardest to comfort.

Some men and women came to visit her, but he felt oppressed and retreated to the roof. He could hear the women's voices from the wi ndows of the tenement-houses, and the

curses and street-cries from the road. He heard crying too, and

though t at first that it was lhsaan, till he saw a child rolling in

the dust on the next roof. Darkness was falling slowly, and a

flock of pigeons flew back to their loft. A solitary star twinkled

on the horizon. He wondered about the meaning of the

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strange look i n Qamar's eyes, as if she could not see, of the

twitching at the corner of her mouth, of the blueness of her

lips, and of his own feelings of depression. He stayed several

hours and then went down. He met Sakeena canying lhsaan

in the hall, and she whispered to him: 'Go in quietly so as not

to wake her. ' He threw himself down on the sofa opposite the

bed, in the feeble light of the lamp on the window ledge. The

only sound from outside was the wail of the rebec. Then Taza

the bard began:

His grandfather said quietly:

- I've decided to give you a chance that has not been

offered to anybody else from outside. It is that you should live

in this house and marry in it and begin a new life here.

Humaam's heart raced, dru nk with joy. He said:

- Thank you for your kindness.

- You deserve i t.

The boy looked from his grandfather to the carpet, then

asked anxiously:

- And my family?

Gebelaawi said reproachfully:

- I've said quite c learly what I want.

Humaam implored him:

- They deserve your mercy and forgiveness.

The sleeping woman started and woke. Qaasim jumped

over the sofa to reach her. He saw a new brilliance in her eyes

i n p lace of the misty look. He asked what was wrong and she

called out in a loud voice:

- lhsaan ! Where's I hsaan?

He hurried out and came back followed by Sakeena carrying the sleeping baby. Qamar pointed at Ihsaan and Sakeena brought her so that she could kiss the child's cheek, while

Qaasim sat on the edge of the bed. She looked at him and

whispered:

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Qaasim

- It's even worse.

- What do you mean?

- I've caused you much pain, but it's even worse.

He bit his lip, then said:

- Qamar, I'm so sad not being able to take away your pain.

- I'm afraid for you after I'm gone.

- Don ' t talk about me.

- Qaasim, go and join your friends; they'll kill you if you

stay.

- We shall go together.

She struggled to say:

- It's not the same road.