Jalila said, "To your return, Mr. Ahmad."
Zubayda said, "To right guidance when it follows error."
Al-Sayyid Ahmad said, "To those I love from whom I've been separated by grief."
They all drank. Al-Sayyid Ahmad raised his drink to his lips. Over the base of the glasshe could see Zanuba's face. He was touched by its freshness.
Muhammad Iffat told Ali Abd al-Rahim, "Time for the second round."
Ibrahim al-Far added, "And the third should follow immediately so we can lay the groundwork properly."
As he set to work Ali Abd al-Rahim observed, "A group's servant is their master."
Ahmad Abd al-Jawad found himself watching Zanuba's fingers as she tuned the lute strings. He wondered how old she was, estimating that she was between twenty-five and thirty. He also asked himself why she was present. Had she only come to play the lute or was her Aunt Zubayda preparing to launch her in this profitable career?
Mr. Ibrahim al-Far said that just looking at the water of the Nile made him seasick, and Jalila shouted at him that he had made his mother sick in his day.
Ali Abd al-Rahim asked, "If a woman as big as Jalila or Zubayda were thrown into the water, would she sink or float?"
Al-Sayyid Ahmad answered that she would float, unless there was a hole in her. He wondered what would happen if he felt tempted by Zanuba and told himself that at present it would be a scandal, after five glasses it would be awkward, but after a whole bottle it would become a duty.
Muhammad Iffat proposed they drink to the health of the nationalist leaders Sa'd Zaghlul and Mustafa al-Nahhas, who would be traveling at the end of the month from Paris to London for negotiations. Ibrahim al-Far suggested that they drink a toast to the Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald, a friend of the Egyptians.
Ali Abd al-Rahim asked what MacDonald had meant by saying he could solve the Egyptian problem before he finished drinking the cup of coffee he had in front of him.
Ahmad Abd al-Jawad answered that he meant it took an Englishman, on average, half a century to drink a cup of coffee.
Al-Sayyid Ahmad remembered how alienated he had felt by the revolution after Fahmy had been slain and how he had gradually returned to his original pro-nationalist feelings because of the respect and esteem people showered on him as the father of a martyr. In time, he had found that Fahmy's tragedy had even become a source of pride.
Jalila raised her glass in the direction of al-Sayyid Ahmad as she said, "To your health, my camel. I've often asked myself whether you had really forgotten us. But God knows I understood and prayed God would grant you endurance and consolation. Don't be surprised, for I'm your sister and you've been a brother to me."
Muhammad Iffat asked mischievously, "If you're his sister and he's your brother, as you claim, then should you two have done what you used to?"
She emitted a laugh that reminded them of the old days, 1918 or before. She retorted, "Ask your maternal uncles about that, love child."
Glancing at Ahmad Abd al-Jawad slyly, Zubayda said, "I've thought of another reason for his long absence…."
More than one person inquired what it was, while al-Sayyid Ahmad murmured pleadingly, "O God who veils our shortcomings, protect me."
"I suspect he's impotent like other men his age and has used his grief as a convenient excuse."
Shaking her head with all the affectation of a performer, Jalila protested, "He'll be the last to grow old."
Mr. Muhammad Iffat asked al-Sayyid Ahmad, "Which of these two opinions is right?"
Al-Sayyid Ahmad replied suggestively, "The first expresses fear and the second hope."
Jalila said with victorious relief, "You're not a man who disappoints a lady's hopes."
He thought about saying, "It's only when he's tested that a man is honored or despised," but was afraid he would be put to the test or that his statement would be understood as an invitation. Yet whenever he looked closely at them, he was overcome by a wish to hold back and to skip this opportunity. Before coming he would never have thought it possible. Yes, it was undeniable that a change had taken place. Yesterday was gone. Today was different. Zubayda was no longer the same, nor Jalila. There was nothing to justify the risk. He would be satisfied with the brotherly relationship Jalila had acclaimed and expand it to include Zubayda too. He said delicately, "How could a man grow senile when surrounded by such beautiful women?"
Looking at each of the men in succession, Zubayda asked, "Which of you is the oldest?"
Al-Sayyid Ahmad answered inaccurately but with apparent innocence, "I am. I was born just after Urabi's rebellion of 1882."
Muhammad Iffat protested, "Say anything but this. I've heard you were one of Urabi's soldiers."
Al-Sayyid Ahmad replied, "I was a soldier in their bellies, so to speak just as people now call a child at home a pupil, even before he's started school."
Ali Abd al-Rahim pretended to be astonished and asked, "What was your late mother doing while you were inside a soldier going off to battle?"
After emptying her glass, Zubayda shouted, "Don't evade the question with your jokes. I'm asking you how old you are."
Ibrahim al-Far said challengingly, "Three of us are between fifty and fifty-five. Will you disclose your ages to us?"
Zubayda shrugged her shoulders scornfully and said, "I was born…"
She narrowed her kohl-enhanced eyes and looked up at the lamp as though trying to remember, but al-Sayyid Ahmad completed her statement before she could: "After the revolution of Sa'd Zaghlul Pasha in 1919."
They laughed for a long time until finally she waggled her middle ringer at them. But it appeared that Jalila did not like the topic of conversation. She yelled, "Let's abandon this smear campaign. What difference does it make how old we are? Let the One who's in charge of the matter worry about it in Hisheavens. For us, a woman is young so long as she finds a man who desires her and one of you men is a boy so long as he can find a woman who wants him."
Suddenly Ali Abd al-Rahim shouted, "Congratulate me!"
When asked why, he shouted, "Because I'm drunk."
Ahmad Abd al-Jawad said that they ought to catch up before their friend was lost in the land of inebriation, whereas Jalila urged them to let him go on alone as punishment for his haste. Ali Abd al-Rahim retreated to a corner with a full glass in his hand, telling them, "Find another bartender."
Zubayda stood up to look for her wraps and check her handbag to make sure that her container of cocaine was still where she had left it. Ibrahim al-Far seized the opportunity provided by her absence to take the seat beside Jalila. He leaned his head on her shoulder, sighing audibly. Muhammad Iffat went to the windows overlooking the Nile channel and thrust the shutters aside. The surface of the water appeared to consist of a flowing pattern of darkness, except for still streaks of light traced on the undulating river by rays coming from the lamps of other boats where people were staying up late. Zanuba plucked the strings of her lute, and a rollicking tune sprang forth. Al-Sayyid Ahmad gazed in her direction for a long time. Then he rose to refill his glass. When Zubayda returned she sat down between Muhammad Iffat and Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, whose back she thumped.
Jalila's voice was raised in song: "One day you took a bite out of me..."
Now it was Ibrahim al-Far's turn to shout, "Congratulate me!"
Muhammad Iffat and Zubayda started singing along with Jalila once she reached the words: "They brought me an antidote". When Zanuba joined the song, al-Sayyid Ahmad began looking at her again. Before he knew what was happening he was one of the singers too, and Ali Abd al-Rahim's voice lent its support from his corner.
His head still on Jalila's shoulder, Ibrahim al-Far called out, "Six performers and an audience of one: me."
Without stopping his singing al-Sayyid Ahmad told himself, "In the end, she'll comply with my wishes most willingly". Then he mused, "Is tonight to be a passing affair or the beginning of a lengthy relationship?"