Adrift on the Nile

"Damn you all! Your lives will be over before you get the message!"

The water pipe circulated, favoring Saniya, who had not smoked since Ramadan. She's dark, nervous, likes to laugh, thought Anis. And she never forgets her children even in the intoxication of love and kif. She will go back to her husband in the end. But she will live with him one year and leave him the next, swearing always that it is his fault. Ragab brought her the first time, just as he had brought Layla, for he is the god of sex, the provider of women for our boat. I knew an ancient forebear of his who walked the forests before one house was built on the face of the earth, who in the arms of women would bury his fears of animals and darkness and the unknown and death. Who had a radar in his eyes and a radio in his ears and a grenade for a fist. Who achieved extraordinary victories before expiring exhausted. And as for his great-grandson, Ragab . . .

The houseboat shook. Ragab al-Qadi's voice could be heard. He was talking to someone with him. "Watch your step, my dear," he was saying.

Their faces were filled with anticipation. "Perhaps an actress from the studio," murmured Khalid.

Ragab appeared from behind the screen by the door. He was slender, dark, and fine-featured--and preceded by a teenage girl. She was also dark, with small regular features in a round, shallow-looking face. Ragab had clearly noticed his friends' surprise at her extreme youth. Smiling, he announced in a melodious voice: "This is Miss Sana al-Rashidi, a student at the Faculty of Arts."

4

All eyes were fixed on the newcomer, who remained unperturbed and met their gazes with a bold smile.

Ragab put his arm around her waist and led her to sit beside him. "Rescue me, master of pleasures!" he said.

"In front of Mademoiselle?" Ahmad queried.

Ragab reproached him. "There's no need for pretense," he said. "Not with such a sincere admirer!"

He took a long, deep drag on the pipe, so that the charcoal on the tobacco glowed and sent up a dancing tongue of flame. He closed his eyes in gratification, and then opened them to say: "Let me introduce you to the friends who from this night on will be your family."

Then he realized for the first time that Saniya Kamil was there. He shook her hand warmly and guessed the reason for her coming, and she agreed, laughing, that he was right. He introduced her to Sana.

"Saniya Kamil, graduate of the Mère de Dieu College, wife and mother. A truly excellent woman, who in times of domestic distress returns to her old friends. A lady with great experience of womanhood, as single girl, wife, and mother--a fund of wisdom for the young girls on our houseboat."

Involuntary sounds of mirth. Sana smiled.

Saniya gave Ragab a cold, but not angry glance. Ragab turned to Layla.

"Miss Layla Zaydan, graduate of the American University, a translator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is no one more beautiful or cultured than she, not in the whole history of female advancement in this country. Oh, by the way, her hair really is that golden color; it's not a wig, or dyed."

Then he turned his attention to Anis, absorbed in his work. "Anis Zaki, civil servant in the Ministry of Health, and the company's master of ceremonies and Minister for Pipe-Smoking Affairs. A man as cultured as your good self--this is his library--who has made the rounds of the Medicine, Science, and Law faculties, each time departing--like any good man unconcerned with appearances--with knowledge and not qualifications. He is from a respectable country family, but has lived alone in Cairo for a long time; he is quite a cosmopolitan now. Don't take his silence amiss--he seldom speaks, roaming as he does in another realm entirely."

Ahmad was the next to be introduced. "Ahmad Nasr, Director of Accounts at the Ministry of Social Affairs. A civil servant of note, expert in a great number of matters--selling, buying, and many other things of a practical and useful nature. He has a daughter your age, Sana, but he is an exceptional husband, worthy of attention. Imagine--he has been married for twenty years and has never once deceived his wife. Her company does not bore him; in fact, his attachment to married life grows stronger. He should be a case study at the next medical conference."

Ragab continued, indicating Mustafa now. "Mustafa Rashid, the well-known lawyer. Successful advocate and philosopher as well, married to an inspector in the Ministry of Education. He searches earnestly for the Absolute, and no doubt he will succeed in finding it one of these nights. But beware of him, my dear, for he says that to this day he has not found the perfect ideal of womanhood. . . ."

Ragab then gave Ali a pat on the back. "Ali al-Sayyid, the famous art critic. Of course, you have read his work. I have the pleasure of informing you that he dreams of an ideal city, an imaginary one. As for the reality, he has two wives, and is also the close friend of Saniya Kamil, not to mention anything else . . ."