air. The car was jolted with the shock and nearly turned over, and they were thrown against the seats and doors by Ragab's violent braking. Sobs and cries of 'God forbid!' broke out.
'Somebody was hit!'
'Killed ten times over.'
'We should have seen this coming!'
'God, what an appalling night!'
'Get a grip on yourselves!' Ragab shouted. He pushed himself up in his seat and turned to look out through the back window. Then he sat down again and started to drive off. Ahmad leaned toward him, a question on his lips. 'We must get out of here!' Ragab said decisively.
There was a sick silence. 'It's the only solution!' he continued.
Nobody uttered a word. Then Samara whispered: 'Perhaps he needs help?'
'He's already finished.'
She said, this time more loudly: 'You can't just… lay down the law like this!'
'What can we do, anyway! We are not doctors!'
'Well, what do you all think?' said Samara, turning to the others. And when not a word was said, she began: 'I think — '
Ragab furiously slammed on the brakes. The car stopped in the middle of the road. Then he turned to the others. 'Let no one say tomorrow that I took this decision into my own hands. I leave it up to you. What do you think we should do?' And then, when there was silence, he shouted: 'Answer me! I promise you that I will do whatever you tell me!'
'We must get out of here!' said Khalid. 'It's the only solution. If anyone disagrees, let them say so now.'
'Get moving,' Mustafa said anxiously. 'Otherwise there's no hope.'
Layla was still crying, which made Saniya start as well. At that point, Ragab turned to Samara. 'As you see,' he said, 'we have a consensus.'
And when she said nothing, he started off.
'We're living in the world,' he said. 'Not in a play.'
They set off at a slow and steady pace. He drove woodenly, tense and thunderous. A funereal silence reigned. Anis closed his eyes, only to see the black shape flying through the air. Was he still perhaps in pain? Or did he not know why, and how, he had been killed? Or why he existed? Or was he finished forever? Did life just pass away, as if it had never been?
They drove without stopping until they reached the houseboat. They got out of the car without speaking. Ragab stayed behind to look at the hood of the car. Amm Abduh rose to greet them, but no one paid him any attention. Their faces looked pallid and devastated in the light of the blue lamp. It was not long before Ragab joined them, his features set hard in a way that they had not seen before.
When the silence became intolerable, Ali said: 'It could perhaps have been an animal…'
'That scream was human,' replied Ahmad.
'Do you think the investigation will lead to us?'
'We'll only lose sleep over that idea.'
'And it was accidental,' muttered Ragab.
'But to run away is a crime,' said Samara.
'We had no option!' he said harshly. 'And the decision was unanimous!' And he began to pace back and forth between the balcony and the door. Then he said: 'I am desolate… but it is best that we forget the whole thing.'
'If only we could!'
'We must forget; any other action would ruin the reputation of three ladies, and confound the rest of us — and send me straight to court.'
Amm Abduh came. They looked at him in irritation, but he did not notice anything unusual. 'Do you need anything?' he asked.
Ragab signaled him to go. He left the room, saying that he was going to the mosque.
After he had gone, Ragab asked: 'Do you think the old man understood anything?'
'He understands nothing,' Anis replied.
'We should all leave now,' said Ragab nervously.
Khalid agreed. 'Dawn is about to break.'
Khalid, Layla, Ali, Saniya, Mustafa, and Ahmad left.
Ragab turned to Samara. 'I am sorry to have caused you such distress,' he said, 'but come with me now, so that I can take you home.'
She shook her head in revulsion. 'Not in that car.'
'You don't believe in ghosts, surely!'
'No — but it was me it ran over…'
'Don't let your imagination run away with you!'
'It's true. I'm… shattered.'
'All the same, I won't leave you. We can walk together until you find a taxi.' And he stood in front of her, waiting for her to rise to her feet.
16
The voice of Amm Abduh, making the dawn call to prayer, came to him; and he thought: I am alone. I should call someone to be with me, or go to be with someone.
He gestured with his arm at the night, and thought: The mystery has evaporated from my head and I am sober. He laughed at the extraordinary idea. But he was sober; and here was the coming dawn without a single voice talking, and there was no trace of the whale. Where was the rest of that fine stuff they had put in the pipe — run over by a car? The Caliph al-Hakim had murdered so many. When he came to believe that he was a god, he forbade the people to eat _mulukhiya_. Why did I give in and go out with them? So have I been crowned a killer. The speed, the madness, the murder, the escape; the sharp discussion, the taking of votes in bloodstained democracy. My wife and child rose and died once more. No one save the dead will sleep tonight. That scream, which mocked the perfection of the heavenly spheres! Unknown, from unknown to unknown. When would his mind have mercy on itself and surrender to sleep? The Caliph al-Hakim went up on the mountain to practice his sublime secrets, and did not return. He has not returned to this day. No trace of him has been found, but they still look for him now. That is why I say that he is alive. A blind man saw him once, but no one believed him. He might yet appear to those who smoke the pipe on the night that marks the Qur'an's revelation. As for that unknown man, he has murdered sleep.
His distracted gaze lingered on the refrigerator, just above the door. For the first time he discovered the resemblance between the curve of the door and the forehead of Ali al-Sayyid. And it had eyes as well, filled with tears of mirth. They said that the Caliph al-Hakim had been killed. Impossible. A man such as he could not be killed. But he could, if he wished, commit suicide. From the top of the mountain, he had looked down on Cairo, and commanded the mountain to crush the city; and when the mountain did not carry out his command he realized that his struggle was absurd, and killed himself. That is why I say that he is alive, and may still appear to those who smoke the pipe on the Night of Revelation…
He heard Amm Abduh's voice now, from the garden, as he was returning from the prayer. 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,' he was murmuring. Anis called him, and the old man came at once. 'Aren't you asleep yet?' he said.
'Have you taken the rest of that good kif?' Anis asked him.
'No, I have not!'
'I've looked for it everywhere; I don't know where it has gone.'
'Why are you still awake?'
'My head is still spinning from that damned trip.'
'You must go to sleep. It will soon be morning.'
