Yasin asked, "How much have you had to drink?"
Kamal answered hesitantly, "Two glasses."
"No doubt our unexpected meeting destroyed their effect. Let's start all over. I only have a few, seven or eight…."
"You don't say! Is that a few?"
"Skip the naive astonishment, because you're not naive anymore."
"By the way, two months ago I didn't even know what it tasted like."
Yasin observed disapprovingly, "It seems I've given you more credit than you deserve."
They laughed together, and Yasin ordered a couple of drinks. Then he renewed his questioning: "When did you meet Rose?"
"I was introduced to Rose and whiskey the same night."
"What other experiences have you had with women?"
"None."
Yasin bowed his head slightly and looked at Kamal from beneath eyebrows contracted in a smiling frown as if to protest: "Come on now!" Then he said, "Don't play the fool. I had many opportunities to observe your flirtations with the daughter of Abu Sari', who grills snacks. At times it was a glance, then a gesture. Remember? Pimp, these matters can't be hidden from an expert. No doubt you were content to play with her, so you wouldn't find yourself obliged to make Abu Sari' your father-in-law unlike my former mother-in-law, who got involved in a marriage with Bayumi the drinks seller. Yes? Now he's a man of property and your next-door neighbor. I wonder where Maryam's hiding. No one's heard anything about her. Her father was a good man. Don't you remember Mr. Muhammad Ridwan? See what's become of his household. But it's all a question of manners. Any woman who neglects them will find herself despised."
Kamal could not help laughing as he asked, "What about men? Can they neglect their manners without getting in trouble?"
Yasin laughed in his forceful way and replied, "Men and women are two different things, smart aleck. Tell me, how's your mother? Is that good woman still angry at me, even after I've divorced Maryam?"
"I think she's forgotten the whole affair. She has a fine heart, as you know."
Yasin endorsed his brother's words and then shook his head sadly. The waiter brought the drinks and the appetizers. Yasin immediately raised his glass and said, "To the health of al-Sayyid Ahmad's family."
Kamal raised his too and drank half, hoping to regain his lost mirth. His mouth full of black bread and cheese, Yasin commented, "I imagined that, like our late brother, you resembled your mother in temperament. I thought you'd be a straight arrow, but you, but we …"
Kamal cast his brother a questioning look. Yasin smilingly continued: "But we're both created from our father's mold."
"Our father! He's so serious it's hardly possible to live with him."
Yasin roared with laughter. He hesitated a little before saying, "You don't know your father. I didn't either, but then an entirely different man was disclosed to me, an extraordinary one". He stopped speaking.
With great curiosity and interest Kamal asked, "What do you know that I don't?"
"I know he's a princely wit with a deep appreciation of music. Don't stare at me like an idiot. Don't think I'm drunk. Your father's a master of jests, music, and love."
"My father?"
"I learned that for the first time in the home of the singer Zubayda."
"Zubayda! What are you saying? … Ha-ha…"
But since Yasin's expression was anything but joking, Kamal stopped laughing even before his face could regain its serious look. His mouth closed gradually, until his lips were pressed together. He gazed silently at his brother's face as Yasin related in exhaustive detail what he had seen and heard of their father.
Was Yasin fabricating lies about his father? How could that be? What motive would justify it? No, he was only telling what he knew. So this was what Kamal's father was like.
"My Lord!" Kamal exclaimed to himself. "The seriousness, dignity, and gravity what are they? If you hear tomorrow that the earth's flat or that mankind really did spring from Adam, don't be surprised or alarmed."
Finally Kamal asked, "Does my mother know about this?"
Yasin laughingly replied, "She's no doubt aware of the drinking at least."
"I wonder what effect that's had on her," Kamal brooded. "She becomes alarmed for no reason at all. Is my mother like me in presenting a happy front while feeling wretched inside?"
As though marshaling excuseshe did not believe in, Kamal observed, "People love to exaggerate. Don't believe everything they say. Besides, his health showshe's a temperate man."
Gesturing for the waiter to bring another round, Yasin said admiringly, "He's a marvel! His body's a miracle. His spirit's another. Everything about him's miraculous, even his glib tongue". They both laughed. Then Yasin continued: "Imagine, in spite of all this, he rules his family with the firm hand you know and maintains his dignity as you can plainly see. How come I'm such a failure?"
"Consider these wonders," Kamal advised himself. "You're drinking with Yasin. Your father's a shameless old man. What's genuine and what's not? Is there any relationship between reality and what's in our heads? What value does history have? What connection is there between the beloved A'ida and the pregnant A'ida? I myself who am I? Why did you suffer this savage pain from which you've yet to recover? Laugh till you're exhausted."
"What would happen if he saw us sitting here?"
Yasin snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "I take refuge in God!"
"Is Zubayda really beautiful?"
Yasin whistled and wriggled his eyebrows.
"Surely it's unfair that our father gets to enjoy such a sumptuous treat while all we can find are skinny girls."
"Wait your turn. You're still a beginner."
"Hasn't your relationship with him changed since you discovered his secret?"
"Anything but that!"
There was a dreamy look in Kamal's eyes as he said, "If only he had bestowed some of his charm on us…."
"If only…."
"We couldn't be much worse off than we are."
"What's so bad about loving women and drinking? …"
"How can you reconcile his conduct with his deep faith?"
"Am I an atheist? Are you? Were those caliphs who indulged their carnal appetites pagans? God's merciful and forgiving."
Kamal asked himself, "What would my father say? I really wish I could discuss these issues with him. Any thing's possible, but I can't believe he's a hypocrite. No, he's not that. The only new dimension of his character revealed is love."
Kamal's final swallow left him in a jesting mood. He commented, "It's too bad he didn't go into acting."
Yasin laughed loudly and replied, "If he'd known the opportunities life offers actors to enjoy women and wine, he would have dedicated his life to this art."
"Is al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad really the butt of this joke?" Kamal wondered. "But is he any more exalted than Adam? And even so., you learned the truth of man's origin by accident. Chance occurrences have played a most significant role in your life. If I had not met Yasin by accident in the alley, the veil of ignorance would not have been lifted from my eyes. If Yasin, ignorant though he is, had not gotten me interested in reading, today I'd be in the Medical School, as my father hoped. If I'd enrolled in a different secondary school, like al-Sa'idiya, I wouldn't have met Aida. In that case, I would be a different person now. I'd see existence in some other fashion. People like to fault Darwin for his reliance on chance in the explanation of the mechanics of his system…."