Children of Gebelaawi (22 page)

Gebel

room, where he found his wife standing, a scowl on her face.

She said:

- A strange business, with worse to come ! It'll be the talk of

the whole Alley. If we don' t take it seriously it'll be goodbye to

us.

The Effendi said wi th disgust:

- Scum and chi ldren of scum! And they want the Trust!

Who can know his origin in an Alley like a beehive?

- Have a showdown. Call Thudclub and arrange things. He

takes a share of the revenue of the Trust without doing

anything in exchange; let him earn the money he's stolen.

The Effendi gave her a long look, then asked:

- And Gebel?

She said confidently:

- Gebel! He's our foster child - my son. He knows no

home but ours. As for l l amdaan 's people, he doesn 't know

them, and they don ' t know him. And if they counted him as

one of them, that wou ld only attach him still more to us. I ' m

sure of him. He'II b e back from his round o f the tenants i n time

for a meeting.

Thudclub came at the Trustee's request. He was of middle

height, stocky and strongly built, with coarse, ugly features and

scars on his neck and chin. They sat down conspiratorially and

Thudclub said:

- I've heard bad news.

Hudaa sai d angri ly:

- Bad news travels fast.

The Effendi looked crafti ly at Thudclub.

- We're as worried as you are.

Thudclub bellowed:

- Some time has passed since we used our cudgels or shed

any blood.

Hudaa smiled and said:

- What an arrogant lot, these people of Hamdaan ! They

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haven't produced a si ngle strongman and yet the lowest of

them thinks he's lord of the Alley.

Thudclub said wi th disgust:

- Peddlers and beggars! A spineless people will never

produce a strongman.

The Effendi asked:

- An d what's to be done, Thudclub?

- I'll crush them like cockroaches.

Gebel heard Thudclub's words as he entered the hall. He

was red in the face after his tour in the desert. Youthfu l energy

pulsed i n h is tall, powerful body and i n his face with its strongly

marked features, especially his straight nose and his big,

i ntelligen t eyes. He greeted the company politely and began

saying something about the tenancies that he had been deali ng with, but Hudaa cut him short, saying:

- Sit down, Gebel. We've been waiti ng for you because of

something terribly im portant.

Gebel sat down, his eyes reflecting the anguish i n hers. She

said:

- I think you can guess what's worrying us.

He said quietly:

- Everybody outside is talki ng about i t.

She looked at her husband.

- You hear that? Everybody is waiting for our answer.

Thudclub's face grew still uglier.

- A fire that can be put out wi th a handful of sand ! I wan t

to get o n wi th the job.

Hudaa turned to Gebel.

- Have you anything to say, Gebel?

He looked at the floor to hide his distress.

- It's your problem and your solution.

- I need to know what you think.

He thought for a long ti me, conscious of the Effendi 's hard

stare and Thudclub's angry gaze, then he said:

- I have the good fortu ne to be your foster son, but I don't

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Gebel

know what to say. ltsjust that I'm one of Hamdaan's people.

Hudaa said sharply:

- Why do you mention Hamdaan when you have neither a

father nor a mother nor any relations among them?

The Effendi let ou t a grun t of scorn like a stifled laugh, bu t

said nothi ng. Gebel's face showed that h e was suffering real

pain, bu t he answered:

- My father and mother belonged to them; you can ' t deny

it.

Hudaa sai d:

- What vain hopes I had of my son !

- God forbid! Muqattam itself couldn 't change my devo-

tion to you. But denyi ng the truth doesn't change it.

The Effendi stood up, his patience exhausted, and said to

Thudclub:

- Don ' t waste your time listening to this rubbish !

Thudclub stood up, grin ning, but Hudaa said to him,

glancing secretly at Gebel:

- Don't be unreasonable, Thudclub, my dear sir; we want

them disciplined, noL destroyed.

Thudclub left the hall, and the Effendi gave Gebel a re-

proachful look and as ked sarcastically:

- So you 're one or 1-Iamdaan 's people, Gebel?

Gebel was silent, and Hudaa had pity on him and said:

- In his heart he's wi th us, but it was too hard for him to

deny his origins in front of Thudclub.

Gebel said wi th feeli ng:

-They are wretched, although they have the noblest origi n

of anybody i n the Alley.

The Effendi yelled:

- An alley wiLh ou L any origi ns !

Gebel said earnestly:

- We are the children of Ad ham, and our Ancestor - God

preserve him - is sLill alive.

The Effendi asked:

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- Who can be sure that he's the son of his father? There's

no harm i n a man sayi ng he is from time to time, but i t's no

excuse to rob others of their wealth.

Hudaa said:

- We mean them no harm as long as they don ' t have

designs on our property.

The Effendi wanted to end the conversation, and said to

Gebel:

- Get back to work, and don' t bother your head with

anythi ng else.

Gebel left the drawi ng room and went to the Trust office i n

the garden house. H e had to record i n the ledgers the number

of tenancies and to check the totals for the month. But his grief

distracted him. It was strange that Hamdaan's people did not

like him. He knew this, and remembered how coldly he had

been received in Hamdaan 's cafe the few times he had gone

there. In spite of that, he was upset by the trouble that was

being prepared for them; he would have loved to protect

them, if he had not been afraid of displeasing the home that

had adopted him, shel tered him and brought him up. What

would have become of him if Lady Hudaa had not given him

her love? Twenty years ago she had seen a naked child splashi ng about in a pool of rai nwater and had been charmed by the sight. Being childless, she had been strongly attracted to him

and had sent someone to bring him to her, and he had come,

crying and afraid. She had inquired about him and learnt that

he was an orphan looked after by a woman who sold chickens.

Hudaa had sent for her and asked to be allowed to have the

child - an opportunity that the woman had been only too

happy to seize.

Thus Gebel had grown up in the home of the Trustee,

under whose protection he had enjoyed more motherly love

than any other child in the Alley. He had gone to school and

learnt to read and write, and when he had reached manhood,

the Effendi had put him in charge of the Trust. Wherever

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Gebel

there was Trust property they called him 'your Honor', and

looks of respect and admiration followed him wherever he

went. Life had seemed friendly and full of the promise of

happiness till Hamdaan's people rebelled. Now Gebel found

he was not one person, as he had always supposed, but two, one

loyal to his mother, the other asking in dismay: 'And what

about 1-Iamdaan 's peop le? '

2 8 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The rebec tuned up for the story of Humaam's death at the

hand of Qadri . All eyes turned to Radwaan the bard with a

mixture of in terest and anxiety. Tonight was not like other

nights; it concluded a day of revolt, and Hamdaan's people

were asking themselves whether it would end peacefully.

Darkness enfolded the Al ley. Even the stars were hidden

behind autumn clouds, and no light showed except the glow

from shuttered wi ndows and from a few barrows, round whose

lanterns noisy urchins clustered like moths. Henna spread a

sack on the ground in front of one of the tenement-houses i n

Hamdaan 's sector and sang: 'At the gate of our Alley stands

Hassan's cafe.'

There was caterwau ling from tomcats as they scrapped over

food or females. The bard's voice grew louder as he told how

Adham shouted in Qadri's face: 'What have you done to your

brother? 'just at that moment Thudclub appeared i n the circle

of light cast by the lamp of the cafe, as suddenly as if the

darkness had been torn open to reveal him. He looked sinister

and threatening, ready to hate and be hated. His eyes sparkled

wi th malice and he gripped his terrible cudgel. He glared

down at the people sitti ng in the cafe as if they were insects.

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Children of Gebelaawi

The words died i n the throat of the bard, and Dumpling and

Mulehead were roused from their stupor. Digger a n d

Lamplighter Ali stopped whispering and Abdoon ceased running to and fro. As for Hamdaan, his fist tightened on the tube of the narghile. There was a deathly hush.

There followed a flurry of movement. The clients who were

not Hamdaan's people left hastily. The strongmen of the

various sectors arrived - Qidra, Lionheart, Quicksilver,

Barakaat and 1-Iamooda - and lined up behind Thudclub.

The news spread quickly, as if a house had collapsed. Windows

were flung open, urchins came running, and people were torn

between anxiety and sadistic pleasure. Hamdaan was the first

to break the silence. He stood up to receive them.

-Welcome Thudclub, my dear sir, Strongman of our Alley!

Please sit down !

Thudclub ignored him as though he neither heard nor saw

him, but went on glancing cruelly around; then he asked

roughly:

- Who's the strongman of this sector?

Hamdaan answered, though the question was not addressed

to him:

- Our strongman is Qidra.

Thudclub turned to Qidra and asked sarcastically:

- Are you the protector of Hamdaan's people?

Qidra stepped forward - a short, squat man wi th a quarrel-

some face.

I protect them agai nst everybody except you, chief.

-

Thudclub smi led grimly.

- Cou ldn' t you find anythi ng better than the women's

sector to protect?

He shouted into the cafe:

- You women, you bastards; don't you realize that the Alley

has a Strongman?

Hamdaan spoke, his face drained of color:

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Gebel

- Thudclub, my dear sir, there's nothing but goodwill

between us and you.

Thudclub yelled:

- Shut up, you scabby old fool ! You lick my boots now? After

the way you attacked your masters !

Hamdaan spoke i n an agonized voice:

- There was no allack at all; it was a complain t that we

brough t to his Honor the Trustee.

Thudclub shouted:

- You hear what the bastard says? Hamdaan, you stink.

Have you forgotten what your mother used to do? By God, not

one of you will walk safely i n this Alley till he has shouted at the

top of his voice: 'I'm a woman '.

He lifted his cudgel quickly and brought it down hard on

the counter, scattering cups, mugs and spoons, ti ns of coffee,

tea, sugar, cinnamon and ginger, teapots and coffee jugs ...

Abdoon sprang back, bumped into a table and fell over with it.

Thudclub aimed a sudden blow at Hamdaan 's face; the man

lost his balance and fell sideways on to the narghi le, smashing

i t. Thudclub lifted his cudgel again, shouting:

- There's no cri me without punishment, you bastards!

Digger took a chair and hurled it at the big lamp, which

smashed, plu nging the cafe into darkness just before the

cudgel crashed down on the large mirror behind the counter.

Henna screamed and the women of Hamdaan echoed her cry

from their windows and doorways. It was as ifa gigantic dog was

howling in pai n. Thudclub went berserk and let fly in every

direction, hi tti ng people, walls, chairs. Screams, groans, shouts

for help followed, wave upon wave. Ghostly figures fled i n all

directions, falling over one another. Thudclub thundered:

- Everybody is under house arrest!

They all hurried to carry out the order, whether they were

Hamdaan's people or not. There was a stampede. Lionheart

brought a lamp, and its light revealed Thudclub surrounded

by the other strongmen in the deserted Alley, where all that

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could be heard was the wailing of women. Barakaat spoke,

laying on the flattery:

- Save yourse If for more important things, chief; we'll deal

with these cockroaches.

Quicksi lver said:

- If you wanted, we' d make Hamdaan 's people into dust

for your horse to trample on.

Qidra, strongman of Hamdaan 's sector, said:

- If you ask me to Leach them a lesson it will be an honor

to serve you, chief.

Henna's voice came from behind a door:

- Damn the tyrant!