Adama by al-Hamad Turki; Bray Robin;

Author:al-Hamad, Turki; Bray, Robin;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saqi

33

Hisham informed Fahd of Adnan’s agreement, and at the next meeting of the cell Fahd gave him a password to convey to Adnan: ‘Hauran’s a great place’. At the same time Fahd instructed Hisham to cut off all contact with Adnan. At this Hisham was taken aback. How could he do such a thing? This Fahd had no idea of the kind of relationship that bound him to Adnan, friend, comrade and faithful follower all in one; if it had not been for that relationship, Adnan would never have agreed to join. He had only invited Adnan to join the organisation because he was a friend, not for any other reason; would he really sacrifice Adnan for its sake? It was impossible, quite impossible.

Hisham discussed the matter with Fahd to no avail. Fahd insisted that the ties between comrades came above all others, that by comparison all other relationships and sacrifices paled in significance. When Hisham in turn resisted this argument, Fahd replied angrily that ending the friendship was a party order that Hisham had to execute to the letter, or else make himself liable to punishment by the organisation, which might be of the utmost severity.

On his way home after the meeting, Hisham turned those words over in his mind. ‘Punishment! Orders! Are we really getting away from the authority of the government and our parents? are we rebelling against the punishments inflicted by the state and the people alike, only to fall into a web of new orders and other sorts of punishment? We’ve gone from the frying pan into the fire. At least obeying the government doesn’t land you in prison, whereas obeying this lot ...! In the end it’s just another kind of obedience, just another kind of submission.’ He made up his mind to appear to give in, while disobeying them in practice, and the party and the organisation could go to hell.

Hisham told Adnan the password and explained that everything had been arranged, that all he had to do was wait. Deep down he wished Adnan would suddenly tell him he had second thoughts and no longer wanted to join the organisation, or instead that he himself could tell Adnan to forget it, that he had only been joking; then he could tell Fahd that Adnan had changed his mind. But Adnan did not change his mind, and neither did Hisham have the courage to tell him anything contrary to what he had said before.

Meanwhile Hisham took to observing Adnan closely at school. He wanted to know who the contact was – Goat-Face, or someone else? He did not let Adnan out of his sight for a moment, and Adnan himself was visibly pleased with the extra attention. One day during Mr Wasfi’s physics class, Hisham noticed Mansur Abd al-Ghani, sitting at a desk directly behind Adnan, pass him a little piece of paper. So, that monkey was the contact! When Adnan read the note, his jaw dropped and he looked behind him, his eyes wide and his face breaking into a sweat.

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