Naguib Mahfouz - Palace Walk

Yasin, reading her thoughts, joked, "Chocolate is a useful charm against fright". Then he addressed Kamal: "Did you talk to them in Arabic?"

Kamal embraced the question, because once more it opened for him the doors to imagination and adventure, rescuing him from the vexations of reality. With his face beaming again, he replied, "They spoke to me in a strange kind of Arabic… I wish you had heard it yourself". He went on to imitate the way they talked until everyone was laughing. Even his mother smiled.

Yasin, who envied his brother, asked him, "What did they say to you?"

"Lots of things!.. 'What’s your name?' 'Where’s your house?' 'Do you like the English?'"

Fahmy asked sarcastically, "How did you reply to that wonderful question?"

Kamal looked at him and hesitated, but Yasin answered for him: "Of course he said he loves them… What would you have wanted him to say?"

Kamal spoke up again to add fervently, "But I also told them to bring back Sa'd Pasha".

Fahmy could not restrain himself from laughing out loud. He asked Kamal, "Really!.. What did they say to that?"

Feeling better now that his brother had laughed, Kamal replied, "One of them tweaked my ear and said in English, 'Sa'd Pasha, no.'"

Yasin had another question: "What else did they say?"

Kamal replied innocently, "They asked me if there weren't any girls in our house?"

For the first time since Kamal had arrived they looked at each other grimly. Fahmy asked him with concern, "What did you tell them?"

"I told them my sisters Aisha and Khadija got married, but they didn't understand what I was saying. So I said there’s no one at home except 'Nina.' They asked what that meant and I told them 'Mama.'"

Fahmy gave Yasin a look that said, "Do you see how appropriate my suspicions were?" Then he remarked sarcastically, "They didn't give him the chocolate simply for the love of God".

Yasin smiled feebly and muttered, "There’s nothing to be worried about". He was not willing to allow this subject to cloud their reunion. So he asked Kamal, "Why did they invite you to sing?"

Kamal laughed. He said, "During the conversation one of them began to sing in a low voice. Then I asked them if they wanted to hear me".

Yasin laughed loudly. He remarked, "What a daring boy you are… Weren't you afraid when you were surrounded by their legs?"

"Not at all," Kamal boasted. Then he said with feeling, "How handsome they are! I've never seen anyone more handsome before. Blue eyes… golden hair… gleaming white skin. They look like Aisha!"

He suddenly ran off to the study, where he raised his head to see the picture of Sa'd Zaghlul on the wall next to those of the Khedive Abbas II, Mustafa Kamil, and Muhammad Farid. When he returned he said, "They're a lot better-looking than Sa'd Pasha".

Fahmy shook his head sadly and remarked, "What a traitor you are… They bought you with a piece of chocolate. You're not so young you can be excused for saying that. Pupils in your school are dying as martyrs every day. May God grant you failure".

Umm Hanafi had brought in the brazier, coffeepot, cups, and the container with the coffee. Amina began to prepare the coffee for the time-honored session. Everything had returned to normal except that Yasin had begun to think once more of his angry wife. Kamal went off by himself and took the chocolate out of his pocket. He began to remove its gleaming red wrapper. Fahmy’s attempt to make him feel bad seemed to have been in vain, for in his heart there was nothing but contentment and love.

Yasin’s marital problems became more complex. They were more momentous than anyone had expected. Before al-Sayyid Ahmad knew what was happening, Muhammad Iffat appeared in the store the day after Zaynab had fled. Even before he freed his hand from al-Sayyid Ahmad’s handshake of greeting, he said, "Al-Sayyid Ahmad, I've come to you with a request. Zaynab must be divorced today. Before tomorrow, if possible".

Al-Sayyid Ahmad was staggered. Yes, he had been totally disgusted by Yasin’s behavior, but he had never thought it would inspire an honorable man like Mr. Muhammad Iffat to request a divorce. He had certainly not imagined that these "errors" would require a divorce. Indeed, it had never occurred to him that a request for divorce would come from the wife. It seemed to him that the world had been turned upside down. He refused to believe the man was in earnest. In the gracious tone that had so often captivated the hearts of his friends, he said, "I wish the brothers were here to observe you hurling this harsh language at me… Listen to me. In the name of our friendship I forbid you to mention the word 'divorce.'"

He examined his friend’s face to gauge the impact of his words on him but found Muhammad Iffat frowning glumly in a determined way that boded ill. He began to sense the seriousness of the situation and to feel pessimistic. He invited his visitor to have a seat. Mr. Iffat sat down but looked even glummer. Al-Sayyid Ahmad knew him to be a stubborn, intractable man. When he got angry, affection and kindness were useless. All ties of kinship and friendship were ripped apart by the cutting edge of his wrath.

Al-Sayyid Ahmad said, "Declare the oneness of God… and let’s talk calmly".

Muhammad Iffat replied, in a tone he seemed to have borrowed from the angry fire of his cheeks, "Our friendship is not in question, so let’s leave it out of this. Your son Yasin is not fit to live with. I ascertained this after learning everything. How patient the poor girl has been… She kept her worries to herself for a long time. She hid everything from me. Then she revealed it all after her heart was broken… He stays out all night and returns at dawn so drunk he can't walk straight. He has scorned her and rejected her. What has been the result of all her patience? She catches him in her house with her servant". He spat on the ground before continuing: "A black maid!.. My daughter wasn't made for this. Absolutely not, by the Lord of Heaven. You know better than anyone else how I feel about her. No… by the Lord of Heaven. I would not be Muhammad Iffat if I kept quiet about this".

It was the same old story but with a new element that stunned and shocked him: Mr. Iffat’s statement that Yasin "returns at dawn so drunk he can't walk straight". Had he learned his way to the bar as well? When? How?… Oh, he did not have time to think about it or to be upset. He needed to control his emotions. The hour required calmness and control. He had to take charge of the situation to ward off any irreparable damage. He observed in a sad voice, "What distresses you distresses me twice as much. Unfortunately, none of the disgraceful actions you have mentioned ever reached me or came to my attention, by God, except the last incident. I have disciplined him more severely for that than any other father would have thought permissible. What can I do? I have subjected him to stern discipline since he was a boy. Beyond our wills, there are the devils and the world of the flesh, which mock our determination and spoil our best intentions".

Avoiding al-Sayyid Ahmad’s eyes by looking at the desk, Muhammad Iffat replied, "I have not come to blame you or to criticize you. You are a model father who can be imitated but never equaled. But that does not alter the distressing fact that Yasin has not turned out the way you wished. In his current condition he is not fit for married life".

Al-Sayyid Ahmad protested, "Not so fast, Mr. Muhammad".

The other man corrected himself while remaining resolute: "In any case, he is not a fit husband for my daughter. He will find some woman who accepts him with his faults, but not her. My daughter was not made for this. You know better than anyone how I feel about her".

The proprietor moved his head close to his friend’s and said in a low voice and with a hint of a smile, "Yasin’s not unusual as husbands go. Lots of them get drunk and boisterous and do things they shouldn't".