The Rebel

Amina-4

Before she would walk out of the door, Nasirah turns back and visibly hesitates. It’s as if she wanted to say something but doesn’t know how to start. Oh, God. What else could still come? She pulls the hijab that was covering her shoulders before, over her hair, and seeking my eyes, she speaks up.

“Amina, before… you know, before your wedding I will need to talk to you about some important issues.”

She emphasizes the word important as if she was going to share a serious state secret, and I’m just standing there, waiting for her to continue.

“Things that you should know before, ehm,” she coughs and glances at Rafa as if signalling to her to leave the room. She, of course, is not making a move, as if her feet had taken roots. She’d be a fool to leave now that things are turning out to be interesting. “Before you become the sheikh’s wife,” she finishes, giving me a meaningful look.

It’s only now I realize she is gently referring to s*x, and that she is planning some kind of an enlightening speech. Wow. I swear, after several weeks, now is the first time I feel like having a good laugh, but of course I can’t. In the Emirates, like in the whole Arabian world, the topic of s*x is taboo, which is why this is all women talk about. And I suspect, men do the same. Nasirah has indeed never talked to us, her daughters about sexuality, she may have thought it would be enough to discuss the specifics when the wedding night is “impending”. True, I haven’t slept with anyone, but Nasirah would have a heart attack if she found out that I have already kissed by two guys at Epsom.

“As you wish,” I answer like a good girl, being aware that whoever will enlighten me about s*x in the future, it for sure won’t be her.

Nasirah nods, opens the door and leaves my room, with a red-faced Rafa following her.

“Am I right that she wants to talk about s*x with you?” Selina looks at me with raised eyebrows as soon as we are alone.

“Damn sure. It would be a fun little chat party, so sorry it will never happen,” I pull my face.

“And will happen now? To Saud sheikh, I mean,” she asks apprehensively, putting an arm around me.

“I can’t meet the sheikh. Absolutely no way.”

“Do you think he would recognize you?”

“I don’t think so, still, I can’t. I simply… couldn’t do it, you know?” I shake my head vehemently, because I don’t know how to explain to her the contempt, I have felt for Saud sheikh since I eavesdropped on the men’s conversation at the camel derby.

“But if he insists… there is nothing you can do about it,” she sighs deeply.

I send her a sharp look and raise my eyebrows. What nonsense!

“There is only one solution. We have to bring the escape forward. Instead of next weekend we have to move it as early as this week. They are planning the meeting with the sheikh on Friday, so we have to leave by Thursday, at the latest. We already have the thobes…”

“Thur… Thursday,” Selina gulps again and again. “But that’s in two days. What about the money? The jewels? The passport?”

She’s sounding more and more desperate as she lists her worries, she holds onto my arm and breathes noisily.

“We are good for money. It’s not exactly as much as I planned, but we’ll be all right,” I sooth her. “What’s more, the scheduled meeting with the sheikh even comes in handy. Nasirah and my father will insist that I wear my most precious gems when I meet him. Tomorrow I will try them all on, and I will keep them in my room for the night.”

We hear a knock from the door, and we both lift our heads. “Come in,” I shout, the door opens, and Safyja walks inside, balancing a tray in her hands. Our dinner has arrived. Behind her, bowing his head, stands the young man who has only recently started working in the house, and who – as I found out in the meantime – is called Yaser. He doesn’t look into my suite, casts his eyes down obediently while he waits for Safyja to put down the tray. He only came with her to help with the door, but as soon as I see him, my brain starts ticking. I step close to the girl and ask her quietly: “Safyja, is this Yaser a trustworthy boy?”

Falling out of her role, she looks at me with some surprise, but she’s not the only one. Selina also opens her mouth as she stares at us.

“Yes, Princess. He’s a good boy. he does a good job.”

“Okay,” I nod. “Will Yaser be here tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, Princess,” the girl nods with obedience.

“I will have an important task for him, so please tell him to come to me tomorrow at about ten. It’s about the sultan. I hope he’s not afraid of horses,” I raise my eyebrows.

“No… I don’t think he is, Princess,” she says, holding back a smile.

“All right, then. Thank you, Safyja. You may go.”

She bows her head to us and rushes out of the room. As soon as we are left alone, Selina strikes down on me.

“What’s going on in your mind again?”

“It’s quite obvious, isn’t it? While he busies himself with the horse, I steal his passport. I’ll be wearing men’s clothes and my hair will be pinned up, we’ll even look alike.”

Selina pulls her face.

“Slight exaggeration.”

“Whatever,” I shrug my shoulders. “Anyhow, we will only need the passports for an emergency. If all goes well, we won’t even need them, because in Karachi we will board a train or a bus to Islamabad.”

“There is an airport in Karachi too,” she remarks quietly.

I know what she thinks, since Islamabad is 1400 km from Karachi, which means we’ll be on the road for two days, on who knows what kind of a dilapidated bus or train, with heaven knows what kind of people on board. I’m not too crazy about the idea either, but the farther the place where we board a plane where we have to use out own passports, the less likely that we can be tracked down. By land we can travel incognito, but on a plane we can’t.

“That’s true, but Karachi is too close. I’m sure they will check the nearest airports first, so the longer we travel to board a plane, the better. And in Islamabad we can use our own clothes and passports.”

“That’s crazy!” she shakes her head while tossing the food about on the plate, without an appetite.

“You have to sort out the passport issue today, or tomorrow the latest,” I warn her, and she just keeps nodding with resignation. “We’ll be flying to Madrid first as agreed, and we will take it from there.”

We don’t speak much afterwards, both of us being preoccupied with our own thoughts

＊

The thing with the passport went easier than I had thought. The rooms of the male staff are located in the west wing of the palate, on the same side where my father and my brothers reside, but on the ground floor. I was peeking around early in the morning, and as Yaser disappeared in the direction of the stables, with wobbly knees and a thumping heart I sneaked into the corridor. One of the rooms was locked. As I carefully opened the next one, I immediately spotted on the wall a picture of Omar, my father’s driver on the wall, in the company of his family, so that was clear enough. I kept on trying, and since in the room next to it there were two beds, I made the conclusion that one belonged to Yaser and the other to Tarek, the other male servant. I figured Yaser had no reason to tuck away his passport, so I didn’t seek for any secret places. Finally, I found the passport in the drawer of the only desk in the room, in an envelope. I quickly pocketed it, put 2000 dirhan into the box inside the cupboard, an amount worth about three months’ salary, to ease my guilty conscience somewhat, and as soon as I could, I got the hell out of the room.

＊

“Choose the sapphire, it goes well with her eyes,” my sister says enthusiastically, and even claps with excitement as she’s trying to convince our mother.

“But the diamond goes with the colour of the dress.”

“The shape of the sapphire is much more beautiful. Anyway, it is one set. There is even a pair of ear rings to go with it.

“There are also earrings with the diamond. Here you are,” Nasirah says, eagerly pushing the gem in front of me. “Round, just like the gems on the necklace.”

“Look at the size of them!” Rafa says with amazement, and for the first time in my life, I also feel some excitement as I take the lushly expensive necklace into my palm, but for a very different reason from theirs.

While the other two are trying on the gold and diamond jewels with a childlike thrill, I sit in my armchair and ponder about how much I will get for them in London, at a pawn shop. That diamond necklace with the bracelet and the earrings is probably worth a fortune. I’m sure I can’t sell it at its original price, but if only I can get its third or fourth, my financial problems will be solved for about a year. And if I could also take the sapphire set with me, my studies would also be covered for about a year. Somehow, I should get Nasirah to leave them with me and not take them back to her own suite.

“Hmm… I don’t really know,” I feign indecision, and walk up to the mirror, holding the diamond necklace against me. “This is really beautiful, but… the sapphire one is also spectacular.”

“The sapphire one is the most beautiful of all,” Nasirah nods. “Of course, the diamond one is more valuable. And then, there’s the gold set the sheikh sent you as a gift,” she slaps her forehead. “How could I forget to bring it over?” she says resentfully. “Perhaps it’s best if you wear that, combined with the diamonds.”

“Let me just run to get them,” I offer with a sigh.

Nasirah digs out the safe’s key from her pocket and sticks it in my hand.

“You’ll find it in the mahogany velvet box. Hurry!”

With my bare feet, I rush down the silent corridor, it’s in full silence, all I hear is the echo of my own footsteps sounding from the walls. I open the door to Nasirah’s suite and go straight to the wardrobe. The safe is on a shelf, behind the abayas hanging in neat order. I open it and take a deep breath as suddenly the sight of big and small jewellery boxes unfolds before my eyes. There is more than one mahogany box, so I have to open a few before I find the one the sheikh has presented me with. As I take out one after the other, my hand is suddenly hit against some paper. I take a better look, and my breathing stops. Three passports. Good heavens! What are passports doing here? With shaky hands I pull them out, and hardly believe my eyes when I realize that one is Rafa’s, the second one is for Nasirah and the third… the third is mine.

The room suddenly turns upside down, my heart is hammering so fast, it’s about to leap out of my chest. My father is supposed to keep the official family documents in his safe, at his office. I only see one explanation to why these passports ended up in this safe, and that can be our approaching trip to Cairo. According to the plan, father is not coming with us, but either Kareem or Hamid would accompany us. And since they are planning the journey after my meeting with the sheikh, father must have brought the passports over, so that they would be on hand. I don’t know what this is. A game of coincidences, heaven’s mercy, or perhaps fate has pitied me in my misery, but I will not have a better chance to obtain my own passport, that’s damn certain. With shivering fingers, I hide my passport in the waist band in my pants, and the other two I carefully place back to where they were. I’m so nervous, I can hardly find the keyhole to lock the safe.