The Spider's House by Paul Bowles

Author:Paul Bowles
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780720606461
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 1955-03-15T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

When he got to his room, slightly out of breath, for the day was not only hot but unaccountably sultry and oppressive, his door was open and Rhaissa was scrubbing the floor. She had taken up the rugs and hung them over the balconies in the windows. The room smelled of the creosote solution in her pail. Pillows and bedclothes were piled on the chairs; his presence in the room at the moment was clearly redundant. However, he stepped inside and said to her: “Any more news?” She looked up, startled, and motioned for him to close the door behind him, which he did. Then, standing up and rolling her eyes in a way meant to imply conspiracy, she said: “There’s not going to be any feast.”

“Feast? What feast?” He had quite forgotten the advent of the Aid el Kebir.

“Why, the Feast of the Sheep, the great feast! We’ve had our sheep on the roof for three weeks. Now he is very fat. But they will kill anyone who makes the sacrifice.”

“Who will? What are you talking about?” He was in an unpleasant humor, he realized now, but he felt that it was partly her fault. Besides that, he wanted to sit down, and there was no place.

“The Moslems. The friends of freedom. They say anyone who sacrifices his sheep is a traitor to the Sultan.”

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