Morning and Evening Talk

Kha’

Khalil Sabri al-Muqallad

THE FIRST CHILD of Surur Effendi’s youngest daughter, Zayna, Khalil was born and grew up in the family home in Bayn al-Ganayin. The standard of living was good, thanks to his father’s relative rise in salary, and considered an improvement on his grandfather’s, who died before Khalil’s mother, Zayna, married. Of the grandsons, he was the one who bore the closest resemblance to his uncle Labib. He inherited his good looks from his grandmother Sitt Zaynab, as well as his mother, Zayna, who was pretty — albeit less so than her sisters, Gamila and Bahiga. Zayna would sadly compare his face with his younger sister Amira’s, for the girl had inherited from her mother a nose that spoiled her sweet face; the skies of her female future were clouded with fear, but it would not be long before death snatched her away after an acute stomach infection. Khalil displayed aptitude in school and was infused with the zeal of Nasser’s generation. He had an unusual romantic experience in the final stage of secondary school when a relationship developed between him and a neighbor, a widow in her thirties called Khayriya al-Mahdi, who was fifteen years his senior. One evening, Zayna said to her husband, Sabri al-Muqallad, “Khayriya al-Mahdi has seduced your esteemed son!”

Sabri was at first startled. He was a broad-minded man and a devoted and understanding father. He had himself run wild in youth before marriage miraculously tamed him. The news alarmed him but it also aroused his pride. He watched the boy to make sure he was visiting the widow’s house.

“You’re not doing anything,” Zayna said to him.

“Do you think advice would do any good?” he asked her.

“She’s my age,” she said anxiously.

“He’ll soon be satiated and move on.”

“I can’t stay silent,” she confessed. “Do you think they’re thinking of getting married?”

The man couldn’t help laughing. “The imbecile!” he exclaimed.

He began making inquiries to ascertain some facts. “The woman is rich,” he told Zayna.

She sensed he was beginning to welcome the idea so appealed for help to her brother Labib. His public and private life did not leave him room to take on new problems, but at the same time he could not ignore his helpless younger sister. He graciously visited Bayn al-Ganayin, gathered the son and his parents together, and set the matter out plainly. The discussion did not yield a result that pleased Zayna.

“It won’t affect me continuing my studies,” said Khalil.

“Praise God. The bride may be old but she has plenty of money,” said Labib, addressing Zayna and bringing the subject to a close.

Zayna wanted the marriage postponed until Khalil finished law school, but the bride was too keen to wait and it was only delayed for as long as it took for the woman to renovate and furnish her house. She married Khalil, and by the time he attained his law degree in 1965 he had a son, Uthman. He was appointed to the legal department. Many predicted the marriage would end in failure in due course, but Khayriya died undergoing surgery in al-Kulwa when she was fifty. She bore no other children after Uthman. Khalil never thought of marrying again.