Naguib Mahfouz - Midaq Alley (Chapter 26) lyrics

Chapter 26 She opened her eyes, reddened by sleep, and beheld a dazzlingly white ceiling from the center of which hung a brilliant electric light bulb contained in a large red sphere of translucent crys­tal. The astonishment with which her eyes filled lasted only a second before the memories of the night before flooded into her head, the memories of her new life. Her eyes turned toward the door and found that it was closed. Then she noticed the key on a table near the bed, where she had left it the day before. She had imposed her will and slept on her own, and he had spent the night alone in the outside room. Her mouth opened in a smile and she pushed the luxurious covers, beside whose velvets and silks her dress appeared humiliated and embarra**ed, off her chest. What a chasm separated her from her past! The closed windows admitted shafts of sunlight that lit the room with a pale, dull colofrom which she deduced that it was late morning. She was not, however, surprised to have woken up so late, for insomnia had kept her awake until a little before dawn. Hearing a light knock on the door, she turned to face it in alarm, her eyes fastened on it while she remained unmoving and unspeaking. Then she got out of bed, went over to the washstand, and stood before its mirrors dumbstruck and at a loss as to what to do. When the knocking repeated itself with palpable force, she called out, "Who is it?" and his deep voice came to her saying, "Good morning! Would you mind opening the door?" A look in the mirror showed her that her hair was tousled, her eyes reddened, her lids drooping. Dear God, was there no water for her to wash her face with? Couldn't he wait till she'd had time to get ready to receive him? He started knocking on the door again in alarm, but she paid no attention to him, recalling how upset she'd been the first time he'd waylaid her on Darrasa Road and how she'd had to face him on a day when she'd forgotten to make herself up. Today, she was even more scared, no doubt about that. She noticed bottles of perfume set out on the washstand but it was the first time in her life that she'd seen such things and in her quandary it never occurred to her to use them. She picked up an ivory comb and did her hair in a rush and a tizzy, wiped her face with the edge of her dress, cast another glance at the mirroand gave an angry and anxious sigh. Then she took the key and went toward the door, and, as though fed up with her own concern, shrugged her shoulders disrnissively and opened it. They found them­ selves face to face. He gave her a sweet smile and said very gently, "Good morning, Titi! Why have you neglected me so long? Do you want to spend all your time away from me?" She moved away from him without saying a word, but he followed her closely, the smile never leaving his lips. Then he asked her, "Why don't you say something, Titi?" Titi! Was that supposed to be some kind of a pet name? Her mother used to call her Hamadmad when she wanted to make a fuss of her, but what was this 'Titi'? She stared at him with distaste and murmured, "Titi?" "It's your new name," he said, taking her hands between his and covering them in kisses. "Memorize it and forget Hamida because she doesn't exist any more. A name isn't just something silly that doesn't matter, my darling. In fact, it's everything. The world, I'd have you know, is nothing but names." She understood that he viewed her name as being, like her worn­ out clothes, something that he had to strip off her and deposit in the graveyard of oblivion, and she could see nothing wrong with that. It wouldn't do to be hailed on Sherif Pasha Street by the same name as in the alley, and, moreover, she felt deeply, despite certain misgivings and worries, that the ties that bound her to the past had been severed forever, so why should she keep the same name? In fact, she wished she could also swap her hands for new, beautiful hands like his and trade in her voice, whose loud tones had become so coarse as to be downright rude and ugly, for a sweet, delicate one. Why, though, had he chosen that strange name, she wondered, and she couldn't stop herself from asking disparagingly, "It's a weird name. It doesn't mean anything." "It's a beautiful name," he laughed, "and part of what's beautiful about it is that it doesn't have a meaning. A name that doesn't mean anything contains all meanings. In fact, it's one of those ancient Egyptian names that the British and Americans find so enchanting and can get their awkward tongues around." A confused, suspicious look, of one ready to baulk and pounce, appeared in her eyes, so he smiled gently and went on, "Dearest Titi, take it easy. You'll find out everything in good time. Don't you know that soon you'll become a lady of resplendent beauty, known far and wide? That's the miracle of this house. Or did you think the skies just rain gold and diamonds? No way, dearest! These days all the sky rains is shrapnel. Now get ready to receive the dressmaker. But my apologies; I've just remembered something important. I've remem­ bered that I have to escort you on a visit to my school, of which I, my dearest, am the principal, not a pimp, as you called me yesterday. Put on this robe and these sandals." He went to the dressing table and came back with a round blue bot­ tle to whose metal spout was connected a red rubber cylinder. He aimed the spout and squeezed the cylinder, ejecting onto her face a deliciously perfumed liquid. At first, she shivered and gasped. Then she yielded to its scent with amazement and pleasure. He put the robe on her himself and brought her her slippers and put them on her feet. Then he put his arm in hers and led her into the other room and from there into the outer vestibule, whence they proceeded together toward the first door on the right. As they did so, he told her warningly, "Be careful not to seem shy or frightened. I know you're the plucky type and nothing scares you." His waruing brought her to her senses and she fixed him with an angry look, and then raised her head in disdain. He smiled and said, "This is the school's first cla**room-the Arabic Dance cla**." ******* They left the room, or cla**room, for the vestibule, from which he took her to the room next to it. He could sense her eyes were watching him but he ignored them for reasons of his own until they reached the door, when he murmured, "The European Dance cla**room." She followed him, saying nothing. Knowing that it was impossible to go back and that the past had been wiped out by the present, she could see nothing wrong with surrendering to fate, though she did ask herself whether she would in fact achieve the happiness she desired. This next room she found to be like the one before it in design and form, except that it was alive with movement and noise. The phonograph was emitting an odd tune that struck her ears as strange and disagreeable. Girls were dancing in couples and to one side stood an elegantly suited young man who was watching them keenly and giving them feedback. The two men exchanged greetings while the dancers continued their dance, examining Hamida with piercing and critical looks. As her eyes pa**ed over the dance floor and the dancers, she wondered at their gorgeous clothes and finery. Rapidly setting aside her misgivings and seized by an imperious excitement, she suffered a painful feeling of inferiority, followed by an urgent and provocative sense of enthusiasm and eagerness. She turned to her man with a sudden movement and found that he retained his calm and dignity, his eyes filled with a lofty expression of authority and strength. As though her eyes had attracted his, he suddenly turned to her, bent toward her cheerfully, and asked, "Do you like what you see?" Simply, and fighting her excitement, she replied, "Very much." "Which dance style do you prefer?" She smiled without answering and they remained for a while with­ out speaking. Then they left the room and made for the third door, anticipation plainly visible in her face, but no sooner did he push the door open than she stopped and stared, riveted with surprise and amazement. In the middle of the room she beheld a naked woman of erect figure. For seconds she could not drag her eyes from her and she was the only thing she could see. Amazingly, the naked woman stayed where she was, as though unaware of her arrival, and looked at them calmly and indifferently. Voices now impinged on her hearing and, looking right and left, she realized that the room was full of people. To the left of the entrance was a row of chairs half of which were occupied by beautiful half-, or almost completely, naked girls. Close to the naked woman she caught sight of a man in an elegant suit holding in his right hand a pointer whose tip he was resting on the toe of his shoe. Farag Ibrahim noted her astonishment and, seeking to rea**ure her, told her, "This is Basic English cla**." She fixed him with a look of displeasure as though to say, "I understand nothing," so he gestured to her to calm down and then, directing his words to the man holding the pointer, said, "Go on with the lesson, Professor." In an obedient voice, the man declared, "This is the 'Listen and Repeat' lesson." He raised the pointer quickly and touched the naked woman's hair with it, and the woman uttered the strange word hair. Then he lowered it to her brow and she exclaimed forehead, after which he moved it to the side, the eye, the mouth, east, west, up and down, while the woman responded to his unspoken questions with strange words that Hamida had never heard before. The girl became more and more astonished and alarmed as she asked herself, "How can that woman appear nude in front of all these people, and how can Farag just stand there and look at her stark naked like that?" Her blood boiled, her cheeks burned, and she cast a quick look at him. She saw that he was nodding his head in approbation of the clever student and• muttering, "Bravo, bravo ..." Then he asked the man to show him a bit of flirting. Laying his pointer aside, the man approached the woman, address­ ing her in English, and everything he said the woman answered in the same language. They gabbled at one another for some minutes with­ out stumbling or hesitating until Farag Ibrahim cried, "Excellent! Excellent! And the others?" indicating the seated girls. The professor said, "They're improving. I always tell them that you can't learn how to talk by memorization, it has to be practice. The bars and pensions are the real college and this lesson is just a way of confirming the information they'll pick up helter-skelter there." Looking at his girl, Farag Ibrahim said, "That's right. That's right." Bidding the professor farewell with a nod of his head, he took Hamida's arm in his, and they left together, crossing the long vestibule once more and making for their room. Her face was rigid, her jaw set, and her eyes showed her to be distracted and confused. She was groping for an excuse to explode, not for any particular goal she had in mind but to relieve her heaving and agitated breast. The man remained silent until they had entered the bedchamber. Then he said kindly, "I'm so glad to have shown you over my school and that you've had the chance to inspect the cla**rooms for yoursel£ The course may have seemed to you difficult and a lot of work, but you saw my outstand­ ing students with your own eyes and all of them, without exception, are less intelligent and beautiful than you." She gave him a stubborn look and asked him insolently, "You expect me to do the same as them?" He smiled gently and said, slyly, "No one has the right to tell you what to do and no one will dispute your decision. You and only you are the final authority. It's my duty to make the main features clear and then the choice is yours. In fact, I've been singularly lucky to find such a quick-witted companion, one for whom the slightest sign is enough, and on whom God has bestowed beauty, ardor, and brilliance. If, today, I strive to kindle your enthusiasm, tomorrow it may be you who strives to kindle mine. I know you through and through and can read your heart like an open book. I tell you, as a matter of certain belief, that you'll fmd it easy to learn dancing and English and will master everything in the shortest possible time. From the beginning, I chose to be straight with you and avoided lies and deception, because I fell genuinely in love with you and knew for sure from the first instant that you weren't one to be made a fool of or tricked. So do what you want, baby. Give dancing a tty or have nothing to do with it. Be naughty or noble. Stay or go back. Whatever you decide, I have no power over you.'' His speech was not without effect. He had relieved her mind and her nerves relaxed. Going up to her, he took her hand between his, pressed it tenderly, and said, "You're the best thing that has happened to me in my life. You are so bewitching, so beautiful." Apparently absorbed and bewitched, he gazed into her eyes, raised her hands, which were clasped together, to his mouth, and started kissing the ends of her fingers two by two, while she stood helpless before him, feeling with each kiss of his lips an electric shock pa** along her nerves until in the end her eyes turned wet with gentle-ness and pa**ion. A hot exhalation of breath escaped her in a kind of sigh and he surrounded her with his arms and drew her slowly toward his chest until he felt her breasts touch his heart. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, while her face remained buried in his chest, then whispered, "Your mouth-," so she slowly raised her head, her lips slightly parted, he pressed his to hers in a long, long kiss, and her eye­ lids closed as though momentarily overcome by drowsiness. He lifted her effortlessly and she became like a child in his arms, as he slowly walked over to the bed with her. After giving her dangling legs a little shake that made the slippers drop from them, he laid her down, and remained bent over her, resting his weight on his hands and gazing gently into her flushed face. She opened her eyes and they met his. He smiled at her sweetly but she went on gazing at him calmly. In fact, though he pretended the opposite, he was fully in control of his nerves, and his mind was more actively engaged than his heart. Having decided on a plan from which he would not deviate, he stood upright, mastering a cunning smile, and said in the tone of one holding him­ self back against his will, "Let's take it easy. The American officer pays fifty pounds for a virgin without thinking twice." She turned to him in astonishment and the languid look rapidly disappeared from her eyes, to be replaced by one that was resolute, crueand reproachful She sat up in the bed, then slipped to the floor with the startling speed of a disturbed snake. Her instinctive violence rose within her and she raised her hand and brought it down hard on his cheek, making the whole room resound. For a few seconds he remained unmoving. Then the left side of his mouth stretched into a scornful smile and, faster than the speed of thought, he raised his own hand and slapped her on the right cheek with extreme force, and then, before she had had time to recover from the first blow, raised his left hand and struck her extremely hard on her left. Her face turned white, a tremor pa**ed over her lips, her body shook with animalian violence, and she flung herself against his chest, driving her rigid fmgertips into his neck. The man took the attack serenely, not attempting to push her away. Indeed, he surrounded her with his arms and tightened his grip until he was almost crushing her, and her fmgers gradually loosened, falling from his neck, grasping and clinging to his shoulders, as she lifted toward him a face that was scarlet and a mouth that trembled with desire.