The Jokers - Albert Cossery [57]
Customers were few in the luxurious tearoom, located in an elegant neighborhood, where Soad had asked to meet. There was the little girl and her mother, and apart from that just two other tables occupied by ladies gorging themselves on cake and blabbing quietly to each other. Heykal was nauseated by the women’s voraciousness. He drank a mouthful of tea to keep from throwing up and resumed his silent dialogue with the young girl. He could tell that he intrigued her, that she felt a strange link uniting them. Inside he trembled to think that he had become the object of her childish imagination. What could she be thinking? Suddenly he’d had enough of feigned indifference; changing tactics, he stared straight at her. Quickly she lowered her eyes and a blush rose to her cheeks. Heykal relaxed. Then he had a crazy notion and felt a thrill of action: he’d take the girl by the hand and, right in front of her mother’s horrified eyes, they’d walk out. He was sure that she would do it.
The girl’s eyes grew even sadder; they looked misty with tears. Did she suspect that he wanted to save her, to tear her away from her monstrous mother? She seemed to be waiting for a sign from Heykal to get up and follow him. But he knew it was all a fantasy. He’d never give in to the wild desire that took hold of him whenever he saw a child of his own kind in the company of unworthy parents. He smiled regretfully at the little girl. And—extraordinary thing—she seemed to understand, for she bowed her head slightly, looking sweeter yet. Heykal’s heart fluttered, and he closed his eyes to savor her innocence and her divine understanding.
Suddenly Soad was standing in front of him. Heykal didn’t recognize her right away; she’d changed. She was wearing her hair in a high bun; her eyes were blackened with kohl and she’d put on lipstick. She carried herself like a lady, and there was an unexpected hardness about her features—quite a disguise. Heykal noticed something even more surprising: the girl was wearing expensive earrings with large precious stones. He didn’t comment, as she clearly expected him to do.
She sat across from him and, for a moment, she staged a grotesque scene, like someone in a silly mask making wild faces in order to be recognized. But Heykal maintained a detached, almost cold attitude; he seemed altogether unaware of her transformation. Vexed by this lack of curiosity, she glanced around in the hopes of exciting some public admiration, only to be disappointed by the lack of customers; she turned back to the young man. She could no longer resist asking:
“How do I look?”
“Superb!” Heykal responded. “You remind me of my grandmother!”
She pouted like a sulky little girl, a look that didn’t suit her new brand of beauty at all—she could tell right away from Heykal’s icy glance. She had just voluntarily crossed the border that separated her from childhood; from now on, she would no longer be able to move him. She was a woman now, and she knew how well he was defended against the ploys and the duplicity of her sex.
She stopped pouting and said in the tone of a poised and very confident young woman:
“Be nice to me. I have some fantastic news for you.”