The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz

Author:Naguib Mahfouz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

25.

As he emerged from the archway on his way home he heard a harsh voice asking, “Who’s there?”

He recognized the voice of his brother Wahid, the clan chief, and answered, smiling, “Qurra Samaha al-Nagi.”

The chief laughed. They stood, two shadows in the darkness. “Were you sitting up in the square like our noble ancestors?” he taunted.

“I was taking the baby to see it.”

“Congratulations. I was going to come and see you in the shop tomorrow.”

“Why don’t you visit me at home?”

“You know I avoid the place.”

“It’s your home too,” said Qurra gently.

In a different tone of voice, Wahid said, “I wanted to talk to you about something else as well.”

“Nothing serious, I hope?”

“Our brother, Rummana.”

Qurra sighed and said nothing.

“He’s spending money foolishly. I don’t want to preach, but I know only the clan chief can afford to spend like that!”

“He doesn’t take kindly to being told. It just makes him angry.”

“It’s suicide,” said Wahid angrily.

26.

It seemed that whatever bound Rummana and Raifa together was more powerful than good and evil, and made their fights irrelevant. Neither thought of abandoning the other, however fiercely they quarreled. They bickered and made up continuously, mixing violent abuse and sweet talk, nagging and loving sighs, accusations and kisses. She believed he was infertile; he thought it was her. She never looked at another man, and he never dreamed of remarrying.

“It’s fate,” he would declare when he was drunk.

27.

Radwan died after a short illness. He had kept himself so isolated that people had forgotten all about him and when he died they remembered him again for a few days. His share in the grain business went to Rummana and Qurra, and the rest of his inheritance was divided between his wife Unsiyya and his sister Safiyya.

28.

Rummana was no longer satisfied by drink and drugs and gradually turned to gambling to take the edge off his boredom. One day Qurra’s patience ran out and he confronted him in the office. “You’re spending money like water.”

“It’s my money,” said Rummana coldly.

“Sometimes you have to borrow from me.”

“I always pay you back, don’t I?”

“But it’s harmful to the business, and we’re meant to be partners,” said Qurra irritably. “What’s more, you hardly do any work these days.”

“That’s because you don’t trust me with anything.”

Qurra hesitated, then said, “It’s better for both of us if we go our separate ways, and set up independent businesses before we go under together.”

29.

The family was upset by the news of the breakup, but Wahid visited Qurra and advised him frankly to do what he thought was in his interest. “Your son’s growing older by the day,” he said, and added scathingly, “Rummana’s a pig like our stepfather.”

Safiyya had a meeting with Qurra and Rummana to put forward her proposal. “Qurra could run the business on his own and Rummana would receive a percentage of the profits to do what he liked with.”

“I’m not a child, auntie,” protested Rummana.

“The honor of the Nagis is in your hands,” she told them, her eyes brimming with tears.

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