Midaq Alley

14

It was Hussain Kirsha who persuaded Abbas to serve with the British Army, and so the young man had gone to Tell el-Kebir, leaving no trace of himself in the alley. Why, even his shop had been taken over by an old barber. Hussain now found himself completely unsettled and full of hostility for the alley and its inhabitants. For a long time he had expressed his disgust for the alley and tried to plan a new life for himself. However, he had never clearly conceived a course of action and consequently had never made a firm resolution to achieve his dreams. Now that the barber was gone, he found himself filled with a desperate determination to do something. It seemed insupportable to him that Abbas should have escaped from the filthy alley and that he should have remained.

Finally he decided to alter his life no matter what it cost him. One day, with his usual crude bluntness, he said to his mother, "Listen to me. I have made a firm decision. I can't stand this life anymore and I see no reason why I should!"

His mother was used to his rudeness and his customary curses about the alley and its inhabitants. She considered him (as she did his father) to be utterly stupid, and never took his silly ravings seriously. So she made no reply and merely muttered to herself, "O God, please spare me this dreadful life!"

Hussain, however, his small eyes flashing and his near-black face becoming slightly paler in his anger, continued: "I can't bear this life anymore and after today I am not going to!"

She was not a woman noted for patience. As she shouted at him, her voice clearly betrayed what Hussain had inherited from her. "What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you, you son of a villain?"

The young man answered disdainfully, "I must get away from this alley."

"Have you gone mad, you son of a lunatic?" she shouted, staring at him in fury.

Hussain folded his arms nonchalantly and replied, "No, I have my senses back after a long period of lunacy. Now listen to what I say and believe me, I am not talking just for the sake of it. I mean every word. I have tied my clothes into a bundle and there's nothing left but to say goodbye. It's a filthy house, the alley stinks, and the people here are all cattle!"

She gazed at him searchingly, trying to read his eyes. His evident determination made her frantic and she screamed, "What are you saying?"

"It's a filthy house, the alley stinks, and the people here are cattle," he repeated, as though talking to himself.

She bowed sarcastically and said, "Welcome to you, honored sir! Welcome to the son of Kirsha Pasha!"

"Kirsha Coal Tar! Kirsha, the laughingstock! Ugh. Ugh. Don't you realize everyone has smelled out the scandal now? Everywhere I go people joke and sneer at me. They say, 'His sister ran away with someone and now his father is going to run away with someone else!'"

He stamped his foot on the floor so hard that the window glass rattled violently. He screamed in a rage, "What's forcing me to put up with this life? I'm going off to get my clothes and I'm never coming back."

His mother struck her breast with her hand and commented, "You really have gone out of your mind. The hashish addict has passed his madness on to you! I will go and call him to bring you back to your senses."

Hussain shouted contemptuously, "Go on, then, call him! Call my father; call our Lord Hussain himself! I am going… going…"

Sensing his obstinate determination, his mother went to his bedroom and saw a bundle of clothes, just as he had said. Now she was convinced and, full of despair, decided to call her husband, no matter what the consequences. Hussain, her son, was the only comfort she had left in life and she never expected that he would desert her. She had hoped he would always remain at home, even after he married, whenever that might be. Unable to overcome her despondency, she set off in search of Kirsha, shouting and lamenting her bad luck. "Why should anyone envy us? In spite of our great misfortunes! In spite of our disgraces! In spite of our misery!"

After a little while Kirsha appeared, grinding his teeth with anger. "What do you want, a new scandal?" he roared at her. "Have you seen me serving tea to another new customer?"

Thrashing her hands in the air, she answered, "It's about your son's disgraceful conduct! Catch him before he goes and leaves us. He is fed up with us!"

Kirsha brought the palms of his hands together violently and, shaking his head in anger and disgust, roared, "You want me to leave my work just for that? You want me to climb a hundred stairs just for that? Oh, you miserable pair, why on earth should the government punish anyone who kills off people like you?"

Gazing first at the mother and then at the son, he continued: "Our Lord has obviously afflicted me with both of you as some sort of punishment. What has your mother been saying?"

Hussain remained silent. His mother, as quietly as her short patience permitted, explained, "Don't lose your temper; this is an occasion which calls for wisdom and not temper. He has bundled his clothes and plans to go away and leave us…"

Scarcely believing his ears, Kirsha gazed at his son with angry scorn and asked, "Have you gone out of your mind, you son of an old hag?"

His wife's nerves were so on edge that she could not restrain from shouting, "I called you in to deal with him, not to call me names…"

Turning angrily toward her, he shouted, "Were it not for your congenital insanity your son would not have gone off his head!"

"God forgive you. All right, so I'm a lunatic and so were my parents. Let's forget all about that. Just ask him what is on his mind."

Kirsha stared fixedly at his son and spat out his question, sending spray in all directions, "Why don't you answer, you son of an old hag? Do you really intend to go away and leave us?"

Normally the young man would have been careful not to antagonize his father. He had, however, definitely made up his mind to leave his old way of life no matter what the price. Therefore he did not hesitate, especially since he considered his staying or leaving to be entirely within his own rights which no one could deny. He spoke quietly and with determination: "Yes, Father!"

Controlling his anger, Kirsha asked, "And what for?"

"I want to lead a different life," answered Hussain after a little thought.

Kirsha gripped his chin and shook his head sarcastically. "Yes, I understand that. You want to lead a life more suitable to your position! All dogs like you, brought up deprived and starving, go mad when they get money in their pockets. Now that you have money from the British, it's only natural that you should want to lead another life, more appropriate to your lordship's position!"

Hussain suppressed his rage and replied, "I have never been a hungry dog, as you describe me, because I grew up in your house and your house has never known hunger, thanks be to God! All I want is to change my way of life and this is my undeniable right. There is absolutely no need for your anger and sarcasm."

Kirsha was stunned. His son had always enjoyed a free life and he had never asked what he did. Why should he want to start a new life elsewhere? Kirsha loved his son, in spite of quarrels between them. He loved him, but the circumstances and atmosphere had never allowed him to express his love. He always seemed overcome with rage, exasperation, and a desire to curse. For a long time he had almost completely forgotten that he loved his only son, and at this particular moment, when the young man was threatening to leave home, his love and sympathy vanished behind a veil of anger and exasperation. The matter seemed to him a battle in which he must engage. For these reasons he spoke to him in tones of bitter irony: "You have your money to spend as you wish. You can go off and enjoy yourself with drunkards, hashish addicts, or pimps. Have we ever asked you for a penny?"

"Never, never. I am not complaining about that."

In the same bitter tone his father now asked, "And that covetous woman, your mother, never satisfied unless her eyes are feasting on filth, has she ever taken a penny from you?"

Blinking with embarrassment, Hussain replied, "I said I am not complaining about that. The whole point is that I want a different life. Why, many of my friends even live in houses that have electricity!"

"Electricity? So, it's for the sake of electricity that you want to leave home? Thanks be to God that your mother, for all her scandals, has at least kept our house safe from electricity!"

At this point Mrs. Kirsha broke her silence and wailed, "He keeps humiliating me! O God, by the murderous wrongs done to Hassan and Hussain…"

Her son went on: "All my friends live the modern way. They have all become 'gentlemen,' as they say in English."

Kirsha's mouth opened wide in amazement, his thick lips exploding to reveal his gold teeth. "What did you say?" he asked.

Scowling, Hussain made no reply. His father went on: "Galman? What's that? A new type of hashish?"

"I mean a neat, clean person," he muttered.

"But you are dirty, so how can you expect to be clean… Oh, galman!"

Hussain was now thoroughly annoyed and replied emotionally, "Father, I wish to live a new life. That is all there is to it. I want to marry a respectable girl!"

"The daughter of a galman!"

"A girl with respectable parents."

"Why don't you marry the daughter of a dog like your father did?"

"May God have mercy on you! My father was a learned, pious man," said Mrs. Kirsha, groaning in disgust.

Kirsha turned his pale face toward her and commented, "A pious, learned man indeed! He recited the Qur'an at burials! Why, he would recite a whole chapter for a penny!"

"He knew the Qur'an by heart and that's all that counts!" she declared, pretending to be offended.

Kirsha now turned away from her and moved several steps toward his son, until they were only an arm's length apart. Kirsha said, in his terrifying voice, "Well, we have had enough talking and I can't waste any more time on two lunatics. Do you really want to leave home?"

"Yes," answered Hussain shortly, summoning all his courage.

Kirsha stood looking at him. Then he suddenly flew into a rage and slapped Hussain hard in the face with the palm of his hand. His son caught the heavy blow and it shocked and enraged him. He backed away, shouting, "Don't you hit me! Don't you touch me! You'll never see me after today!"

His father charged again, but his mother stood between them, taking the blows herself. Kirsha stopped striking out and yelled, "Take your black face away from me! Never come back here again. As far as I'm concerned, you have died and gone to hell!"

Hussain went to his room, took his bundle, and, with one jump, was down the stairs. Taking no notice of anything, he rushed through the alley and, before he passed into Sanadiqiya Street, he spat violently. His voice quivering in anger, he yelled, "Bah! God curse the alley and all who live in it."