The family lost all this prestige during the royal era. Nazla Hanim said the king was good for nothing.
55
Abd al-Rahman spent his teenage years with Saadun wandering the parks, sitting at a café after school, working in the garden and the stable, and even playing poker in Khan Mamu at Bab al-Sheikh. Though his family knew about Saadun’s exploits they didn’t consider expelling him. Abd al-Rahman’s mother caught him twice with Rujina, but she didn’t make a fuss about it and satisfied herself with a reprimand. She explained clearly the reasons for her tolerance, “If it were not for my son’s attachment to you, I would have expelled you long since.” Her husband had once surprised them in a flagrant position in the kitchen as well.
56
Abd al-Rahman’s father came upon them in the kitchen a little after midnight when he went down to investigate a suspicious noise. He threw open the door suddenly and turned on the light. The couple was lying on the floor totally naked. Shaken, Rujina stood in front of him without covering herself, while Saadun rushed to get into his clothes. Shawkat Amin’s eyes dwelled on Rujina, who was in no hurry to cover herself. She collected her clothes and went to her room, moving provocatively. After she left, the father reprimanded Saadun, using the same words that his wife had chosen as the reason for keeping him.
The following day Abd al-Rahman awoke to news of the incident, but that night he saw his father sneak into Rujina’s room. He told Saadun about his father and both found the story amusing. Saadun later offered to take the boy to a brothel, and they decided that they would go the following day.
57
The carriage moved slowly down the wet street where a light rain had fallen. Abd al-Rahman was sitting under the black top in the rear of the carriage, taking in the large illuminated posters on al-Rashid Street. He saw signs for Mackintosh English toffee, Van Heusen shoes, the Café Brazil, the Orosdi Back department store, and Jaqmaqji records. Under the reflections of movie house marquees, shop windows displayed gleaming luxuries. Abd al-Rahman was totally absorbed by the sights and wanted to hug the women coming out of the boutiques, posh cafés, and cinema houses.
On such outings Abd al-Rahman’s liked to stop on al-Rashid Street at Dikket Bab al-Agha to smoke a water pipe, take in a film at the Roxy cinema, or even eat the kebab seller’s semi-fresh food, sold near Mackenzie’s bookshop. Dressed in his black suit, necktie, and cap, he would sit on a metal chair and take in the liveliness of the market around him. Far from his father’s hypocrisy and his mother’s feminine purity and controlled coldness, he loved listening to the popular accent, the boastfulness of the people, the putrid odors. When Saadun asked if he wished to stop this time, he declined. “Don’t stop today unless it’s for a prostitute,” he laughed loudly. They had hardly reached the end of al-Rashid Street, near the square facing the church, however, when he was overtaken by such fear and anxiety that his knees began knocking.
58
Saadun stopped the carriage at the entrance of the narrow alley overlooking al-Rashid Street from the far side of al-Harj market. The prostitutes who stood in front of the house were half naked and unashamedly exhibiting their charms and heavy makeup. Their coarse words evoked laughter. Abd al-Rahman and Saadun stepped out of the carriage and crossed the street toward the alley. The boy’s legs were buckling under him. He was intimidated by the power of the prostitutes, and, self-conscious of his inexperience, he was unable to face them. One of them approached him and asked the boy to follow her. Her face, covered with heavy makeup, betrayed her age, her hair was dyed bright red, she smelled of alcohol, and she was scantily dressed. As soon as Abd al-Rahman heard her say, “Come with me,” he ran away as fast as he could back to the carriage, breathing with great difficulty. He heard the prostitute laughing and calling after him, “Don’t be scared! Come on, I won’t bite you.” He raised his head from his hiding place to check out the situation and saw Saadun talking with the woman. Both went inside the house.
Abd al-Rahman was perplexed by this sexual traffic. He saw respectable men enter the narrow alley in their posh cars. Prostitutes wearing expensive clothes, jewelry, and fur coats, met and rode off with them. Toothless old women were doing the bargaining and collecting the money. Other young women were standing in the doorways; the male customers looked them over, and then took them into the house.
Twenty minutes later Saadun came out of the house, disheveled, closing his fly, his shirt half undone. He was laughing and shouted at the boy, “Don’t worry, I won’t bite you.” When he reached the carriage he said to the horse, “Don’t be upset. If there were prostitutes for horses I would take you to them.”
Abd al-Rahman laughed at his apprehensiveness. The two men drove back to the fish restaurant near the church.
59
The restaurant was in a modest district of town, but the night and darkness hid the decrepit houses and the poverty of the place. The two men sat on a couch covered with woolen rugs, ready for their fish dinner; the smell of fried fish filled the place. Saadun lit two cigarettes and gave one to Abd al-Rahman. While they were waiting to be served, a woman in an abaya passed by coquettishly. Saadun’s eyes followed her silhouette until she disappeared from view and he said, “She could break metal.” The comment amused the boy, who was constantly amazed at Saadun’s sexual prowess and unflagging interest in women. Saadun recalled how the boy had run away from the prostitute and hid in the carriage like a rat, to Abd al-Rahman’s great amusement. He asked the boy what he thought of Rujina.
“I don’t know” he answered.
“You’d like to try it with her, wouldn’t you?” Saadun asked. Abd al-Rahman was silent. Simultaneously he felt a cold shiver run through his veins and a warm feeling in his skin. They arrived home late, drunk with joy.
60
Shortly after midnight the following night, Abd al-Rahman opened his bedroom door and saw Rujina standing in the dim light of the hall. She was wearing a revealing muslin dress. He approached her, breathing heavily, his eyes filled with desire. He kneeled and caressed her thighs; they then went into her room. He suggested they go to the roof, but she was afraid someone might surprise them. She took off her clothes, lay on the bed, and called Abd al-Rahman to join her. He averted his eyes from her nakedness, which reminded him of his mother’s body moaning under his father’s hairy legs. He sat down on the bed softly, and she took his head in her hands and placed it against her warm breasts. He passed his lips over them. Suddenly the door flew open and the light switched on. The two jumped in terror and heard his father shout, “Adulterous woman! First me, and now my son too!? And in the same bed!”