“Yes, you do! You remember the inquest that went on till morning. Then I was sent to prison. Even you used to put free people in prison. Unfortunately…”
“I don’t know precisely what you’re talking about,” Isa replied, retreating a little, “but I certainly remember the war days and the harsh circumstances which often forced us to do things we didn’t like doing.”
“That’s the traditional excuse. Never mind! What’s past is past.”
Isa did not say a word, but looked straight ahead to make it clear that he wished to be left alone, in the hope that the other man would go away and leave him in peace. But he started talking again. “The world has changed,” the man said gently. “Don’t think I’m being malicious. I would never do a thing like that, I promise you. But I often feel sorry…”
“I don’t need your sympathy,” Isa interrupted somewhat angrily.
“Don’t get angry and misunderstand my reasons for intruding on you. I would like to discuss things seriously with you.”
“What?”
“The world around us!”
Isa realized that he was still drunk. “Nothing bothers me anymore,” he said.
“It’s quite the opposite with me,” the young man replied. “Everything concerns me; I think about everything…”
“Then I hope the world turns out as you wish.”
“Isn’t that better than sitting in the dark under Saad Zaghlul’s statue?”
“That’s fine as far as I’m concerned. Don’t bother about me.”
“You haven’t made up your mind to open your heart to me yet.”
“Why should I? Don’t you see that the whole world’s a bore?”
“I haven’t got time to be bored.”
“What are you doing then?”
“I make a joke of the troubles I used to have, and look ahead with a smile. I smile in spite of everything; so much that you might think I was mad.”
“What makes you smile?”
“Incredible dreams,” the young man replied in a still more earnest tone. “Let’s choose somewhere better to talk.”
“I’m sorry,” Isa replied quickly. “Actually I’ve already had two glasses of cognac and now I need some rest.”
“You want me to sit in the dark under Saad Zaghlul’s statue,” the young man replied regretfully.
Isa did not say a word. The young man stood up to leave. “You don’t want to talk to me,” he said. “I shouldn’t pester you anymore.” He walked away in the direction of the city.
Isa watched him as he left. What an odd young man! I wonder what he’s doing now, he thought. Had those troubles really taken pity on him? Why was he looking ahead with a smile? He kept watching the young man till he reached the edge of the square. He had not meant him any harm after all. Why didn’t I encourage him to talk? Maybe I should ask him to help me overcome my boredom, even at this hour of the night. Our conversation might lead us into an adventure that would brighten up the night.
He saw the young man disappear in the direction of Safiyya Zaghlul Street. I could catch up with him, he thought, if I didn’t waste any more time hesitating. He jumped to his feet in a sudden drunken spurt of enthusiasm and started after the young man with long strides, leaving the seat behind him sunk in solitude and darkness.
Translated from the Arabic by Roger Allen.
Revised by John Rodenbeck.
AUTUMN QUAIL NOTES
1. ’Ala Kaifak: the name means “as you like” or “whatever you like,” and may have some symbolic significance—perhaps suggesting Isa’s nihilism.
2. Athenios: a café-restaurant in Alexandria.
3. Al-Azarita: a district of Alexandria, also known as Al-Mazarita.
4. bawwab: doorman.
5. Bey: title of respect for important men, from the Turkish; formerly the title of the governor of a small Ottoman province. Went out of official use in Egypt after the 1952 revolution, but continues as a polite mode of address and reference.
6. Camp Cesare: a district of Alexandria.
7. casino: not a place to gamble, but a teahouse or restaurant, especially one along the Corniche in Alexandria or along the river in Cairo. A local evolution from the European-style casinos established around Azbakiya in the nineteenth century.
8. “clear destruction”: the Arabic adjective mubiin (clear, obvious, self-evident) is used many times in the Qur’an, thus giving this phrase a “Qur’anic” flavor.
9. colocynth: a bitter fruit.
10. condemned man in the mountain: in Egyptian Arabic, the word for “mountain” is often used to mean “desert,” “wasteland,” or, to Nile Valley residents, far-off, isolated areas such as the desert oases. Egyptian regimes have at times sent some criminals to work in areas such as these; thus “the condemned man in the mountain” would be a man sentenced to labor in the far reaches of the country.
11. conquian: a card game similar to rummy.
12. Corniche: from the French, a road passing alongside water (i.e., in Cairo, along the Nile; in Alexandria, along the Mediterranean coast).
13. Dokki: an upper-middle-class district of Giza, across the river from Cairo; it was then, as it is now, associated with the nouveau arrivé.
14. faqih: a reader or reciter of the Qur’an.
15. ful: fava beans; one of the staples of the Egyptian diet.
16. gallabiyya: the ankle-length garment worn by men of the lower classes in Egypt.
17. Gleem: a district of Alexandria.
18. Groppi’s: a famous café-restaurant in Cairo; its proprietors were European.
19. Al-Hajj(a): someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca (the “a” indicates a woman).
20. Hanem: a term of respect addressed to a woman, much as the terms Bey and Pasha are applied to a man.
21. Hijaz: The area of the Arabian peninsula, formerly a kingdom and now a viceroyalty, that includes Mecca and Medina. The sandalwood rosary is typical of the sort of souvenir brought back by pilgrims from the Holy Places.
22. Al-Ibrahimiyya: a district of Alexandria.
23. khamsin: the hot winds which blow off the desert in Egypt, carrying dense clouds of sand.
24. khwaaga: the colloquial Egyptian term for “foreigner.”
25. Maghrebi: from the Maghreb, or northwestern Africa.
26. nargila: the hookah or hubble-bubble.
27. Notable (a‘yan): a technical term used in Ottoman and later times to denote the local families of influence.
28. Pasha: title of high civil or military rank used in the Ottoman Empire and continuing in official use in Egypt until the 1952 revolution. Still in use as a polite or respectful term of address.
29. Ra’s al-Barr: a small town in the Nile Delta.
30. Ramla Square: the square in central Alexandria from which the trains for Ramla leave and where the Trianon restaurant is located.
31. Ar-Risalat al-Qushairiyya: a treatise by the famous mystic Al-Qushairi (d. 1072).
32. Saad: see Zaghlul.
33. Sakakini: a district of Cairo.
34. second grade: the second highest rank in the civil service; the next step would be an under-secretaryship.
35. Sharia: the Arabic word for “street.”
36. Sidi Bishr: a resort district in Alexandria.
37. Sidi Umar: the second Caliph, renowned for his asceticism and astuteness.
38. Spatis: a popular Egyptian cordial.
39. Sufism: Islamic mysticism.
40. taamiyya: a pâté made from crushed beans, onions, garlic, and parsley.
41. Tanta: a town on the railway line midway between Cairo and Alexandria; a center of pilgrimage in Egypt.
42. twenty-third of July: 1952. The day on which the Army officers took over the government, disbanding Parliament and outlawing the parties.
43. ulama: religious scholars, particularly those who have studied at Al-Azhar, a mosque and university in Cairo which was long the center of the Islamic intellectual world.
44. u
mda: the head of the village community in Egypt, responsible for such things as tax collection and drafting villagers into the Army.
45. Urabi Pasha: the hero and martyr of nineteenth-century Egyptian nationalism of the 1880s, when the autonomy of the country was threatened by European concerns over investments. The nationalist movement was crushed, but never forgotten, in 1882, when British troops defeated the Egyptian Army. This uprising was also characterized by fires, as Alexandria was set ablaze by the fighting.
46. Ustaz: literally “professor,” but used in Egyptian colloquial dialect to mean little more than “Mr.”
47. Wafd: “delegation”; the name of the political party founded in 1919 by Saad Zaghlul which was the major political force in Egypt before the 1952 revolution.
48. Al-Wayiliyya: a district of Cairo.
49. Zaghlul, Saad: the famous Egyptian nationalist leader and Prime Minister, 1924–27; founder of the Wafd Party, to which Isa belonged.
50. Zizinia: a district of Alexandria.
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Naguib Mahfouz, The Beggar, the Thief and the Dogs, Autumn Quail
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