Naguib Mahfouz - Cairo Modern

He heard Miss Fifi suggest seductively, “Why don’t we dance?”

Ali Iffat immediately replied, “Dance if you want to, but can you dance without music?”

Ahmad Asim piped up, “Here’s good news. I’ve brought my accordion.”

People exclaimed appreciatively and glanced about to search for a sweetheart. Ahmad Asim took out his instrument and began to play, swaying in his seat to the dance tunes. Everyone rose to dance, except for Ihsan and Mahgub, who did not know how to, and Iffat Bey, who chose to keep them company. They began to watch the dancers with silent admiration. Then Iffat Bey announced that he was skeptical about Ihsan’s claim that she did not know how to dance. He encouraged Ihsan, “I’ll teach you. This is something you need to know. What do you think?”

With her eyes fixed on the dancers, she stammered, “I don’t know.”

“A person who doesn’t know how to dance will feel out of place at fancy balls. Don’t you agree, Mahgub Bey?”

Mahgub sensed the danger encompassing him and wanted to evade it. So he remarked casually, “I don’t think so.…”

Iffat laughed out loud and said, “What a nineteenth-century couple!”

Ihsan laughed along with him and said, “We may be your pupils one day.”

The young man’s eagerness showed in his face and gushing with delight he said, “Any time you want.”

Mahgub said nothing. He was pretending to watch the dancers with interest while repressing his resentment and outrage. This idiotic young man, who was preoccupied by his own good looks, was preparing to assault his honor and would clearly act if he found an unguarded moment. Mahgub, however, was certainly going to deny him the opportunity. No fool like this was going to cause a new pair of horns to sprout on his head. He had volunteered his head for the golden horns, horns of glory and power. But how would she respond to this flirtation? Would this mysterious, fascinating young woman prove an easy target? He felt the fangs of venomous jealousy rip into his breast.

The dancing continued until Ahmad Asim grew tired or bored and stopped playing. Then the couples separated and returned to their seats with beaming faces. The full moon had risen into the heavens and its light had been appropriated by the Nile’s undulating waters, which reflected it back and forth, sprinkling it around like pearls that ravished the eye.

Someone asked, “When can we start the buffet?”

A companion answered, “Not till the yacht is moored at the garden, you hungry scamp.”

Someone else asked, “Why don’t we play cards?”

Many people, however, objected to this suggestion, complaining that it would spoil the pristine character of the excursion. So they resumed their chatting. Mahgub was drawn out of his reflections by the voice of Mr. Husni Shawkat, who was saying, “How can it not be important? The Nazi Party’s successful rise to power is a very grave matter.”

Ahmad Asim protested, “But the personal prestige of President Hindenberg will most probably swallow Hitler.”

“Look ahead. Don’t you see that Hitler’s in the prime of his youth while the president’s at the end of his life?”

“Then the future holds a bloody war.”

“That seems reasonable, although France won’t wait for Germany to regain strength or prepare to pounce on it. There is a strong circle of states that are allied with France — like Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans. Don’t forget that mighty Italy considers itself to be Austria’s protector. If these nations make common cause— and perhaps Russia will join — the steel ring will slowly and gradually tighten till Germany is eventually strangled and annihilated.”

“How about England? Would it look the other way while Germany is being strangled?”

“Why not?”

“England’s too cunning to allow France — or any other country — to dominate Europe.”

Mahgub listened to this conversation with interest. Despite his vast familiarity with domestic politics, he was sublimely ignorant of world affairs. He advised himself to pay attention to foreign news so he would be able to offer an opinion when appropriate. He pretended to be contemplating the moon, oblivious to his surroundings, to keep anyone from noticing his silence. He actually did lose the train of the conversation for some minutes. When his attention reverted to the session, he found talk had somehow switched to domestic issues. He heard one of them say, “Any ruler can subdue Egypt without any risk.”

“As a matter of fact, any government established in Egypt becomes a dictatorship.”

“This is a country where people say, ‘I’m honored by your blow, sir.’ ”

Ahmad Asim stated categorically, “Egypt will never win its independence.”

“It’s used to being ruled by foreigners.”

Iffat laughed and asked, “Why does Egypt need to be independent? Its leaders fight each other for power, and the people are unfit to govern themselves.”

Mahgub thought this was a fitting opportunity to offer a moralizing comment in order to help shape a positive reputation for himself in line with a plan he had focused on since thinking about joining the Muslim Brotherhood. With a smile, he said, “Aren’t you ashamed to say something like this about your own nation?”

Iffat laughed again and replied in a loud voice, “I don’t have a drop of Egyptian blood in my veins.”

His remark provoked a storm of laughter, but Mahgub’s hatred for the man was doubled, not from chauvinistic anger but from disgust at his conceit. He remembered a ringing speech that Iffat’s father had delivered in the Senate. Thinking he had a stranglehold on the young man, he said in a victorious tone, “So how do you explain the speech your father, the pasha, gave in the Senate during a budget discussion in which he defended the peasant in a magnificently nationalist fashion?”

Iffat guffawed and replied a bit sarcastically, “That was in the Senate. At home we both agree — my father and I — that the best policy for the peasant is the whip.”

Everyone present — both men and women — laughed loudly. Mahgub smiled to mask his defeat. His fear had dissipated and he felt comfortable at being singled out as the defender of Egyptian nationalism. He told himself: Our true dress uniform is a cloak of hypocrisy. I won’t abandon that! He wondered sarcastically: How do you suppose Ali Taha would reform these noble people? How would he implement his ideals?

With the passage of time the yacht progressed through the waves as if swimming through the resplendent light. Mahgub was roused from his thoughts a third time when a young man explained, “Doubtless the wife obliged her husband, the pasha, to move into a hotel while she retained the chauffeur.”

A young woman asked with interest, “Did the pasha really make her choose between him and the chauffeur?”

“Yes.”

“Which one did she pick?”

“The chauffeur.”

He continued to listen selectively, to this person and that, feeling alert and attentive at times and absentminded and distracted at others, until al-Qanatir’s gardens appeared in the moonlight like the sweetest dreams. Then all the friends rose eagerly as Iffat Bey invited them to the buffet.

They rushed to be first to the tables and took their seats. Glasses were filled, and Iffat poured a glass for Ihsan. This was the first time she drank in public. In a low voice, she said, “One’s enough for me.”

The young man laughed and remarked, “You might as well cover yourself with a veil of piety and head down to al-Sayyida Zaynab’s shrine to preach and counsel.”

Then he whispered in her ear, “Look at Hikmat. She can drink an entire bottle without ever divulging a secret.”