Bahaa Taher - Sunset Oasis

'That madman', my dear Basha, was, however, the only one who died fighting the British, out of all those who were present at the meeting, while Sultan Basha held the invading army's stirrup, and your father was probably there helping him, Wasfi!

And it was the same Mohamed Ebeid, and those who were with him, that I described as 'miscreants'!

So there's no call to pat yourself on the back in front of Wasfi or anyone else. No call for belated bravado.

I sent Sergeant Ibraheem to the house to inform Catherine that I wouldn't be coming home for lunch and until evening fell I stayed at the station for no reason at all, not work or anything else.

When I returned I didn't find Fiona but saw Catherine with her papers and books spread out on the table, reading and writing by the light of two large incandescent lamps. She has done this often recently, protesting that she doesn't have a study. I didn't say anything but felt sure that a new disaster was in the making. After the stoning incident, we'd reached the point of ignoring one another completely — in an almost friendly way. How was it that we'd failed to discover this comfortable arrangement before?

She was wholly engrossed, and responded to my perfunctory greeting with one equally so. I asked her about her sister and she said she was tired tonight and had gone to sleep without having dinner. Then she went back to her papers, closely examining some large pages full of drawings and reliefs and moving from these to write notes on other pages. I watched what she was doing for a moment, then said I was going to go and sleep.

'Without dinner too?'

'I'm not hungry.'

'I'll be there in a little while.'

'Take all the time you need.'

I climbed quickly into bed but once again sleep refused to come. I wasn't thinking about anything but lay with my eyes open, feeling that again sleep would not visit me tonight. Then a soft cough would come from a distance, a sudden flash of lightning would fill the room, and my tense body would relax and a strange peace fill me — an easeful despair and final surrender: there is no escape, so do not even try; accept what happens; accept the blessing of experiencing something you never experienced before. Now you love without desiring even to touch. It's not important that you understand. It's not necessary that you be happy. She has come. You fell in love with her and all you want from her is that she live. That's the beginning and end of it all, so don't try!

After a long while during which I didn't close my eyes and I strained my ears, Catherine came quietly into the room. She changed her clothes without making any noise, then slipped into the bed. I turned over and she said in a whisper, 'Did I wake you?'

'No. I wasn't asleep.'

In a low voice that betrayed an excitement she couldn't suppress, she said, 'Mahmoud, I've found a sign!' and she went on mumbling, as though to herself, 'I've found a sign. I've found a sign.'

I said, 'Marvellous,' then turned over and closed my eyes.

* * *

Another dark dawn and two nights without sleep.

I saw the guards outside the door. They'd wrapped their heads in woollen scarves, lit a fire and were gathered in a circle around it, warming their hands. I stopped for a moment, so they moved away from the fire and stood to attention. I told them they could go now and sleep.

'But the relief watch hasn't come yet…'

'It doesn't matter.'

They saluted and hurried off.

I didn't find Wasfi in the station courtyard, where he usually was. Corporal Salmawi had taken over the morning roll-call for him and he caught up with me as I was preparing to mount the stairs. I asked after the captain and he said that he'd gone out early, before dawn, with some of the soldiers, to meet the caravan coming from Kerdasa, promising to be back quickly, before the start of work, but it seemed that they must have taken the wrong road because soldiers from the caravan had already arrived and handed over to the corporal boxes of ammunition and some letters, which he'd left on my desk.

So there were no new officers, nor any reinforcement troops for Wasfi to train!

Too bad!

Ibraheem met me at the top of the stairs and went ahead of me as fast as his gammy leg permitted. Then he opened the door, entered after me and closed it.

Before I'd seated myself at my desk he was saying, in great agitation, 'What did I tell Your Excellency?'

'What did you tell me, Sergeant Ibraheem? Keep it short because I'm tired this morning.'

'What did I tell you about Sheikh Sabir and Captain Wasfi?'

Without waiting for me to reply, he went on, 'He came to him in the middle of the night, as usual, before the captain went out, and I was able to hear some of what they said.'

He was silent for a moment and then he continued in agonized tones, 'He's got his eyes on your position, my son, and that accursed sheikh is encouraging him! I warned you they were plotting something.'

I laughed as I said,'District commissioner? At his age? Why not? The sooner the better, Ibraheem. If it were in my hands, I'd make him commissioner today and go back to…'

He interrupted me angrily. 'A pox on anyone who wants Your Excellency's position!'

To calm him down, I said, 'So there's nothing to worry about. And it's not Sheikh Sabir who appoints the district commissioners. Dismiss now.'

He left muttering, and I looked at the envelopes from the ministry placed on my desk. I knew well what was inside each — receipts for the ammunition, which I would have to sign, pay lists, new instructions from the ministry, promotions and transfers, etc.

Most of them were papers that I'd glance at and then file away for ever.

I opened the large yellow envelope and found in it only what I expected, though something in the middle of the list of incoming ammunition did catch my eye. Next to so many new rifles, so many boxes of cartridges, etc., there was 'I (one) box, dynamite'. Dynamite?

What use could that be in the middle of the sands? Perhaps the ministry stores had wanted to get rid of it so they'd sent it to the desert, probably so they could buy more!

There was a final letter that was not in the large envelope. I opened it and found lines uninterrupted by any figures. I went back to the top and saw that it was addressed to Captain Wasfi, and that it was his name on the envelope too. I almost reseated it to give to him when he returned, but I saw my name repeated often among the lines. So, it concerned me too.

I read the letter twice, and laughed.

What call was there for surprise? Even Ibraheem had been able to predict it!

Despite all the facts and figures that reached me from the ministry, I was unfamiliar with this department called the Directorate of the Special Order, and neither could I guess who might be its head, who signed himself only 'S.H.' He thanked Captain Wasfi for his well-documented report and said that His Excellency the advisor to the ministry was very pleased with his accuracy and congratulated him on his success in gaining the affection and trust of the agwad. His Excellency had been particularly interested in what the report had to say about the deterioration in the relations of the district commissioner with the inhabitants of the oasis and their attempt to attack the police station with rifles and the recklessness shown by the district commissioner in firing a cannon shell in the direction of the town without first consulting the ministry and without informing it of what had happened. His Excellency the advisor believed that, to quote him word for word, 'these are very serious developments in the wrong direction' and he was following the results with the greatest concern, asking, at the same time, that the captain continue to be entirely correct in his dealings with His Excellency the district commissioner as his superior officer. He should obey his commands according to standing instructions and rules until such time as the ministry was able to take the appropriate steps. His Excellency also confirmed his confidence in Wasfi Effendi and requested that he continue his contacts with the sheikh of the Easterners who sought to be appointed to the position of mayor. The man was to have hope without the captain's giving him any specific promise and without this harming his relations with the sheikhs of the Westerners. In closing, S.H. congratulated Captain Wasfi on Mr Harvey's confidence and instructed him to continue to send similar reports on all matters that might reach his ears concerning the agwad, the local inhabitants and His Excellency the district commissioner, and to take care to keep the correspondence secret. After this there was a postscript to the effect that His Excellency the Basha, Wasfi's respected father, had contacted him and that he could reassure the captain as to his health and that he was in the best of states, praise God.