The famous Nazi field marshal Hermann Goering, chief of the Luftwaffe, visited Italy, and the world awaited the outcome of the visit with bated breath. Ismet Inonu, the president of the Turkish Republic, gave a speech in which he declared his country’s neutrality and its intention to stay out of the war. An embargo on foreign theater troupes was enacted, in order to cut down on expenses and to show appreciation for Egyptian troupes. Some cynics commented that international travel routes were already cut off because of the war. Serge Bujolosky, a foreign artist living in Paris, returned Watteau‘s painting L’indiffèrent, which he had stolen from the Louvre the previous June. He said that he loved the French eighteenth-century painter and especially that painting, which he had wanted to restore. The experts said that in fact he had damaged it, which earned him a two-year jail sentence. Memorial services were held at the French cemeteries in Alexandria for the French casualities of the Great War. The Consul General of France and notables of the French community attended the services. It seemed that Hitler was not going to attack the French front before the following spring.
Izz al-Din Abd al-Qadir, who had fired shots at Nahhas Pasha’s car, filed an appeal to overturn the ten-year jail sentence he had received. The appeal was continued. Royal birthdays were celebrated, one for Princess Fawziya upon her reaching nineteen. The celebrations were held simultaneously at the royal palace in Cairo and in the imperial palace in Tehran, since she was the wife of the Iranian crown prince. The sixty-fifth birthday of the Egyptian crown prince, Muhammad Ali, was also celebrated, as was the sixteenth birthday of Princess Fayza. The Romanian embassy celebrated the coming of age of Prince Michael, son of King Carol II and Princess Helena of Greece. The biggest air battle yet between the French and the German forces took place over Alsace. The French shot down nine German planes. King Leopold of Belgium and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands tried to reconcile the warring powers and made an initiative to that effect. Advertisements for Re-Zex pills announced, “Men of Egypt, science has come to you from faraway America. Perform like a twenty-year-old even if you are fifty. For eleven piasters, the price of one bottle of Re-Zex pills, you can say good-bye to being ashamed of your declining physical ability and vigor.”
Hitler gave a speech at the Munich beer hall where in 1923 he had shouted, “The National Revolution has begun,” and where he had announced that Germany was fighting for her Lebensraum. Then in 1937, he announced that Germany’s Lebensraum was Eastern Europe, and that Poland, White Russia, and the Ukraine should be wiped out of existence, along with their populations, and become part of Germany. That was why, when he invaded Poland, the Russians did not hesitate to invade it from the other side, to safeguard the Ukraine and White Russia, and if Hitler turned on them, the Russians would share Poland with him. After Hitler departed, a bomb exploded in the beer hail and its roof collapsed, but there were no injuries. His Majesty contributed the sum of three hundred Egyptian pounds to the charity fund managed by the ministry of social affairs. Belgium and the Netherlands began to fear that Hitler might violate their neutrality. The price of Egyptian eggs rose from 180 piasters per thousand to 280 piasters. Turkey observed the anniversary of Ataturk’s death. Amsterdam began to flood parts of its borders to slow down any German attack. Belgium declared universal mobilization. Joint maneuvers between the Egyptian and British armies were conducted in the Western desert.
Two automatic telephone exchanges were built in Alexandria, in Ibrahimiya and Glymenopoulo. Owners of match factories complained about the government-imposed prices, which did not take into account the rise in the cost of wood and other raw materials. Near Victoria in Alexandria the body of a young man, about twenty-five years old, was discovered in the well by a water wheel. Laurel and Hardy split. The newspapers showed Hardy acting in a new film with Harry Langdon. People were depressed because of this. The students of the Princess Fayza School for Girls distributed clothing and underwear to the students in girls’ elementary schools in Alexandria on the occasion of the birthday of Her Royal Highness. A poor woman reported to the public prosecutor that her daughter, whom she had introduced to an employment agency seven months earlier, had disappeared. After a search it was discovered that the girl’s first employer had sold her to a woman who ran a brothel in Qina and that the woman in turn had sold her to another brothel in Minya, who in turn had sold her to a brothel in Alexandria. Then she was sold to a brothel in Tanta. For seven months, she had been sold to brothels from south to north.
9
A city becomes a world
when one loves one of its inhabitants.
During the feast at the end of Ramadan, Magd al-Din found out for sure that he had lost his land. His brother-in-law visited him and learned of Bahi’s death. Magd al-Din told him to spare his mother the trouble of coming to visit her son’s tomb or better still, not to tell her at all. His brother-in-law told him about a project for an expressway that would go through the village and many people’s property, including Magd al-Din’s, and that no one could expect adequate compensation, and the mayor was behind the project. Magd al-Din remembered Bahi telling him to kiss his land good-bye and was silent for a long time, until he heard his cousin and brother-in-law say, “Emergency laws are in effect. The mayor can banish anyone — he can kill anyone, too. The emergency laws give him the right to do whatever he wants. May God protect the country and the people.”
So Magd al-Din can easily be killed. That is what his brother-in-law is suggesting.
“Anyway, if you happen to get any compensation, please send it to me.”
His brother-in-law gave him twenty pounds, his share of the year’s crop. Magd al-Din realized that that was the last money he would ever see for his land. He also realized that he had to stay in Alexandria for good.
Alexandria was getting colder. Rain had fallen off and on for several nights in a row. The alleys and streets south of the city had become muddy. Zahra did not know how she would spend the feast days in her new city. Camilla and Yvonne promised to take her on a boat ride on the Mahmudiya canal and then to visit the zoo, but Zahra said she could not do that. Sitt Maryam said she would take her to the fish market in the afternoon before the feast to buy fish, and that the fish of Alexandria were irresistible. Zahra agreed to go out with her, especially since Magd al-Din had told her to celebrate the feast as if she were still in their home village, that grief was not called for, was useless even. He used to buy the traditional nuts and raisins from Tanta. This year he bought very little, less than he used to, from the square. Zahra needed to get out of the house one more time. True, her life at home passed quietly, and the two beautiful girls gladdened her heart with their beautiful spirits, as did Sitt Lula with her shapely figure, overpowering beauty, and merry character. But that was not enough. In the village she used to go out with Magd al-Din or by herself in the sun and the breeze in the fields, or into the shade in the heat of the day. Her feet were crying out for a walk, and her body ached for fresh air.