Palace of Desire

110

When Yasin entered the store and approached the desk, al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad was absorbed in his work. An examination of his son's face revealed immediately that Yasin had come to ask for help. There was a distracted, glazed look in the eyes of the young man, who smiled politely and leaned down to kiss his father's hand but seemed to perform these ceremonies unconsciously as his mind strayed God only knew where. When al-Sayyid Ahmad gestured for him to have a seat, he moved the chair close to his father's desk before sitting down. He looked at his father, lowered his eyes, and smiled palely. Al-Sayyid Ahmad wondered what had motivated this visit. Concerned about his son's silence, he asked curiously, "Good news? What's come over you? You're not your normal self."

Yasin looked at him for a long time as if appealing for sympathy. Then, lowering his eyes, he said, "They're going to transfer me to the farthest reaches of Upper Egypt."

"The Ministry?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Shaking his head in protest, Yasin answered, "I asked the headmaster, and he mentioned things with no bearing on my work. It's unfair."

The father asked suspiciously, "What things? Explain."

"Vile slander…". After some hesitation he added, "About my wife Al-Sayyid Ahmad's interest was heightened. He asked his son apprehensively, "What did they say?"

Yasin's discomfort was visible in his face as he replied, "Some fools said I'd married… a professional entertainer."

Al-Sayyid Ahmad looked around his store anxiously. He saw Jamil al-Hamzawi waiting on customers a man standing on one side and a woman seated on the other. They were only a few feet away. Suppressing his rage, the father responded in a low voice not without a tremor of anger, "Perhaps they are fools, but I warned you about this. You do anything you want, never considering how scandalous it is, but then the consequences always catch up with you. What can I say? You're a school official, and your reputation ought to be beyond reproach. I've told you this time and again. There's no power or might save God's. It seems I must neglect all my other responsibilities in the world to care for you."

With apparent bewilderment Yasin observed, "But she's my legal wife. How can a man be blamed for obeying religious law? And why is it the Ministry's business?"

Restraining his fury, al-Sayyid Ahmad replied, "The Ministry must be solicitous of the reputations of its employees."

"Shouldn't you leave talk about reputations to someone else?" Yasin asked silently.

"But this is an unfair and unjust way to treat a married man."

Waving his hand angrily, the father retorted, "Do you want me to set the policies for the Ministry of Education?"

Yasin entreated him dejectedly, "Certainly not, but I hope you'll be able to stop the transfer by using your influence."

Preoccupied by his own thoughts, al-Sayyid Ahmad began to twist his mustache as he stared blankly at Yasin, who tried to gain his father's sympathy and apologized for upsetting him. Yasin asserted that, except for God, he relied exclusively on his father. He did not leave the store until his father promised to try to block the transfer.

That same evening al-Sayyid Ahmad went to al-Guindy's coffeehouse in Opera Square to see Yasin's headmaster, who immediately invited al-Sayyid Ahmad to join him and said, "I was expecting you. Yasin's gone too far. I regret the trouble he gives you."

Taking a seat opposite the headmaster, on a balcony overlooking the square, al-Sayyid Ahmad said, "In any case, Yasin's as much your son as mine."

"Of course, but this matter's out of my hands altogether. It's between him and the Ministry."

Although there was a smile on his face, al-Sayyid Ahmad protested, "Isn't it a bit odd to punish a civil servant for marrying a musician? Isn't that a private matter? And marriage is a legal bond. No one should denigrate it."

The headmaster frowned thoughtfully but inquisitively, as though not understanding his friend's words. Then he said, "The only mention of the marriage has been incidental and at the last minute. Don't you know the whole story? I thought you knew everything."

The man's spirits sank. He asked anxiously, "Is there some other offense?"

The headmaster leaned toward him a little and said sorrowfully, "The problem is, al-Sayyid Ahmad, that Yasin had a fight in Massage Alley with a whore. A police report was filed, and a copy reached the Ministry."

The man was stunned. His pupils opened wide, and his face became pale. The headmaster shook his head sadly and commented, "That's the truth. I did my utmost to lighten the punishment and successfully scuttled the idea of handing him over to a disciplinary panel. They agreed to transfer him to Upper Egypt."

Al-Sayyid Ahmad sighed and muttered, "The dog!"

Gazing at him sympathetically, the headmaster said, "I'm very sorry, al-Sayyid Ahmad. But this kind of conduct is not appropriate for a civil servant. I don't deny that he's a fine young man and diligent in his work. In fact, I'll tell you frankly that I like him, not merely because he's your son but because of his personality. Yet people say the strangest things about him…. He's got to reform and change his ways or he'll destroy his future."

Al-Sayyid Ahmad was silent for a long time, his anger obvious from his face. Then, as though addressing himself, he exclaimed, "A fight with a whore! Let him go to hell, then."

But he did not abandon his son. Without delay he met with acquaintances who were in parliament or distinguished in other ways and asked them to intercede to stop the transfer. Muhammad Iffat was his chief assistant in this campaign. A barrage of mediating efforts was aimed at top men in the Ministry of Education. Eventually it succeeded and the transfer was rescinded. But the Ministry insisted on assigning Yasin to a job within its secretariat. Then the head of the Ministry's records office the new husband of Yasin's first wife — announced his readiness to accept Yasin in his department, on the recommendation of his father-in-law, Muhammad Iffat, and that was agreed to. Thus early in the winter of 1926 Yasin was transferred to the records department, but he did not emerge from the scandal scot-free. An entry was made in his file that he was unfit to work in a school, and he was passed over for promotion to the seventh grade in the civil service, although he had more than ten years' service in the eighth rank immediately below it.

By arranging this assignment to his son-in-law's department, Muhammad Iffat had meant to ensure that Yasin was well treated, but the young man was uncomfortable with working for Zaynab's husband. One day he told Kamal, "She's probably delighted by what's happened and thinks it justifies her father's refusal to return her to me. I know how women think. No doubt she's rejoicing over my misfortune. It's too bad that the only decent position I could find was working for this goat. He's so old he has nothing to offer a woman. It's absurd to think he could fill the void I left. So let the stupid woman gloat. I'm rejoicing at her loss too."

Zanuba never learned the secret behind the transfer. The most she could find out was that her husband had been assigned to a better position in the Ministry. Similarly al-Sayyid Ahmad skirted the real scandal in his discussions with Yasin. When the original transfer was rescinded, the father refrained from saying anything more than "The ending won't always be so happy. You've made a lot of trouble for me and embarrassed me. From now on I won't intervene in your affairs. Do what you like, and may our Lord protect me from you."

Al-Sayyid Ahmad could not stop thinking about Yasin. One day he summoned his son to the store and remarked, "It's time you thought seriously about your life and returned to honorable ways. Free yourself from the life of an outcast you're currently enjoying. There's still plenty of time for us to start all over. I can prepare a suitable life for you. So listen and obey me". Then he presented his proposals to Yasin: "Divorce your wife and return home. I'll marry you off again in a suitable fashion, so you can begin an honorable life."

Yasin blushed and said in a faint voice, "I appreciate your sincere desire to improve my life. I'll do my part to try to reform without troubling anyone else."

His father yelled angrily, "A new promise as meaningless as those of the English! It's plain that you won't be satisfied till you end up in prison. Yes, the next time you scream for help it will be from behind bars. I keep telling you to divorce that woman and return home."

Yasin sighed loudly to make sure his father heard and responded, "She's pregnant, Father. I don't want to add another sin to my list of offenses."

"God preserve us!" al-Sayyid Ahmad exclaimed to himself. "Your new grandchild is being formed in Zanuba's belly. Could you possibly have imagined all the problems this young man had in store for you the moment you received him as an infant — on a day you thought one of the happiest of your life?"

"Pregnant?"

"Yes."

"And you're afraid of adding another sin to your list?" Then before his son could answer he exploded, "Why didn't your conscience trouble you when you were mistreating good women from fine families? By the truth of God's Book, you're a curse."

When Yasin left the store, his father looked after him with eyes filled with pity and scorn. He could not help taking some pride in the young man's appearance, inherited from him, but not in Yasin's character, inherited from the mother. He suddenly remembered how once he had almost fallen into this abyss, courtesy of the same Zanuba. But he also recalled restraining himself just in time. Had it really been self-restraint? He felt vexed and anxious. He cursed Yasin and then cursed Yasin again.