of her rights when she undertook the task. It was, rather, a heavy
burden that she accepted only under duress. Thus anyone summoning
her to do something would feel uncomfortable about it. If she
objected, she would be able to protest with an anger that would
provide her some relief. She could make whatever commentary she
wished about the situation. Finally, she would be reckoned to be
doing the person a favor meriting his thanks.
Therefore as she left the room, she said, "In every crisis you call
on Khadija, as though there was no one else at hand. What would
you do if I weren't here?"
PALACE WALK
The moment she left, her pride abandoned her. Its place was taken
by terror and agitation. How could she present herself to him? How
would she go about serving him? How would he treat her if" she
stuttered or was slow or made a mistake?
AI-Sayyid Abroad had removed his street clothes by himself" and
put on his house shirt. When she stood at the door to ask what he
needed, he ordered her to make a cup of" coffee. She hastened to fetch
it. Then she presented it to him, walking softly with her eyes lowered,
feeling shy and afraid. She retreated to the sitting room just
outside his door to wait there for any signal from him. Her sense of
terror never left her. She wondered how she would be able to continue
serving him through all the hours he spent at home, day after
day, until the three weeks were over. The matter seemed nerve-racking
to her. She perceived for the first time the importance of" the niche
her mother filled in the household. She prayed for her speedy recovery
out of both love for her mother and pity for herself.
Unluckily for her, al-Sayyid Ahmad was of a mind to rest up after
the fatigue of his journey and did not go to the store as she hoped.
Accordingly, she was obliged to remain in the sitting room like a
prisoner. Aisha came up to the top floor and crept silently into the
room where her sister was sitting. She came to parade herself before
Khadija. She winked at her to ridicule her situation. Then she
turned to her mother, leaving her sister boiling with rage. The thing
that infuriated Khadija most was for someone to tease her, even
though she happily teased everyone else. Khadija regained her freedom,
and then just provisionally, only when her father fell asleep.
Then she flew to her mother and began to tell her about all the real
and imaginary services she had rendered her father. She described to
her the signs of affection and appreciation for her services that she
had noticed in his eyes. She did not forget to turn on Aisha and rain
abuse and reprimands on her for her childish conduct.
She went back to her father when he woke up and served him
lunch. After the man finished eating, he sat reading over some papers
for a long time. Then he summoned her and asked her to send Yasin
and Fahmy to him the moment they got home.
The mother was upset about his request. She was afraid that the
man's soul had some concealed anger trapped inside and that he now
wished to find a target forhis anger--namely, the two young men.
When Yasin and Fahmy came home and learned what had happened
and that their father had ordered them to appear before him,
their minds entertained the same thought. They went to his room
Naguib Mahfoug
with fearful forebodings, but the man surprised them by greeting
them more calmly than usual. He asked them about the accident, the
circumstances surrounding it, and the doctor's report. They recounted
at length what they knew while he listened with interest. Finally he
asked, "Were you at home when she went out?"
Although they had expected this question from the outset, when it
came after this unexpected and unusual calm, it alarmed them. They
feared it was a prelude to change from the harmony they had enjoyed
with relief, thinking they were safe. They were unable to speak and
chose to remain silent. All the same, al-Sayyid Ahmad did not insist
on his question. He seemed to attach little importance to hearing the
answer he had guessed in advance. Perhaps he wanted to point out
their error, without caring whether they confessed. After that he did
nothing but show them the door, allowing them to depart. As they
were walking out, they heard him say to himself, "Since God has not
provided me with any sons, let Him grant me patience."
Although the incident appeared to have shaken al-Sayyid Abroad
enough that he was altering his conduct to an extent that amazed
everyone, it could not dissuade him from enjoying his traditional
nightly outing. When evening came he dressed and left his room,
diffusing a fragrance of perfume. On his way out he passed by his
wife's room to inquire about her. She prayed for him at length, gratefully
and thankfully. She did not see anything rude in his going out
when she was confined to bed. She may have felt that for him to stop
to see her and ask after her was more recognition than she had expected.
Indeed, if he refrained from pouring out his anger on her,
was that not a boon she had not even dreamt of?.
Before their father had left his room, the brothers had asked, "Do
you suppose he'll forsake his evening's entertainment tonight?"
The mother had replied, "Why should he stay home when be's
learned there's nothing to be worried about?" Privately she might
have wished he would complete his kind treatment of her by renouncing
his night out, as was appropriate for a husband whose wife
had suffered what she had. Since she knew his temperament well,
though, she fabricated an excuse for him in advance, so that if he did
rush off to his party, as she expected, she could put a pleasant face
on her situation. She would justify his departure with the excuse she
had already invented and not let it seem to be caused by his indifference.
All
the same, Khadija had asked, "How can he bear to be at a party
when he sees you in this condition?"
PALACE WALK
I89
Yasin had answered, "There's nothing wrong with his doing that
once he's satisfied himself that she's all right. Men and women don't
react to sorrow the same way. There's no contradiction between a
man going out to a party and feeling sad. It may actually be his way
of consoling himself so he'll be able to carry on with his difficult
life." Yasin was not defending his father so much as his own desire
to step out that was beginning to stir deep inside him.
His cunning did not work on Khadija. She asked him, "Could you
stand spending the evening in your coffee shop?"
Although he cursed her secretly, he quickly replied, "Of course
not. But I'm one thing and Papa's something else."
When al-Sayyid Ahmad left the room, Amina felt again the relief
that follows a rescue from genuine danger. Her face lit up with a
smile. She observed, "Perhaps he thought I'd already been punished
enough for my offense. So he forgave me. May God forgive him and
all of us."
Yasin struck his hands together and objected, "There are men as
jealous as he is, some of them friends of his, who see no harm in
permitting their women to go out when it's necessary or appropriate.
What can he be thinking of to keep you imprisoned in the house all
the time?"
Khadija glanced at him scornfully and asked, "Why didn't you
deliver this appeal for us when you were with him?"
The young man began laughing so hard his belly shook. He replied,
"Before I can do that I need a nose like yours to defend myself
with."
Her days in bed passed without a recurrence of the pain that had
devastated her the first night, although the slightest movement would
make her shoulder and torso hurt. She convalesced quickly because
of her sturdy constitution and superabundant vitality. She had a natural
dislike of being still and sitting around and that made obedience
to the doctor's orders a difficult ordeal. The torment it caused her
overshadowed the pains of the fracture at their worst. Perhaps she
would have violated the doctor's commands and gotten up prematurely
to look after things if her children had not watched her so
relentlessly.
Yet her confinement did not prevent her from supervising household
affairs from her bed. She would review everything assigned to
the girls with a tiresome precision, especially the details of tasks she
was afraid they might neglect or forget. She would ask persistently,
"Did you dust the tops of the curtains?... The shutters?... Did you
9o
Nagui
burn incense in the bathroom for your father?... Have you watered
the hyacinth beans and iasmine?"
Khadiia got annoyed by this once and told her, "Listen, if you took
care of the house one carat, I'm taking care of it twenty-four."
In addition to all this, her compulsory abandonment of her important
position brought with it some ambivalent feelings that troubled
her a great deal, She asked herself whether it was true that the house
and its inhabitants had not lost anything, in terms of either order or
comfort, by her relinquishing her post. Which of the two alternatives
would be preferable: for everything to remain just the way it oughl
to be, thanks to her two girls who had been nurtured by her hands
or that there should be sufficient disturbance of the household's equilibrium
to remind everyone of the void she had left behind her? Whal
if it was al-Sayyid Abroad himself who sensed this void? Would tha
be a reason for him to appreciate her importance or a reason to
become angry at her offense that had caused all this? The womal
wavered for a long time between her abashed fondness for herse]
and her open affection for her daughters. It became clear that an'
shortcoming in the management of the house disturbed her im
mensely. On the other hand, if it had retained its perfection as thoug'.
nothing had happened, she would not have been totally at ease.
In fact, no one did fill her place. Despite the earnest and energet:
activity of the two girls, the house showed evidence of being to
large for them. The mother was not happy about that, but she keI
her feelings to herself. She defended Khadija and Aisha sincerely ar
vehemently. Even so, she suffered from alarm and pain and could n
endure her seclusion patiently.
At dawn on the promised day, the day for which she had waited so
long, she hopped out of bed with a youthful nimbleness derived from
her joy. She felt like a king reclaiming his throne after being exiled.
She went down to the oven room to resume her routine that had
been interrupted for three weeks. She called Umm Hanafi. The
woman woke up and could not believe her ears. She rose to greet
her mistress embracing her and praying for her. Then they set about
the morning's work with an indescribable happiness.
When the first rays of the rising sun could be seen, she went upstairs.
The children greeted her with congratulations and kisses. Then
she went over to where Kamal was sleeping and woke him. The
moment the boy opened his eyes he was overcome by astonishment
and joy. He clung to her neck, but she was quick to free herself gently
from his arms. She asked him, "Aren't you afraid my shoulder will
get hurt again?"
He smothered her with kisses. Then he laughed and asked mischievously,
"Darling, when can we go out together again?"
She replied in a tone that had a ring of friendly criticism, "When
God has guided you enough so you don't lead me against my will to
a street where I almost perish."
He understood she was referring to his stubbornness that had been
the immediate cause of what befell her. He laughed until he could
laugh no more. He laughed like a sinner who has been reprieved
after having his offense hang over his head for three weeks. Yes, he
had been terribly afraid that the investigation his brothers were conducting
would reveal the secret culprit. The suspicions entertained by
Khadiia at one time and Yasin at another had come close to uncovering
him in his redoubt. He had been spared only because his mother
had defended him firmly and had resolved to bear responsibility for
the accident all by herself. When the investigation had been transferred
to his father, Kamal's.fears had reached their climax. He had
expected from one moment to the next to be summoned before his
father. In addition to this fear, be had been tormented during the past
Naguib Mahfou
three weeks by seeing his beloved mother confined to bed, suffering
bitterly, unable either to lie down or to stand up. Now the accident
was past history. Gone with it was its bad taste. The investigation
was terminated. Once again his mother had come to wake him in the
morning. She would put him to bed at night. Everything had returned
to normal. Peace had unfurled its banners. He had a right to laugh
his heart out and congratulate his conscience on its reprieve.
The mother left the boys' room to go to the top floor. When she
approached the door of al-Sayyd Ahmad's room she could hear him
saying in his prayers, "Glory to my Lord, the Magnificent." Her heart
pounded and she stood hesitating, a.step away from the door. She
found herself wondering whether to go in to wish him good morning
or prepare the breakfast tray first. She was less interested in the actual
question than in fleeing from the fear and shame rampant in her soul,
or perhaps she was interested in both. At times a person may create
an imaginary problem to escape from an actual problem he finds
difficult to resolve.
She went to the dining room and set to work with redoubled care.
Even so, her anxiety increased. The period of delay she had granted
herself was worthless. She did not find the relief she had hoped for.
The ordeal of waiting was more painful than the situation she had
shrunk from confronting. She was amazed that she had been scared
to enter her own room, as though she were preparing to enter it for
the first time. All the more so because al-Sayyid Ahmad had continued
to visit her, day after day, during her convalescence. The fact
was that her recovery had removed the protection afforded her by ill
health. She sensed that she would be meeting him without anything
to hide behind for the first time since her error had been disclosed.
When the boys arrived for breakfast one after the other, she felt a
little less desolate. Their father soon entered the room in his flowing
gown. His face revealed no emotion on seeing her. He asked calmly
as he headed for his place at the table, "You've come?" Then, taking
his seat, he told his sons, "Sit down."
They began to consume their breakfast while she stood in her
customary place. Her fear had peaked when he came in, but she
started to catch her breath after that. The first encounter after her
recovery had taken place and passed peacefully. She sensed that she
would find no problem in being alone with him shortly in his room.
The breakfast ended, al-Sayyid Ahmad returned to his room. She
joined him a few minutes later carrying a tray with coffee. She placed
it on the low table and stepped aside to wait until he had finished.
PALACE WALK
Then she would help him get dressed. Her husband drank the coffee
in profound silence, not the silence that comes naturally either as a
rest, when people are tired, or as a cloak for someone with nothing
to say. It was a deliberate silence. She-had not given up her hope,
however faint, that he was fond enough of her to grant her a kind
word or at least discuss the subjects he usually did at this hour of the
morning. His deliberate silence unsettled her. She began asking herself
again whether he still harbored some anger. Anxiety was pricking
her heart once more. Yet the heavy silence did not last long.
The man was thinking with such speed and concentration that he
had no taste for anything else. It was not the kind of thought that
arises on the spur of the moment. It was a type of stubborn, long
lasting thought that had stayed with him throughout the past days.
Finally, without raising his head from his empty coffee cup, he asked,
"Have you recovered?"
Amina replied in a subdued voice, "Yes, sir, praise God."
The man resumed speaking and said bitterly, "I'm amazed, and
never cease to be amazed, that you did what you did."
Her heart pounded violently, and she bowed her head dejectedly.
She could not bear his anger when defending a mistake someone else
had made. What could she do now that she was the guilty person?...
Fear froze her tongue, although he was waiting for an answer.
He continued his comments by asking her disapprovingly, "Have
I been mistaken about you all these years and not known it?"
At that she held out her hands in alarm and pain. She whispered
in troubled gasps, "I take refuge with God, sir. My error was really
a big one, but I don't deserve talk like this."
Nevertheless, the man continued to talk with his terrifying calm,
compared to which screaming would have been easy to bear. He said,
"How could you have committed such a grave error?... Was it because
I left town for a single day?"
In a trembling voice, its tones swayed by the convulsions of her
body, she replied, "I have committed an error, sir. It is up to you to
forgive me. My soul yearned to visit our master al-Husayn. I thought
that for such a blessed pilgrimage it was possible for me to go out jUSt once."
Fie shook his head fiercely as though saying, "There's no point
trying to argue." Then he raised his eyes to give her an angry, sullen
look. In a voice that made it clear he would tolerate no discussion,
he said, "I just have one thingto say: Leave my house immediately."
His command fell on I
her head like a fatal blow. She was
r94
Naguib MaAfou
dumbfounded and did not utter a word. She could not move. During
the worst moments of her ordeal, when she was waiting for him to
return from his trip to Port Said, she had entertained many kinds of
fears: that he might pour out his anger on her and deafen her with
his shouts and curses. She had not even ruled out physical violence,
but the idea of being evicted had never troubled her. She had lived
with him for twenty-five years and could not imagine that anything
could separate them or pluck her from this house of which she had
become an inseparable part.
With this final statement, al-Sayyid Ahmad freed himself from the
burden of a thought that had dominated his brain during the past
three weeks. His mental struggle had begun the moment the woman
tearfully confessed her offense when confined to her bed. At the first
instant he had not believed his ears. As he started to recover from
the shock, he had become aware of the loathsome truth that was an
affront to his pride and dignity but had postponed his wrath when
he saw her condition. In fact, it would be correct to say that he was
unable to reflect then on the challenge to his pride and dignity because
of his deep anxiety for this woman, verging on fear and alarm.
He had grown used to her and admied her good qualities. He was
even fond enough of her to forget her error and ask God to keep her
safe. Confronted by this imminent threat to her, his tyranny had
shrunk back. The abundant tenderness lying dormant within his soul
had been awakened. He had gone back to his room that day sad and
dispirited, although his face had remained expressionless.
When he saw her make rapid and steady progress toward recovery,
his composure returned. Consequently he began to review the whole
incident, along with its cause and results, with a new eye, or more
accurately, the old one he was accustomed to using at home. It was
unfortunate, unfortunate for his wife, that he reviewed the matter
when he was calm and all alone. He convinced himself that if he
forgave her and yielded to the appeal of affection, which he longed
to do, then his prestige, honor, personal standards, and set of values
would all be compromised. He would lose cortrol of his family, and
the bonds holding it together would dissolve. He could not lead them
unless he did so with firmness and rigor. In short, if he forgave her
he would no longer be Abroad Abd al-Jawad but some other person
he could never agree to become.
Yes, it was unfortunate that he reviewed the situation when he
was calm and all alone. If he had been able to give vent to his anger
when she confessed, his rage would have been satisfied. The accident
PALACE WALK
would have passed without trailing behind it any serious consequences.
The problem was that he had not been able to get angry at
the suitable moment and his vanity would not let him announce his
anger after she had recovered, when he had been calm for three
weeks. That kind of nger would have been more like a premeditated
reprimand. When his anger flared up, normally it was because of a
combination of premeditation and natural emotion. Since the latter
element had not found an outlet at the appropriate time, premeditation,
which had been provided with plenty of quiet time to review its
options, was left to discover an effective method of expressing itself
in a form corresponding to the seriousness of the offense. Thus the
danger that threatened her life for a time, which protected her from
his anger by stirring up his affection, turned into a cause of far
reaching punishment, because the scheming side of his anger had
been given so much time to plan and think.
He rose with a frown and turned his back on her. He reached for
his garments on the sofa and said, I'll put my clothes on myself."
She had stayed put, oblivious to everything. His voice roused her.
She quickly grasped from his words and stance that he was ordering
her to leave. She headed for the door, making no sound as she
walked.
Before she got through it she heard him say, "I don't want to find
you here when I come back this noon."
Her strength gave out in the sitting room, and she threw herself
down on the edge of the sofa. His harsh, decisive words were bouncing
around inside her. The man was not joking. When had he ever
told a joke? Much as she wanted to flee, she could not leave immediately.
If she left before him that would be contrary to the normal
routine and arouse the boys' suspicions. She did not want them to
begin their day and go off to their jobs digesting the news of her
being thrown out of the house. There was another sentiment at work
as well, possibly embarrassment, that kept her from wishing to see
them when she was in the humiliating status of a discarded wife. She
decided to stay where she was until he had left. Better still, she would
take refuge in the dining room so he would not see her on his way
out. With a broken heart she slipped into that room and, gravely and
despondently, sat down on a pallet.
What did he really mean? Was he evicting her temporarily or for.
ever? She did not believe he intended to divorce her. He was more
noble and generous than that. Yes, he was irascible and tyrannical,
but only extreme pessimism could hide from her his gallantry, chivalry,
and mercy. Could she forget how sympathetic he had been when
she was confined to bed? He had visited her day after day to inquire
about her health. A man like that would not lightly destroy a house,
break a heart, or wrest a mother from her children.
She began pondering these ideas as though trying to restore some
composure to her shaken soul. She persisted at this task, but her
persistence only revealed the fact that composure refused to settle in
her soul. Similarly, the weaker some invalids feel, the more they
boast of their strength. She did not know what to do with her life or
what meaning life would have if her hopes were dashed and the worst
did happen.
She heard his stick tapping on the floor of the sitting room as he
made his exit. She lost her train' of thought and listened intently to
the succession of taps, until he had departed. At that moment she felt
the enormous pain of her situation and was furious at the iron will
that had made no allowance for her weakness.
PALACE WALK x97
She rose feebly and left the room to go down to the first floor. At
the head of the stairs she could make out the voices of the boys as
they descended one ateter the other. She stretched her head out over
the railing and caught sight of Fahmy and Kamal. They were trailing
after Yasin on their way to the door that led to the courtyard. Affection
rushed through her heart and overwhelmed it. She was amazed
at herself. How could she let them go without saying goodbye? She
would not be able to see them again for days or even weeks. Perhaps
for the remainder of her life, she would see them only infrequently,
as though they were strangers. She stood where she was on the stairs,
without budging, while affection surged through her heart. Although
her heart was filled with emotion, she could not accept the painful
thought that this gloomy fate was her destiny. She had a limitless
be|ielr in God, who had protected her in the past when she was alone
with the jinn. Her trust in her husband also continued undimmed. No
evil had yet afflicted her that was serious enough to deprive her quiet
life of its confident trust. For all these reasons, she was inclined to
consider her ordeal a harsh trial through which she would pass unscathed.
She found Khadija and Aisha embroiled in a quarrel as usual, but
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