Cairo! Joys and Tears - a novel chapter (2)
Ahmed Hany
February 13, 2009
(2)
It was a sad evening. When Refaat Pasha told his old friend Mahmood Pasha what happened the day before. Silence filled the place.
´I understand,´ Mahmood Pasha broke in silence.
´I hope our plans about Abd El-Aziz and Farida are still agreed,´ Refaat Pasha said.
´Of course,´ Mahmood Pasha said.
´But, I think we have to postpone their engagement for a while,´ Golnar said. She felt pity for her daughter and she was very angry.
´I´ll never forgive this crazy. I don´t consider him a son anymore,´ Refaat Pasha said.
Roh left without excuse and went to her room. Farida noticed that her friend was about to cry. Between the girls, their love to the other´s brothers was their secret and they were sure that their mothers would plan for them.
In her room, Roh put her hand firmly on her mouth not to cry loudly. Her tears fell uncontrollably. Her mother entered the room. Roh threw herself in her mother´s arms and wept on her shoulder.
´You shouldn´t do that. You´ll marry a better man,´ Golnar said.
´I love him mother. I wonder how he didn´t feel that,´ Roh said.
´Never ever I hear that again. From now on, we´ll have other plans for you. Your brother won´t marry their daughter until you marry first. I promise,´ Golnar said.
´No, mom, Farida is a good person and Aziz will be happy with her. I know she loves him,´ Roh said.
´But you must marry first,´ Golnar said. She did not give a chance for her daughter to talk anymore. ´Correct your make-up and come for the dinner. Your birthday party will be next week. I´ll invite them. You think about Captain Soliman Abd El-Wahab your brother´s friend. He is an officer in the Royal Guard and I noticed that he admires you but he is afraid that his proposal might be turned down because he is from a middle-class family but his father is a manager in the government. We have enough money. He will be a General and Pasha in the future. I´ll ask your brother to invite him for your birthday party.´
Soliman Abd El-Wahab came to Roh´s birthday wearing the uniform dress, as it was the habit of officers then days. He brought a present to Roh and politely kissed her and her mother´s hands. Mahmood Pasha noticed that Golnar was treating Abd El-Wahab as a special guest. She called the servant who was carrying glasses of Champaign on a silver trait to serve him while she was engaged in different talks with him.
´Sorry, I think you may want to dance,´ Golnar said.
´No, thank you. In fact I enjoy talking to you Mrs. Golnar,´ he said politely.
´I think you should say aunt Golnar. You are my son´s best friend and I consider you a son. Roh is busy with the guests. It would be a great favor for her if asked her to dance with you instead of engaging in talks with old ladies,´ she said. She took the glass from his hand, put it on the nearest table, and added smilingly, ´now your hands are free and you can go to Roh.´
Soliman was very intelligent. He understood that Golnar would agree if he proposed to Roh. Yet his social background made him to be conservative until he would talk to his friend Abd el-Aziz first. Otherwise, he would consider himself not sincere to the friendship. He took steps towards Roh and smiled. She smiled back. Her eyes were inviting. He understood that Roh and her mother chose him. He always admired Roh. The thought of that they noticed his admiration for her and their reaction was the feedback made him somewhat embarrassed. He felt the heat in his face. Usually when he felt that, his ears would become red.
´I should have the pleasure if you dance with me,´ he said in nearly whispering voice.
´Sure, this is my favorite song.´ She said.
They did not talk during the dance. Soliman was thinking about the reaction of Abd El-Aziz when he would know. He turned his head right and left several times to see Abd El-Aziz. He found him standing with Farida. He felt relieved when he found that Abd El-Aziz was rising his glass towards him in a gesture of greeting. After the dance, he excused Roh and went towards his friend.
´Miss Farida Abu Al-Hassan, the daughter of Refaat pasha Abu Al Hassan. Of course you know him,´ Abd Al-Aziz said.
Soliman kissed Farida´s hand and said, ´Captain Soliman Abd El-Wahab. Congratulation for the engagement Miss.´ He hesitated then he said to Abd El-Aziz, ´May we have a word please.´
´Sure,´ Abd El-Aziz said. He waited for his friend to talk.
´In private please,´ Soliman said.
Farida noticed Golnar and Roh gave Soliman some sort of a special treatment. She smiled and said, ´Excuse me; I´ll go to talk to Roh.´ She widened her smile and said to Soliman, ´congratulation.´
´For what?´ he said it involuntarily as if denying committing something shameful.
´For what you are going to tell Aziz about,´ she said.
´I don´t understand,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
´I want to marry your sister Roh,´ Soliman said it as if he was confessing.
Farida could not control her laughs and hurried to Roh to tell her best friend the news.
´I´m really happy to hear these words. I think Roh will not find a man better than you will. I´ll tell mom,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
While Abd El-Aziz was talking to Golnar, Roh and Farida whispered frequently.
´You surprised me Aziz,´ Golnar said. ´I think you give me and your sister sometime after your father´s approval of course.´
´He is a good person and I think he will be a good husband and father. He is very kind and very polite. He never went to nightclubs with me and other friends and he prays the five prays everyday,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
Roh and Farida came and they heard that Abd El-Aziz went with his friends to some nightclubs.
´You didn´t tell me that you went to nightclubs,´ Farida said.
´Few times and now I don´t go and I don´t have time to go,´ he defended himself.
´I forgive you only on one condition. You take me to a nightclub when we marry,´ Farida said.
´I agree,´ he said.
´Don´t mention that in front of Mahmood Pasha and Refaat Pasha or both of you will be in trouble and you will never marry,´ Golnar said seriously. She looked at Roh and said, ´Captain Soliman proposes to you. You brother says that he is a good person. If you agree I have no objection provided that the Pasha agrees.´
´Give me sometime to think about that,´ Roh said.
´He is a close friend to Aziz and this means that we´ll be together in Cairo. For my sake Roh, agree,´ Farida said.
The two girls stared at each other´s eyes then hugged and Farida shouted, ´congratulation.´
´He has to talk to Mahmood Pasha first. Take him to your father and we´ll see what will happen,´ Golnar said.
´I´ll tell him that you agree and Roh agrees,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
´No, never do that. You don´t tell him that you´ve discussed the matter with us before he knows. You take Soliman to him and let him ask us if he accepts him as a son in law,´ Golnar said to her son.
Few minutes later, a servant told Golnar that Mahmood Pasha wanted her in private in his study room. Then it was the turn of Roh to go to the study room. When they returned Roh went to stand beside Farida and Mahmood Pasha asked the musicians to stop playing for a while.
´I have the pleasure to tell you that I accepted the proposal of Captain Soliman Abd-El-Wahab of the Royal Guard to my daughter Roh,´ Mahmood Pasha said.
Refaat Pasha took the initiative and suggested that the engagement of Abd El-Aziz and Farida be in the same day. He asked Eetemad and his daughters not to invite Nashaat or even tell him.
Eetemad sent a monthly check to Nashaat as his father stopped supporting him but this was not enough to live in Zamalek or to keep three servants. He rent a small flat in Heliopolis area in Korba district. He kept only one servant who cleaned, cooked and washed his cloths. The leaders of the Waft Party found a job for Nashaat in Bank Misr, the national bank that was owned by Talaat Harb Pasha the renowned Egyptian economist and businessman. In fact, they were interested in upgrading the political carrier of Nashaat not because he was a cleaver politician. After all, he was young. They did that because he was the son of Refaat Pasha their powerful rival of the Liberal Constitutional Party. Newspapers wrote about the son of Pasha who went at odds with him and this enraged Refaat Pasha more and made him tell everybody that he expelled Nashaat from the family home and he considered him not a son anymore. Yet secret phone calls behind Refaat Pasha between Nashaat and his mother and sisters never stopped. Always Eetemad was advising her son to apologize to his father but it was too late.
It was a cold day in January 1952. Nashaat parked his car. Then he walked towards Bank Misr where he worked. He asked the café boy to bring his Turkish café as usual and started to work. ´Shepard Hotel was set alight,´ he heard sounds of several customers. He looked at them. He knew that hooligans set fire in many stores. Managers told employees to leave the building to secure it. Police forces came to secure the bank. He drove through avenues avoiding main streets where no one exactly knew what was happening. Hooligans in the street and the Extinguishing Men found themselves paralyzed with fumes from many stores around them unit in the sky making a great dark cloud covering metropolitan Cairo. He could reach Queen Nazly Street after about four hours driving. The government declared martial law. In spite of the curfew, he managed to reach a friend of him who was resident in Heliopolis at night. He found that his friend invited other friends to spend the night together as Groppi where they were used to spend night was closed because of the curfew. Some played cards and backgammon. All were engaged in a discussion to know what happened. The political inclination determined their opinions. Nashaat accused the British of doing that to send their troops to Cairo from Suez Canal to press on the government after the Wafd Ministry cancelled 1936 treaty and supported resistance against them. Others accused the Moslems Brotherhood group that killed two prime ministers of doing that because most of the stores and hotels that were destroyed were British and they wanted to topple the regime. Others accused the palace of doing that because King Farouk did not like the British. All had good backgrounds but none had evidences. ´Nobody will know the truth at least in the near future,´ Nashaat thought.
Political groups from all waves and colors became very active. Nashaat started to attend many meetings of these groups. Usually he went with a friend who was a member in the group. Nashaat had many friends who gave him the opportunity. As the Wafd Party was supporting resistance against the British, it was easy for Nashaat to help in this particular area. He traveled several times to Ismailia by night carrying weapons for the resistance. His duty was stopping the car near the city where others take weapons from him. However, he attended many meetings of different groups and became a friend to many of their members. One day he was in a meeting of a communist small group and the Political Police attacked the place and arrested them.
Hassan Al-Sheikh was a mechanic in one of textile factories. He completed his primary school education. He was sitting in a corner of the prison cell when soldiers pushed Nashaat into it. Nashaat lost balance and fell on the ground. Hassan went to Nashaat and helped the new comer. The first thing Hassan noticed was that Nashaat was not beaten.
´They did not greet you,´ Hassan said.
Nashaat did not understand the sarcastic statement and he did not respond. He looked around and tried to control himself not to cry. He heard about prisons and stories of detainees but he did not think that he would be one of them one day. He found a place between two detainees and sat silently. His tears fell. He wiped his tears with his sleeve.
Hassan sat in front of him. Usually marks of beating are obvious. And usually detainees do not cry. They knew that one day it would happen to them. However, their beliefs and their sincerity for principals made them ready to sacrifice.
´I´m Hassan Al-Sheikh, a member in the Egyptian Communist Party. They arrested me a week ago.´
´I´m Nashaat Abu Al-Hassan, a member in Wafd Party.´
´Don´t tell me that you are the son of Refaat Pasha Abu Al-Hassan who is at odds with his father and joined the Wafd because of that. Anyhow, they don´t arrest Wafd members,´ Hassan said.
´Yes, I´m. They arrested me with a communist group. I attend meeting of many groups and sometimes I help in sending weapons and ammunitions to commandoes in Suez and Ismailia cities. I´m not a communist. I don´t like communism but the officer did not believe me,´ Nashaat said. He cried and added, ´he slapped me on face. He humiliated me. I´ll never forget it. When he knew that I´m the son of Refaat Pasha Abu Al-Hassan, he apologized, but I insisted that I would tell the story to our Wafd Members of Parliament when they release me. Even my father will not accept that although we are at odds.´
´You shouldn´t have worked in politics. You think of politics as meetings with smart and tidy Pashas and ministers. Here is the real politics,´ Hassan said.
´I share in the struggle against the British occupation like any other Egyptian. Sometimes I drive to Ismailia carrying weapons to commandoes there,´ Nashaat said loudly.
Hassan laughed.
´I don´t think I said something funny,´ Nashaat said.
´No, you said,´ Hassan said angrily. ´It is supposed that carrying weapons to commandoes is a top secret. If guards heard what you said, they will torture you until you say everything about commandoes and their whereabouts. Even in this cell, the secret police may have agents. You are a dreamer. You read about policy, but you have no political experience. Rule number one in secret movements is the silence.´
´I think all persons here are arrested because they work in secret movement. And, you made me nervous. You think that communists are the only nationals. All communists think that,´ Nashaat said.
´One day you will know what communism is. Did you read about it? Did you read about capitalism? You read some books in the university and the newspapers. These readings do not tell you the truth. The truth is where poor live. Did you meet someone who work hard but he cannot afford dinner to his children? If you met him, you would give him a gift and you think that you did the good thing and God will send you to paradise. This man and others should fight corrupted landlords and take their land. The spitefulness should be his drive to build the fair community. You were born in a palace and you do not know the people whom you claim that you struggle for them. I´m one of them. I didn´t cry when they brought me here because outside I suffered more than here,´ Hassan lectured on him.
´In every community there are rich and poor people. Poor people should not be lazy and work more so that they would earn more money,´ Nashaat said.
´Yes, they should work in your farms and factories and be satisfied with what you give them as wages,´ Hassan said sarcastically.
´If they are not satisfied with their wages they may strike,´ Nashaat said. ´I Europe and the United States syndicates are powerful that workers´ rights are kept.´
´In Russia workers decide for themselves because people owns everything. Men like you have no place,´ Hassan said and left to the far corner.
However next days relations changed to better. Nashaat found that his prison companions talk to Hassan with much respect. He discovered that Hassan was an intellectual. Their discussions were fruitful to Nashaat. He found that he should read more about different philosophies. During a discussion, he told Hassan about his dreams of building a factory. For his astonishment, Hassan proposed that he would help him to bring best workers. Nashaat said that he would give fair wages. He told Hassan that he admired Talaat Pasha Harb and Abood Pasha, the two Egyptian icons who build factories and residential settlements for employees and workers. What went wrong was that Hassan said that these two icons built workers´ homes separated from employees and managers´ villas. Nashaat responded aggressively and said that the two classes have different habits. The other companions or the comrades as Hassan used to call them shared and lost their temper and hit Nashaat. He hit them back. Hassan controlled the comrades. One hour later they started, another talk and all laughed together.
It was a sad evening. When Refaat Pasha told his old friend Mahmood Pasha what happened the day before. Silence filled the place.
´I understand,´ Mahmood Pasha broke in silence.
´I hope our plans about Abd El-Aziz and Farida are still agreed,´ Refaat Pasha said.
´Of course,´ Mahmood Pasha said.
´But, I think we have to postpone their engagement for a while,´ Golnar said. She felt pity for her daughter and she was very angry.
´I´ll never forgive this crazy. I don´t consider him a son anymore,´ Refaat Pasha said.
Roh left without excuse and went to her room. Farida noticed that her friend was about to cry. Between the girls, their love to the other´s brothers was their secret and they were sure that their mothers would plan for them.
In her room, Roh put her hand firmly on her mouth not to cry loudly. Her tears fell uncontrollably. Her mother entered the room. Roh threw herself in her mother´s arms and wept on her shoulder.
´You shouldn´t do that. You´ll marry a better man,´ Golnar said.
´I love him mother. I wonder how he didn´t feel that,´ Roh said.
´Never ever I hear that again. From now on, we´ll have other plans for you. Your brother won´t marry their daughter until you marry first. I promise,´ Golnar said.
´No, mom, Farida is a good person and Aziz will be happy with her. I know she loves him,´ Roh said.
´But you must marry first,´ Golnar said. She did not give a chance for her daughter to talk anymore. ´Correct your make-up and come for the dinner. Your birthday party will be next week. I´ll invite them. You think about Captain Soliman Abd El-Wahab your brother´s friend. He is an officer in the Royal Guard and I noticed that he admires you but he is afraid that his proposal might be turned down because he is from a middle-class family but his father is a manager in the government. We have enough money. He will be a General and Pasha in the future. I´ll ask your brother to invite him for your birthday party.´
Soliman Abd El-Wahab came to Roh´s birthday wearing the uniform dress, as it was the habit of officers then days. He brought a present to Roh and politely kissed her and her mother´s hands. Mahmood Pasha noticed that Golnar was treating Abd El-Wahab as a special guest. She called the servant who was carrying glasses of Champaign on a silver trait to serve him while she was engaged in different talks with him.
´Sorry, I think you may want to dance,´ Golnar said.
´No, thank you. In fact I enjoy talking to you Mrs. Golnar,´ he said politely.
´I think you should say aunt Golnar. You are my son´s best friend and I consider you a son. Roh is busy with the guests. It would be a great favor for her if asked her to dance with you instead of engaging in talks with old ladies,´ she said. She took the glass from his hand, put it on the nearest table, and added smilingly, ´now your hands are free and you can go to Roh.´
Soliman was very intelligent. He understood that Golnar would agree if he proposed to Roh. Yet his social background made him to be conservative until he would talk to his friend Abd el-Aziz first. Otherwise, he would consider himself not sincere to the friendship. He took steps towards Roh and smiled. She smiled back. Her eyes were inviting. He understood that Roh and her mother chose him. He always admired Roh. The thought of that they noticed his admiration for her and their reaction was the feedback made him somewhat embarrassed. He felt the heat in his face. Usually when he felt that, his ears would become red.
´I should have the pleasure if you dance with me,´ he said in nearly whispering voice.
´Sure, this is my favorite song.´ She said.
They did not talk during the dance. Soliman was thinking about the reaction of Abd El-Aziz when he would know. He turned his head right and left several times to see Abd El-Aziz. He found him standing with Farida. He felt relieved when he found that Abd El-Aziz was rising his glass towards him in a gesture of greeting. After the dance, he excused Roh and went towards his friend.
´Miss Farida Abu Al-Hassan, the daughter of Refaat pasha Abu Al Hassan. Of course you know him,´ Abd Al-Aziz said.
Soliman kissed Farida´s hand and said, ´Captain Soliman Abd El-Wahab. Congratulation for the engagement Miss.´ He hesitated then he said to Abd El-Aziz, ´May we have a word please.´
´Sure,´ Abd El-Aziz said. He waited for his friend to talk.
´In private please,´ Soliman said.
Farida noticed Golnar and Roh gave Soliman some sort of a special treatment. She smiled and said, ´Excuse me; I´ll go to talk to Roh.´ She widened her smile and said to Soliman, ´congratulation.´
´For what?´ he said it involuntarily as if denying committing something shameful.
´For what you are going to tell Aziz about,´ she said.
´I don´t understand,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
´I want to marry your sister Roh,´ Soliman said it as if he was confessing.
Farida could not control her laughs and hurried to Roh to tell her best friend the news.
´I´m really happy to hear these words. I think Roh will not find a man better than you will. I´ll tell mom,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
While Abd El-Aziz was talking to Golnar, Roh and Farida whispered frequently.
´You surprised me Aziz,´ Golnar said. ´I think you give me and your sister sometime after your father´s approval of course.´
´He is a good person and I think he will be a good husband and father. He is very kind and very polite. He never went to nightclubs with me and other friends and he prays the five prays everyday,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
Roh and Farida came and they heard that Abd El-Aziz went with his friends to some nightclubs.
´You didn´t tell me that you went to nightclubs,´ Farida said.
´Few times and now I don´t go and I don´t have time to go,´ he defended himself.
´I forgive you only on one condition. You take me to a nightclub when we marry,´ Farida said.
´I agree,´ he said.
´Don´t mention that in front of Mahmood Pasha and Refaat Pasha or both of you will be in trouble and you will never marry,´ Golnar said seriously. She looked at Roh and said, ´Captain Soliman proposes to you. You brother says that he is a good person. If you agree I have no objection provided that the Pasha agrees.´
´Give me sometime to think about that,´ Roh said.
´He is a close friend to Aziz and this means that we´ll be together in Cairo. For my sake Roh, agree,´ Farida said.
The two girls stared at each other´s eyes then hugged and Farida shouted, ´congratulation.´
´He has to talk to Mahmood Pasha first. Take him to your father and we´ll see what will happen,´ Golnar said.
´I´ll tell him that you agree and Roh agrees,´ Abd El-Aziz said.
´No, never do that. You don´t tell him that you´ve discussed the matter with us before he knows. You take Soliman to him and let him ask us if he accepts him as a son in law,´ Golnar said to her son.
Few minutes later, a servant told Golnar that Mahmood Pasha wanted her in private in his study room. Then it was the turn of Roh to go to the study room. When they returned Roh went to stand beside Farida and Mahmood Pasha asked the musicians to stop playing for a while.
´I have the pleasure to tell you that I accepted the proposal of Captain Soliman Abd-El-Wahab of the Royal Guard to my daughter Roh,´ Mahmood Pasha said.
Refaat Pasha took the initiative and suggested that the engagement of Abd El-Aziz and Farida be in the same day. He asked Eetemad and his daughters not to invite Nashaat or even tell him.
Eetemad sent a monthly check to Nashaat as his father stopped supporting him but this was not enough to live in Zamalek or to keep three servants. He rent a small flat in Heliopolis area in Korba district. He kept only one servant who cleaned, cooked and washed his cloths. The leaders of the Waft Party found a job for Nashaat in Bank Misr, the national bank that was owned by Talaat Harb Pasha the renowned Egyptian economist and businessman. In fact, they were interested in upgrading the political carrier of Nashaat not because he was a cleaver politician. After all, he was young. They did that because he was the son of Refaat Pasha their powerful rival of the Liberal Constitutional Party. Newspapers wrote about the son of Pasha who went at odds with him and this enraged Refaat Pasha more and made him tell everybody that he expelled Nashaat from the family home and he considered him not a son anymore. Yet secret phone calls behind Refaat Pasha between Nashaat and his mother and sisters never stopped. Always Eetemad was advising her son to apologize to his father but it was too late.
It was a cold day in January 1952. Nashaat parked his car. Then he walked towards Bank Misr where he worked. He asked the café boy to bring his Turkish café as usual and started to work. ´Shepard Hotel was set alight,´ he heard sounds of several customers. He looked at them. He knew that hooligans set fire in many stores. Managers told employees to leave the building to secure it. Police forces came to secure the bank. He drove through avenues avoiding main streets where no one exactly knew what was happening. Hooligans in the street and the Extinguishing Men found themselves paralyzed with fumes from many stores around them unit in the sky making a great dark cloud covering metropolitan Cairo. He could reach Queen Nazly Street after about four hours driving. The government declared martial law. In spite of the curfew, he managed to reach a friend of him who was resident in Heliopolis at night. He found that his friend invited other friends to spend the night together as Groppi where they were used to spend night was closed because of the curfew. Some played cards and backgammon. All were engaged in a discussion to know what happened. The political inclination determined their opinions. Nashaat accused the British of doing that to send their troops to Cairo from Suez Canal to press on the government after the Wafd Ministry cancelled 1936 treaty and supported resistance against them. Others accused the Moslems Brotherhood group that killed two prime ministers of doing that because most of the stores and hotels that were destroyed were British and they wanted to topple the regime. Others accused the palace of doing that because King Farouk did not like the British. All had good backgrounds but none had evidences. ´Nobody will know the truth at least in the near future,´ Nashaat thought.
Political groups from all waves and colors became very active. Nashaat started to attend many meetings of these groups. Usually he went with a friend who was a member in the group. Nashaat had many friends who gave him the opportunity. As the Wafd Party was supporting resistance against the British, it was easy for Nashaat to help in this particular area. He traveled several times to Ismailia by night carrying weapons for the resistance. His duty was stopping the car near the city where others take weapons from him. However, he attended many meetings of different groups and became a friend to many of their members. One day he was in a meeting of a communist small group and the Political Police attacked the place and arrested them.
Hassan Al-Sheikh was a mechanic in one of textile factories. He completed his primary school education. He was sitting in a corner of the prison cell when soldiers pushed Nashaat into it. Nashaat lost balance and fell on the ground. Hassan went to Nashaat and helped the new comer. The first thing Hassan noticed was that Nashaat was not beaten.
´They did not greet you,´ Hassan said.
Nashaat did not understand the sarcastic statement and he did not respond. He looked around and tried to control himself not to cry. He heard about prisons and stories of detainees but he did not think that he would be one of them one day. He found a place between two detainees and sat silently. His tears fell. He wiped his tears with his sleeve.
Hassan sat in front of him. Usually marks of beating are obvious. And usually detainees do not cry. They knew that one day it would happen to them. However, their beliefs and their sincerity for principals made them ready to sacrifice.
´I´m Hassan Al-Sheikh, a member in the Egyptian Communist Party. They arrested me a week ago.´
´I´m Nashaat Abu Al-Hassan, a member in Wafd Party.´
´Don´t tell me that you are the son of Refaat Pasha Abu Al-Hassan who is at odds with his father and joined the Wafd because of that. Anyhow, they don´t arrest Wafd members,´ Hassan said.
´Yes, I´m. They arrested me with a communist group. I attend meeting of many groups and sometimes I help in sending weapons and ammunitions to commandoes in Suez and Ismailia cities. I´m not a communist. I don´t like communism but the officer did not believe me,´ Nashaat said. He cried and added, ´he slapped me on face. He humiliated me. I´ll never forget it. When he knew that I´m the son of Refaat Pasha Abu Al-Hassan, he apologized, but I insisted that I would tell the story to our Wafd Members of Parliament when they release me. Even my father will not accept that although we are at odds.´
´You shouldn´t have worked in politics. You think of politics as meetings with smart and tidy Pashas and ministers. Here is the real politics,´ Hassan said.
´I share in the struggle against the British occupation like any other Egyptian. Sometimes I drive to Ismailia carrying weapons to commandoes there,´ Nashaat said loudly.
Hassan laughed.
´I don´t think I said something funny,´ Nashaat said.
´No, you said,´ Hassan said angrily. ´It is supposed that carrying weapons to commandoes is a top secret. If guards heard what you said, they will torture you until you say everything about commandoes and their whereabouts. Even in this cell, the secret police may have agents. You are a dreamer. You read about policy, but you have no political experience. Rule number one in secret movements is the silence.´
´I think all persons here are arrested because they work in secret movement. And, you made me nervous. You think that communists are the only nationals. All communists think that,´ Nashaat said.
´One day you will know what communism is. Did you read about it? Did you read about capitalism? You read some books in the university and the newspapers. These readings do not tell you the truth. The truth is where poor live. Did you meet someone who work hard but he cannot afford dinner to his children? If you met him, you would give him a gift and you think that you did the good thing and God will send you to paradise. This man and others should fight corrupted landlords and take their land. The spitefulness should be his drive to build the fair community. You were born in a palace and you do not know the people whom you claim that you struggle for them. I´m one of them. I didn´t cry when they brought me here because outside I suffered more than here,´ Hassan lectured on him.
´In every community there are rich and poor people. Poor people should not be lazy and work more so that they would earn more money,´ Nashaat said.
´Yes, they should work in your farms and factories and be satisfied with what you give them as wages,´ Hassan said sarcastically.
´If they are not satisfied with their wages they may strike,´ Nashaat said. ´I Europe and the United States syndicates are powerful that workers´ rights are kept.´
´In Russia workers decide for themselves because people owns everything. Men like you have no place,´ Hassan said and left to the far corner.
However next days relations changed to better. Nashaat found that his prison companions talk to Hassan with much respect. He discovered that Hassan was an intellectual. Their discussions were fruitful to Nashaat. He found that he should read more about different philosophies. During a discussion, he told Hassan about his dreams of building a factory. For his astonishment, Hassan proposed that he would help him to bring best workers. Nashaat said that he would give fair wages. He told Hassan that he admired Talaat Pasha Harb and Abood Pasha, the two Egyptian icons who build factories and residential settlements for employees and workers. What went wrong was that Hassan said that these two icons built workers´ homes separated from employees and managers´ villas. Nashaat responded aggressively and said that the two classes have different habits. The other companions or the comrades as Hassan used to call them shared and lost their temper and hit Nashaat. He hit them back. Hassan controlled the comrades. One hour later they started, another talk and all laughed together.
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