Palace Walk: The Cairo Trilogy, Volume 1 by Naguib Mahfouz

Author:Naguib Mahfouz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anchor
Published: 2016-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

41

YASIN WAS quite intoxicated when he retired to the bedroom. Since Kamal had fallen sound asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, Yasin was alone with Fahmy. Free at last from parental supervision, he felt in the mood for a noisy row as a release from the nervous strain he had been under all evening, especially on the way home when he had struggled to control himself and act right. Since the room was too cramped for rowdiness, he felt like relieving his tensions by talking. He looked at Fahmy, who was getting undressed, and said sarcastically, “Compared with our brilliant father, we’re failures. He’s truly some man.”

Although this statement revived Fahmy’s pain and anxiety, he was content to answer with a bitter smile, “You’ve been blessed too. What an excellent son!”

“Are you sad our father’s one of the great skirt chasers?”

“I wish there had been no change in the ideal picture I’ve had in my soul.”

Rubbing his hands merrily, Yasin said, “The real picture is even more splendid and delightful. He’s more than a father. He’s the ultimate. Oh, if you had only seen him grasping the tambourine, with a glass shining in front of him. Bravo…bravo, al-Sayyid Ahmad!”

Fahmy asked uneasily, “What about his prudence and piety?”

Yasin frowned in order to concentrate on the question, but he found it easier to merge opposites than to reconcile them. Motivated by nothing but admiration, he replied, “There’s absolutely no problem there at all. Your cowardly intellect’s just creating the problem from nothing. My father’s prudent, a Muslim, and loves women. It’s as simple and clear as one plus one equals two. Perhaps I’m the one who most resembles him, because I’m a Muslim believer and love women, although I’m not too prudent. You yourself are a believer, prudent, and love women, but you base your acts on faith and prudence while shying away from the third alternative: women.” He laughed. “It’s the third that lasts.”

Yasin’s final statement was only remotely linked to his admiration for his father that had started him rattling on and was only superficially in defense of him. It was really an expression of a burning feeling Yasin’s intoxication had aroused. Once the guardians he respected were out of the way, he experienced a raging lust incited by an imagination charged with alcohol. His body felt a mad craving for love, and his willpower was unable to bridle it or coax it away. But where could he find what he wanted? Did he have enough time?…Zanuba?…What was keeping him from her? It wasn’t far. It wouldn’t take long to make love with her. Then he could come home and sleep deeply and calmly. He was delighted by these visions and seemed not to have a brain to make him think twice. He was in a rush to bring them to pass with no further delay. He quickly told his brother, “It’s hot. I’m going up to the roof to enjoy the moist night air.”

He left the room

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