poured the whiskey, “I acquired this habit living in the West for many years: to have a drink with my meals.”
“You, sir, exert a superhuman effort in your work and you are entitled to some recreation.”
Safwat answered him with a dignified smile as he sipped his drink. He ate heartily then got up to leave. Danana saw him off to the door, and they had a short, serious conversation about what should be done in the following days. Danana stood bidding his master good-bye with his eyes until he disappeared inside the elevator. Danana sighed and closed the door behind him. And, just as a main character’s face changes from good to evil in science fiction movies, Danana’s features changed gradually as he crossed the corridor. When he reached the bedroom, his face expressed extreme wrath. He opened the door forcefully and found his wife lying down on the bed. He shouted in a thunderous voice, “Your behavior with the man was in extreme poor taste.”
“It’s he who doesn’t know how to behave properly. How can he come into your house when you are not there?” Marwa responded calmly.
“He wanted me for an important matter.”
“He could’ve left a message.”
“It’s much more important than that.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Do you know who Safwat Shakir is?”
“It doesn’t matter who he is.”
“Safwat Shakir is the intelligence officer in the Egyptian embassy and the most important official there, more important than the ambassador himself. One report from him can raise me sky-high or ruin my future.”
Marwa looked at him for a long time, as if seeing him for the first time. “No matter what his post is, he has no right to enter your house when you are not there. Besides, I refuse to turn my house into a tavern.”
“I won’t allow you to ruin my future. I warn you. If he comes here again and you behave improperly toward him, it will be the end between us.”
“How I wish for this end and await it impatiently!” she said, looking at his face, itching for a confrontation. He shouted at her, “That’s my mistake, marrying into an ignorant family.”
“I won’t allow you to insult my family.”
“That’s not an insult, it’s a fact.”
“Don’t you dare— ”
“Your father, Hagg Nofal: is he educated or ignorant?”
“My father’s circumstances did not enable him to get an education, but he did his best and raised us and gave us the best education.”
“But he’s still ignorant.”
“My ignorant father, whom you don’t like, is the one spending his money on your house.”
Danana raised his hand and slapped her so hard she staggered back. She pounced on him and grabbed his shirt screaming, “You hit me? I won’t live with you another single day. Divorce me now, at once.”
Chapter 9
Thirty years later he still remembers that night vividly.
He had to abandon his shift at Qasr al-Ayni to go to her. Security forces were cordoning off the Cairo University campus completely, preventing entry or exit. Between University Bridge and the front gate several security checkpoints stopped him. They asked him the same questions and he gave them the same answers. At the last checkpoint there was a colonel who seemed to be the commander in charge. He looked tired and nervous and was smoking voraciously. He exhaled a thick cloud of his cigarette and said after inspecting his doctor’s identity card, “What do you want, Doctor?”
“I have a relative in the sit-in. I’ve come to return her to her family.”
“Her name?”
“Zeinab Radwan, College of Economics.”
The officer fixed him with an experienced glance and, as if he’d reassured himself that he was telling the truth, said, “I advise you to take her with you as soon as possible. We’ve given them an ultimatum to end the sit-in, but they seem bent on disobedience. Any moment now we are going to receive instructions to use force. When we do we will beat them without mercy and arrest them all.”
“Please, sir, keep in mind that they are young and angry for their country.”
“We also are patriotic Egyptians, but we don’t demonstrate and wreak havoc.”
“I hope Your Excellency would treat them as a father.”
“Not father nor mother. I am carrying out orders!” the officer shouted loudly as if resisting an internal sympathy. Then he moved back two steps and gave a signal whereupon the troops moved aside, letting him through. The campus was dark and the January cold was boring into his bones. He buttoned his overcoat tightly and put his hands in his pockets. Posters and wall newspapers covered the buildings. He couldn’t make out what was written on them in the dark, with the exception of a large picture of Sadat smoking a waterpipe. He saw hundreds of students sitting on the grass and on the steps. Many were asleep, some were smoking and talking, and some were singing Sheikh Imam songs. He looked for her for a while until he found her. She was standing in front of the large Assembly Hall arguing enthusiastically with several other students. He got close and called out to her. She went toward him and said in that warm way of hers that he couldn’t forget, “Hello.”
He answered tersely, “You look tired.”
“I am fine.”
“I’d like you to come with me.”
“Where to?”
“To your house and your family.”
“You came to take me by the hand to Mama’s bosom? You want me to wash my feet and drink my milk so that she will put me in bed, cover me, and tell me a bedtime story?”
He realized from her sarcasm that his task was not going to be easy. He looked at her reproachfully and said in a firm tone of voice, “I am not going to let you hurt yourself.”
“That’s my business.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“I and my colleagues have specific demands, and we will not end the sit-in until they are met.”
“You think you’ll change the universe?”
“We’ll change Egypt.”
“Egypt will not be changed by a demonstration.”
“We are speaking for all Egyptians.”
“Stop these illusions. People outside the university don’t know anything about you. Please, Zeinab, come with me. The officer said they will arrest you.”
“Let them do what they want.”
“Would you like the soldiers to beat you and drag you on the ground?”
“I am not leaving my colleagues, no matter what.”
“I am afraid for you,” he whispered anxiously. She fixed him with a derisive glance and then turned around, going back to her colleagues. She started talking with them again and ignored him. For a while he stood where he was, looking at her. Then he left angrily and told himself that she was crazy and would never be good for him, and that if he married her their home would turn into a battlefield. He thought that she was conceited and obstinate; she had treated him insolently and scornfully. He had warned her, but she persisted in her foolishness. Let the soldiers beat her or drag her on the ground, let them violate her. From now on he would not feel any sympathy for her. It was she who chose her fate. He went to bed exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep. He kept tossing and turning until he heard the call to the dawn prayers. He got up and bathed, put on his clothes, and went back to the university. He found out that the soldiers had stormed it and arrested the students. He made strenuous efforts to contact his acquaintances until he was able, finally, to visit her at the security directorate in the afternoon. She was quite pale, her lower lip swollen, and there were blue bruises around her left brow and on her forehead. He extended his hand and touched her face, saying sadly, “Does it hurt?”
