Bahaa Taher - Sunset Oasis

go back to being exactly the way I was. And from time to time, when my spirit is disturbed, I find comfort in prayer, so I pray a lot. Catherine knows nothing of all that. She takes me as she finds me, or perhaps more accurately, she doesn't care. But what about her? It seems to me all she knows about her religion is the silver cross that she sometimes hangs on her chest, saying, 'I inherited it from my grandmother.' And Fiona? In her evening tales there are no lessons or morals and I haven't heard her saying prayers under her breath. She just tells beautiful stories. In fact, she…

Enough!

A knock on the door. I gave thanks for it, whatever it might bring! As though calling for help, I shouted at the top of my voice, 'Come in!'

Sergeant Ibraheem opened the door and said that Corporal el Salmawi was asking to see me. I gave him permission to enter, and the sergeant opened the door and called to him. When the corporal entered, his huge body filled the doorway, so he moved to the side a little to let Ibraheem out. I didn't know why he had come. I myself wanted to hear from him in detail what had happened when he went with Catherine and Fiona to meet Sheikh Yahya, but I thought of what Ibraheem had said and asked him whether he had known the sergeant in the oasis when he came with the army. He replied that he had known Ibraheem but only a long while after that, when they had fought together in Urabi's army at Kafr el Dawwar.

I thought of the Bedouin of Alexandria and asked him with some astonishment, 'You fought with him in Urabi's army?'

'Indeed, Your Excellency. We fought together, and he's a courageous soldier. He risked his life once to save me from death in battle. I was coming out of the trench when firing started, and he jumped out and pulled me back with him.'

He fell silent for a moment. I said, 'It seems saving people's lives is a hobby with Sergeant Ibraheem.'

He understood nothing and remained silent, so I went on, 'But they dismissed you from the army after the war, as they did Ibraheem and the rest of the troops, isn't that so?'

'They did. But then later they needed me in the police in Marsa Matrouh. They don't have many trained troops there.'

'And why have you come now, Corporal?'

He said he'd been going to ask to see me before but the business with the boy who'd thrown the stone had delayed him. They'd searched for him and found no trace. Now, though, he wanted to inform me that Sheikh Yahya had sent him a letter with one of his grandsons asking to see me as soon as possible.

After a moment's silence, I said, 'That's strange, but he can come and see me here whenever he wants.'

'How can that be, Your Excellency? He has vowed not to leave his garden until he dies.'

'So I'm being asked to go to him?'

'It's up to Your Excellency, but if you wish to go, allow me to go with you.'

'You'll have to, because I don't know the way.'

On our way to Sheikh Yahya's garden, I wanted to pass by the house to let Catherine know, and to find out whether Fiona had started to try the treatment. When I got down from my horse, however, one of the soldiers of the guard that I'd put in front of the house stopped me, saying, 'There's a woman from the oasis inside.'

I exclaimed, 'Another woman from the oasis in my house? What disasters will this one cause?' I sprang towards the steps, but Salmawi stopped me with a gesture from the first step, saying imploringly, 'Wait a moment, Your Excellency, till we find out from the guard what happened. As Your Excellency put it, there's no call for more disasters.'

The guard was eager to tell what he knew. He'd seen a woman going up to the house walking very slowly and supporting herself on the shoulder of a boy. From the way she walked it looked as though she was a very old woman and he'd become sure of that when she came close and he saw a part of her face that was uncovered. She wanted to climb the stairs but he prevented her, at which she addressed him in speech that contained words of Arabic and words in the language of the place, which he had difficulty in understanding. She knew the madame and wanted to see her.

Salmawi asked him, 'Did she say her name was Zubeida?'

'Yes, Corporal,' answered the soldier. I looked at Salmawi enquiringly and he said, 'I know her, Your Excellency, that old woman who speaks a bit of Arabic. She was with us in the caravan and Miss Fiona took a liking to her. She wanted to buy her tarfottet mantle, but she gave it to her as a present.'

The soldier continued, 'All the same, I didn't let her go up, Excellency, but sent the boy, and he knocked on the door and gave them the message. The younger lady came to the door and waved to Zubeida to go up and she hugged her at the door. Then they went inside together.'

The guard finished his story in the same state of excitement with which he'd begun and pointed to the boy, who was sitting on the sand and watching us from a distance. As though to defend himself, he said, 'That's the boy who came with her. He'll tell Your Excellency how I tried to stop her.'

I wanted to go on up the steps, but Salmawi approached me and whispered in my ear, 'Even if she is an old woman, Excellency, a woman a hundred years old, no man can enter the house so long as she's inside.'

Pointing to the cloak thrown down on the stairs, he went on, 'So long as she's left her cloak in front of the door, men aren't allowed in. It's their custom, and the boy sitting there will tell if you go in. Now we can rest assured that the old woman won't harm anyone, so let's continue our errand, Excellency.'

I hesitated for a moment, then remounted, as did Salmawi. He was the one who was giving the orders now, and I was following them. No matter. I would heed Ibraheem's advice and trust him until I had put him to the test. We set off in the direction of Aghurmi. After crossing the patch of open desert in front of the town, we proceeded along the road that goes through the walled gardens. At the sound of the horses' hoofs, the singing inside would stop, and a few zaggala would appear at the entrances to the gardens. I made up my mind not to pay them any attention after the looks of hate and murmurs whose meaning was not hard to grasp from the first garden we passed. Some of them greeted Salmawi warmly, repeating his name so I would understand that their greetings did not include me.

I had been riding ahead of Salmawi on the road but he drew alongside me as we were crossing a small water channel, and I asked him, 'Salmawi, do you know why the sheikh wants to see me?'

'All I know is what I told Your Excellency. Maybe he wants to talk to you about the condition of Miss…'

His deep voice trembled suddenly, making me think that he was on the verge of tears.

Pulling up my horse, I asked him, in amazement, 'What's going on, Corporal?'

He bowed his head and said, controlling himself, 'Forgive me, Excellency. I was just thinking. Sheikh Yahya only saw the young lady once, and when he was angry then at… And all the same, he loved her and thought to send her the medicines. If Your Excellency had seen how she was in the caravan! She would talk with the troops and the Siwan women and the Bedouin women and their children, God knows in what language. She didn't speak their language and they didn't understand hers but all the same they talked to one another in words, signs and laughter throughout the trip. When she got one of her coughing fits, some of the women would weep to see her going off far away on her own.'

I spurred my horse and shot forwards, Salmawi following me Enough! Enough! Enough! The horse was galloping and I was looking straight ahead, paying no attention to the insults of the zaggala or to the fact that we were passing Gouba Spring, and I realized that we had passed it only when I saw the columns of the temple of Umm Ebeida. All the disasters had started here!