The Jokers - Albert Cossery [15]
It was an extraordinary suit, made from imported cloth in a discreet dark hue and cut with consummate art by the most capable tailor in the country. Despite the fact that Heykal wore it almost exclusively, it had held its shape well, and with age it had even acquired a certain beauty. It had cost him a pretty penny; but it had been well worth the price, for it fulfilled its role to perfection. When added to his own natural presence, the opulent suit gave Heykal undeniable cachet; he passed, even in the city’s wealthiest circles, for a young man of high rank. Though he wasn’t rich, he was also not without resources; a meager income from a small inherited plot of land was enough to let him live modestly. Nobody knew the amount of this income, and given his manners and the confidence he projected, he was usually taken to be a wealthy landowner. At thirty-two, he had yet to work; much better to make do on his meager rent than to get involved, even sporadically, with the league of bloodthirsty crooks who populated the planet. But Heykal was no idler; he was perpetually at work, uncovering the absurdity of human behavior. The world of fools pleased him. He would, in fact, have been unhappy to discover that something he’d seen or heard contained even a hint of sense. Sometimes, reading a vaguely sensible piece of news in the paper, he grew sick with annoyance. He delighted in the endless spectacle of man’s folly and, like a child at the circus, never failed to find life wildly entertaining.
He glanced at the alarm clock on the chest of drawers. Seven already! The extra time he’d allowed to his servant was over; now he had no choice but to assume the worst. And yet even in private, Heykal didn’t let his rage come out in the open; he remained calm and serene, while the sarcastic smile that continually played on his lips turned just slightly ferocious. He lit a cigarette, lay down on the couch, got up again to return to the window. Nothing. He was beginning to get used to the routine. He imagined Siri crushed beneath a tram and felt a kind of peace in the face of the inevitable. His servant’s disappearance not only prevented him from leaving but would prevent his rendezvous with Khaled Omar—a man to whom he’d soon be subtly, inexorably linked. It would be deeply upsetting for him to miss this first meeting with the businessman. Ever since Karim told him about Omar—by relating the circumstances of their friendship—Heykal had wanted to meet him. And yet, he’d put it off again and again, wanting to make sure of certain facts about the businessman’s character before he did. Perhaps he’s also foreseen that one day he might need Omar’s help and was waiting for the propitious moment to make his acquaintance. In any case, he’d come to the conclusion that Khaled Omar would, without a doubt, be a valuable associate in a certain spectacle of mockery he had conceived and was preparing to set in motion. According to what Karim had told him, the businessman was hostile to all forms of political conspiracy. He hated politicians and considered them lower than dogs—not living dogs but stinking, dead dogs. Heykal’s conspiracy couldn’t help but seduce him, given that its goal wasn’t to stage a coup or throw a bomb at the governor’s head.
This governor was a face—possibly the most ridiculous face—of the universal reign of fraud. Heykal knew him by sight, having often seen him at the municipal casino, surrounded by his most fervent supporters. They formed a sinister crowd of lackeys hovering around him and smiling earnestly at the stupidities he reeled off in an oracular tone. Heykal was so captivated by the man’s brute ignorance that he developed a true passion for him: here was someone so tragically stupid that you could only respect him for it. Magnificently and single-handedly he represented the inanity that ruled the world. Heykal was sometimes alarmed by the near-sadistic fascination he felt for him, a man who seemed to have been made governor entirely for Heykal’s own personal satisfaction. Each day brought more proof that in