The Automobile Club of Egypt

30

“Abdoun is going to see Alku,” the staff told one another excitedly. It beggared belief. Abdoun, the assistant barman, was going to stand before Alku and demand an end to the beatings. Alku would never back down. He’d been having them beaten ever since they started at the Club and not for a day had any of them ever thought to protest. They simply trembled when Alku walked by and thanked God when he ignored them and just carried on. How could one of them now be going to confront him with a demand to stop the beatings? What would be Abdoun’s fate? Alku’s reaction would be ferocious. Whatever Alku’s reasons might have been for ignoring Abdoun’s rebellious talk until now, this time he would grind him into dust. On their breaks, they milled around Abdoun. “Are you still planning to go and see Alku?” they’d ask.

Abdoun ignored their mocking tone and insinuation and said, “Yes. I’m going to tell him to stop beating us.”

Then all the comments would rain down on him:

“So you think that you’re the nation’s leader?”

“We’d better say good-bye then, because you ain’t coming back!”

“Abdoun! Rushing in where angels fear to tread even though God tells us not to throw ourselves headlong into our own doom!”

“God tells us to stand up for what is right and against injustice,” Abdoun would answer.

The exchange would rage on, but Abdoun did not waver, and the staff eventually left him alone. If Alku were to wring his neck, it would be no more than he deserved. What they feared more than anything, though, was Alku’s anger spreading and falling upon them. Should that happen, they would have to disassociate themselves from Abdoun, and they all went over the things they might say:

“Your Excellency, we have had nothing to do with the lad, Abdoun. He’s a lowlife. Utterly mad. Please don’t blame us for him.”

“You are our father, and we’re your children and servants.”

The following night, Alku returned from Upper Egypt. The staff were waiting expectantly, but there was a surprise in store for them. “Abdoun isn’t going to meet Alku on his own. Bahr the barman and Samahy the kitchen boy are going with him.”

“We used to have just one mad guy,” someone jeered. “Now we’ve got three!”

The staff were all aware of the danger. They always knew that Abdoun’s plan was outright insubordination and that it might spread like a contagion. Sure enough, he had recruited supporters. Today it was Bahr and Samahy who had decided to go with him, but who might join tomorrow? The bar was empty except for a man and woman drinking beer at a far table. Karara shook Bahr’s hand and then got straight to the point.

“Bahr, you’re a grown man. And you’ve got sense. How can you go along with Abdoun? As his manager, you should talk sense into him.”

His colleagues echoed the sentiments. Bahr listened, squinting with one eye as he checked the clean glasses and lined them up on the shelf over the bar. Finally, he told them calmly, “I’m going with Abdoun. I can’t let him face Alku alone.”

“Have you taken leave of your senses?” asked Karara, raising his voice. “You want to go head-to-head with your master, Alku?”

“What’s it to you, Karara?”

“What’s it not to me! You and that lad Abdoun are going to cause nothing but trouble for us. If you stand up to Alku, he’ll take it out on all of us.”

“All right then, Karara,” scoffed Bahr. “Go and kiss Alku’s hand.”

They stared at each other, muttering insults. Karara put his hand on Bahr’s shoulder and was about to say something, but Bahr removed the hand and announced, “Gents! Thanks for the advice. Now excuse me. I’ve got work to do.”

He went back behind the bar. His colleagues despaired of talking him out of it, so they went off to try their luck with Samahy. They apologized to Rikabi for disturbing him, gestured to Samahy and walked him out of the kitchen. His eyes were watering from chopping onions, and as he wiped them with his sleeve, he asked, “Everything all right, guys?”

They hesitated for a few moments, and then Karara launched into him, “Listen, Samahy. We’ve come to warn you. Don’t let Abdoun talk you into standing up to your master, Alku. It’ll be worse for you. You’re just a kitchen assistant, and married, with two kids, at that.”

It was the truth, and it gave him a jolt. Samahy looked pained and worried as he muttered, “May God preserve us.”

They looked at him, unsure of what he was thinking. Samahy, avoiding their gaze, spoke up, “I mean, do you think it’s right for old Suleyman to get beaten at his age?”

“He brought it on himself.”

“He just asked for a pension for the widows and orphans. Is that a crime?”

“Then go along with Abdoun. It’ll be the end of you.”

“Abdoun is just demanding our rights. He should be thanked.”

“Thanked for what? May God destroy his home.”

It was clear their discussion was getting them nowhere. Samahy sighed and told them, “I’ve given Abdoun my word.”

“May God take you, lad!” Karara could not hold back his irritation. “Listen, Samahy. When you go and see Alku, you’re speaking for yourself. Don’t drag us into it.”

Samahy nodded, smiled weakly and went quietly back to the kitchen. The staff remained on tenterhooks all day long. At midnight, while His Majesty the king was playing poker, as usual, with some of the pashas, Samahy and Abdoun got changed, and the three men took a taxi to Abdin Palace. They traveled in silence. They were aware of the risk involved and felt that if they spoke to each other their resolve might crumble. At Abdin Palace, they greeted the guards and went in to go to Alku’s office. His ubiquitous spies had kept him up to the moment on the subject of their visit.

Hameed looked at them calmly, as if they were expected, giving them no supercilious look nor the usual dressing down for turning up without an appointment. He simply asked, “Everything all right?”

Abdoun cleared his throat.

“We have come to see Alku on an important matter.”

Hameed smiled and went into Alku’s office. A few minutes later, he came back out, and in an almost friendly monotone, he said, “Alku will see you now.”

It was a surreal situation, like a dream, they were proceeding as if down some enchanted passageway with no idea where it would lead. Now there was no turning back. They saw Alku sitting there at his desk, looking high and mighty, which unnerved them, and they said nothing until Alku barked at them, “Hameed said you wanted to see me.”

None of them replied, so Alku shouted ominously, “All right. Speak up!”

Abdoun managed to control his fear and started off in a tremulous voice, “Your Excellency. We have just come to ask you for what we are entitled to and certain that you will reject this out of hand.” He spoke as if to his equal and a spark of interest lit up Alku’s face.

“So what do you want?” he said.

“We have come to ask you to stop the beatings.”

“I only order beatings,” he said with a smile, “when one of you steps out of line.”

“Your Excellency, it is of course your prerogative to punish those who make mistakes. We can accept any punishment other than a beating.”

Alku suddenly smiled, which they found strange and worrying. Then he looked at Bahr and asked him, “Do you agree with what he said, Bahr?”

Bahr nodded. “Being beaten is an offense to our sense of dignity, Your Excellency.”

“Your Excellency,” Abdoun added, “all the staff hope that you will forgo corporal punishments.”

Alku looked down in silence for a few moments and appeared to be thinking. Then he got up and lumbered over to them. When he was right next to them, he said, “All right. Agreed.”

The lightning speed of his acquiescence stunned them into silence. Alku nodded and smiled.

“From today on, no one will be beaten. If fault is found in someone, his pay will be docked, or he will be subjected to an administrative sanction. You will be treated like the staff in the palace.”

“Thank you kindly, Your Excellency,” Bahr smiled.

Samahy muttered some unintelligible words, but Abdoun took a step toward Alku to thank him.

“Your Excellency, I promise that you have taken the right decision. You will not regret it.”

Such overfamiliarity despite good intentions would under normal circumstances have itself been considered a punishable act of insolence, but in keeping with his surprising and unfathomable response, Alku simply looked at them meekly and said, “All I want is for you to feel good about yourselves at work.”

The three of them started thanking him volubly. Alku was smiling broadly, showing his glistening teeth. As he showed them to the door, he added jovially, “All right. You can get back to work now.”