The House of Jasmine by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid Page B

only break if they go insane.”
    â€œHassanayn has received his B.A.,” I told Magid after we hugged.
    â€œCongratulations. Now you will start making real history!” Magid said with a wide smile. Then he laughed and added, “Don’t you dare ask me about Cairo and the school of natural science!”
    Hassanayn and I looked at each other. Magid had just reminded us of a long-forgotten matter. We both cried at once, “So you found her?”
    â€œOf course I did.”
    â€œBoy! I bet she couldn’t believe all the trouble you went through,” I said.
    â€œOf course she didn’t,” Magid said, then turned to the waiter and said, “Bring us a backgammon board, Muhsin.”
    â€œWait a minute,” I said. “First tell us how you found her, and what happened.” Magid took off his glasses, started wiping them, then said without looking up at us: “I never found her. I was just joking. The whole thing was crazy, anyway. Now I’m studying German at the Goethe Institute. I’ll be traveling to Austria.”
    #
    Magid told us that he had bought a used Fiat and was planning to drive us around the city at night. He also said that Dr. Musa, who worked in the pharmacy with him, had secured a job for himself in Kuwait, and that he was now satisfied, was working hard, and treating the customers nicely.
    I told them about something that had happened in my building recently. Two weeks earlier, I had heard a noise on the stairs. I was excited at the thought of another resident moving in. I hadn’t seen a single resident in the building from the summer of 1976 until the summer of this year, 1979. I didn’t know what all the tenants were doing abroad for so long. For three whole years, I had locked the entrance to the building every night. . . I opened the door and, as I expected, saw delivery men carrying new furniture. I stood on the stairs for a moment listening to the sound of footsteps coming up and the carefree laughs of a young couple, who soon came up to where I was. There was an older woman who looked like she could be the girl’s mother. I was embarrassed at my intrusion and ashamed of my shaggy beard, but I remained standing on the stairs outside my apartment.
    â€œDo you live here?” the young man, who had very thick hair, asked me.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThen you must be Mr. Shagara,” said the girl with a smile as she looked up at me. I realized that ‘ Abdu al-Fakahani must have told them about me and given them a key to the front door. I also realized that it must have been ‘ Abdu who gave the police a key on the night when they came to arrest me. Maybe that was why he had seemed to be afraid of me when I went to see him after I was released, and maybe he thought that I was really dangerous. But that was an old story, and I should not have bothered with it anymore. Besides, the police would have gotten in with or without the key.
    â€œYes,” I finally answered.
    â€œDo you live alone, son?” asked the mother.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThen you will let us enjoy your company,” they all said at once, and then laughed. I smiled, but felt myself blush. I also felt that they were a bunch of barbarians. I’m not sure how I felt about them exactly. . . I was almost dancing with joy in my apartment for the rest of the day, for no matter what they were, they were still people who were going to live with me in this huge building. Besides, I saw the girl’s face become a bit pale after they all laughed. It was Friday, and I was getting ready to go fishing. I had bought some fishing equipment but I had not used it yet. I didn’t even use it that day, but never mind. I will use it some day. I took off my clothes and put on my bathing suit, but then I didn’t actually leave. I kept going out to the balcony and listening to the sounds of moving furniture on the floor above. I kept looking up, and one of them