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By Root 297 0

was scared now that he might be attacked. Taher was fully capable of throwing a bomb in his face without a shred of pity, even more so because he considered him a traitor. Karim knew his mentality and his revolutionary code of honor. Taher wouldn’t hesitate to throw a bomb at his own mother if she happened not to share his opinion about something. With growing unease, Karim looked for a way to escape his pursuer. Anxiously he inspected the long deserted road without finding a single dark corner to hide in. Just the corn-vendor’s cart on the sidewalk lit by the streetlamp. Hide behind the cart? Idiotic. It would roll away without him—the merchant was getting ready to close up shop, as if he’d had a premonition of impending disaster. Karim picked up his pace, feeling vaguely ridiculous and not daring to turn around to see if Taher was still following him. A coarse voice addressed him, stopping him dead.

“Hey, Karim! You don’t have to run away from me!”

Karim turned around, a forced smile on his lips. He was as nervous as a woman seeing an old lover she’s betrayed and abandoned. He opened his arms in a sign of welcome.

“Hello, Taher, my brother! What a happy coincidence. How are you?”

He wanted to embrace Taher, but his former friend flinched and made a point of pulling back.

“I’m doing very well,” replied Taher. “And you? Still having fun?”

“Yes, I’m all right. Believe me, I’m happy to see you. It’s been a long time since I’ve laid eyes on you.”

“I’m sorry,” said Taher, “but I was in prison. It was hard for me to make it out to the salons and cafés.”

Taher’s face, gaunt and creased from hardship and a lifetime of trouble, made his outcast state all too clear. His eyes glinted with a wild intransigence common to those who fight for a hopeless cause. He scrutinized Karim suspiciously but with a sense of suppressed tenderness, too, a feeling of sympathy for his comrade—a traitor to the cause, but someone who was still present in his memory. Basically he was as nervous as Karim, even though he was playing the roles of accuser and pitiless judge. His clothes were preposterous for a man in his straits. In every season, he wore a tight brown suit in quite decent condition, a shirt with a starched collar, and a dark tie—the austere outfit of a low-level office worker and a striking contrast to his starving revolutionary’s face; he was like two characters superimposed on each other. But that was Taher’s great principle: a real revolutionary must dress correctly! The bohemian attitude of some of his comrades made him beside himself with anger; he’d often attacked Karim for not wearing a tie.

Karim was at a loss for words at his friend’s news. Prison couldn’t have been fun for Taher, who took everything so hard. Karim felt a flash of guilt for standing there, the picture of health and happiness, in front of this man who had escaped from the deepest dungeons in order to accuse him and curse him. Despite himself, he couldn’t stop eyeing the package that Taher still held in his hand. He was ashamed of his fear, but it was stronger than he was; he trembled, thinking of the bomb. Taher noticed his nervousness with a withering sigh. Finally something had amused him.

“Don’t worry about the package,” he said sarcastically. “It’s not a bomb. These are my old shoes that I’m taking to the cobbler. The soles have completely come off. You can see: I’m walking barefoot at the moment.”

“How could you think...!” Karim protested feebly.

Still, he lowered his eyes to be sure that Taher was telling the truth: in fact, his friend’s feet were bare. For an instant he was transfixed, unable to look away from Taher’s feet. To wear a starched collar and no shoes, how strange! Karim didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I’m truly sorry, brother!”

“Don’t be; it’s not at all important. I’ve endured every possible misery. I don’t need to live in an apartment with a terrace. I love palaces—I love to destroy them!”

“It’s a servant’s quarters!” Karim exclaimed. Then, more quietly: “How do you know where I live? You’ve been spying on me!”

Taher smiled