Cities of Salt 3: Variations on Night and Day by Abdelrahman Munif

Author:Abdelrahman Munif [Munif, Abdelrahman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Middle East, Fiction
Published: 2021-11-09T04:33:55+00:00

21

MISS MARGOT HAD MOVED FROM OXFORD TO London, mainly to be near the British Museum Library. She was working on a new book, about Britain’s role in conquering indigenous diseases in the Indian subcontinent, and had an insatiable need for documents. Her latest book, completed a few years since, had been a mixture of mem­oirs and impressions, with a good deal of research, focusing on the reciprocal influences of English and Indian cultures, with special at­tention to the influence on children’s stories.

Fanar brought Miss Margot a number of gifts: three bolts of silk; a gold necklace with a bright topaz-hued stone; two cashmere wool shawls, one gray and the other fawn-colored; he had been sure to ask his men to buy a multicolored, locally made carpet like the one he had seen in her house before, which she had brought from Colombo, of which she was inordinately fond; three large goatskins; and an assort­ment of silver and pearl-studded ornaments.

He longed to bring her even more gifts, but the suddenness of the journey, which had been planned within just a few days, prevented him. He had furthermore decided to visit her in Oxford, “no matter how short the time is,” as he said, “and spend several days with her.” He was greatly surprised to learn that she was in London. Hamilton had told him many times that his aunt Margot sent him her regards but had forgotten to tell him that she had moved. Now that he knew, he was eager to visit her as soon as possible.

Miss Margot had not changed; it was as though the intervening years had lost their way and never found her. This was Fanar’s impres­sion in their first meeting; on the other hand, she refused to believe that the man before her was the same lad who had stayed two months with her just a few years ago. In all the time he had stayed with her, Fanar had never dared to look directly or scrutinizingly at her, but found himself doing so now. He even asked her to stand up and try on the two shawls so that he could tell whether they suited her! She held the necklace in her hands for a long time, gazing at it, and when she raised her face to his, she stammered, “I should have had a necklace like this one thirty or forty years ago.” She sighed deeply.

“So many beautiful things, so many things we long for, come to us too late.” She smiled sadly, but did not let her momentary gloom overwhelm her, and unrolled the carpet.

“Carpets reflect the psychology of peoples much better than the speeches of their leaders and politicians do,” she observed, and pro­duced a soft laugh, like the meow of a cat. “Forgive me — I wasn’t referring to anyone in particular.”

She paused and nodded. “One can best explore peoples, and know them most intimately, through their songs, their woven textiles, their children’s stories …”

She would have liked to go on, but Hamilton broke in.

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