As their voices rang out through the tiny alley, doors and windows opened; some took the side of the building’s owner, while others rooted for the woman downstairs.
The argument kept raging until insults flew — the red anger warning that bloodshed would follow.
Dream 116
I went to congratulate an old friend on his appointment as minister, but contrary to my expectation, I was met with absolute apathy as I awaited the rendezvous in vain. It began to dawn on me that some people had lied about me, and my old friend’s affection had rotted as a result. Finally, I made to leave — blind to all before me — but ran into a colleague on my way out.
He had not lost his feeling for me, calling God’s curse down on the wagging tongues who had slandered me. So I asked him, “Why didn’t the minister come to meet me, simply to inquire into the truth of the matter?”
“A long time has passed,” he replied, “and the legal period to hear more witnesses has expired.”
Dream 117
I was sitting in the café, when, without seeking my leave, our neighborhood’s chief bully sat down next to me.
As I welcomed him with distaste, he announced that he had chosen me to marry his daughter, a divorcée. My limbs trembling, I replied that I was going to wed my paternal uncle’s daughter that weekend.
He answered with confident simplicity, “You’re going to marry my daughter, and your uncle’s daughter’s going to marry me.”
Dream 118
I was in Ramle Station, always bustling with people, when at one end I caught sight of the man whose slogans the masses love to repeat, wooing a stunning woman.
“If you’re doing something scandalous,” I whispered in his ear, “then you should be discreet.”
But he answered me bluntly, “Is there anything more discreet than this?”
Dream 119
I arrived at the station at a critical moment, squeezing into the queue that stretched from the ticket window.
We remained stuck between the platform and the window until the last whistle sounded, warning us to get aboard. But I was still far down the line.
And that is how I missed the train.
Dream 120
We sailed to the kingdom of whose splendors the poets sing. There we joined our chosen guide, who took us from vista to vista, from mountains to sea, from museum to mausoleum.
Finally, the guide said, “The only place left on our tour is the Crystal Garden”—and he urged us to rest and reflect for a bit, so we would not be too dazzled by the sight. But we asked him, “Is there anything more stunning than what we’ve already seen?”
He just smiled and resumed walking — and we followed right behind.
Dream 121
I was strolling down the corniche in Alexandria toward the building where I would see the elegant lady on a balcony with her husband and young children. As I neared my destination, everything began to fade and dissolve smoothly and magically before me, until I found myself on Abbasiya Street.
I was still advancing toward the new block of flats from whose window the unforgettably enticing woman gazed down at me. The window was empty, so I resolved to wait at the tram station as usual.
But I found no sign of the station at all — nor a trace of the rails the whole length of the street.
Dream 122
The night was calm as we settled into a room, the darkness falling gently over our furtive pleasure and intimate joy. Abruptly, a clamor came toward us from the street outside.
Quickly I ran over to peek through the window — and saw a crowd of people surrounding a familiar-looking man. They rained a hail of curses and harsh rebuke upon him, while he offered no resistance. They kept doing this until the words, I felt, were tearing my own body apart.
Dream 123
I’m heading from Opera Square to the Horreya Café. When I get there I’m surprised to find it empty. Instead of being jammed with patrons as usual, there is only one man engrossed in reading some papers spread out before him.
Suddenly I realize this is my mentor, Shaykh Mustafa Abd al-Raziq. I rush over to him ecstatically, expecting to share our old intimacy, but he turns toward me scowling — and my heart sinks as rapidly as it just had risen.
Pointing toward the papers, the shaykh says he’s sorry to have seen my name listed among the witnesses against him.
I have no idea what to say, or how to get away.
Dream 124
Many times we gathered in a spot between the fields and the main road, until once my friend told me that it wasn’t always a truly safe place to meet.
From that moment I became disturbed, until one morning I awoke to a mighty commotion of shouts outside.
Below my window I beheld a limitless crowd, in which nothing stood out but its boundless rage.
Dream 125
Arriving at my flat, I found it swaying from side to side, none of its furniture in its usual place. Little boys and girls whom I’d never seen before were playing all around, not even aware that I was there.
With heart pounding, I stepped onto the balcony overlooking the garden nearby, where a hugely spreading tree’s branches were filled with chirping birds. Their flitting around and singing made me forget about everything but the sound of their choir.
Dream 126
We went to congratulate the new minister: we were all old friends, so he greeted us warmly. We found other dear ones there as well — we all reminisced about our childhood together.
The next morning, the radio broadcast the proclamation that the Army had begun to move. But when we reached the Secretariat, we were warned not to say too much in welcoming the news, until we could see what it really would bring.
Dream 127
In this villa’s garden we spent merry evenings together in complete freedom. But then the villa’s owner suddenly changed and arbitrarily imposed his will on everything: he dictated the place where we sat, the topic of conversation, and the food and drink, as well.