He drove out to the desert by the pyramids, racing madly, seeking the shelter of the open sky as he had with Margaret. The half-moon was sinking toward the west. He reached toward her and gave her a light, artful kiss as a start. Then they exchanged a long kiss, incited by passions as old as the moon.

She sighed, whispering. “This is nice.”

He pressed her against him with a fervor which stretched into the solitudes of the desert. His fingers entwined in her hair, which was lit by moonbeams, and he said in a strange, breathless voice, “When the dawn comes.”

With his cheek pressed against hers, they gazed at the sleepy moon, on a level with their eyes, and followed its languid beams on the sand. Its beams would die, leaving the heart still thirsting. No power on earth can preserve this godly moment, a moment which has conferred a secret meaning to the universe. You stand on its threshold, with your hand stretched out imploringly toward the darkness, the horizon, and the depths where the moon has fallen. A firebrand seems to burn in your chest as the dawn breaks forth and fears of bankruptcy and want recede.

“Are you a dreamer?” she asked.

“No, I’m realistic to the point of illness.”

She laughed. “But you’re not a woman beater.”

“I don’t beat men either.”

“That’s good.”

Pressing her closer, he said, “But at one time, I was about to kill.”

“Because of a woman?”

“No.”

“Don’t talk of such things in the moonlight.”

“In the end I decided to kill myself.”

“In my presence?”

“In your arms.”

“In the moonlight?”

“Now the moon is disappearing.”

When he returned home and switched on the bedroom light, Zeinab opened her lifeless eyes. As he greeted her indifferently, she said tensely, “It’s almost dawn.”

“So?”

She sat on the bed, her eyelids swollen, looking tormented and desperate.

“I haven’t heard this tone from you in all the years we’ve been married.”

He put on his pajamas in silence and she cried out, “I’ve never heard anything like it.”

He muttered resignedly, “Illness is like that.”

“How can I bear such a life?”

“My days are spoiled. Don’t spoil the nights.”

“The girls are asking questions.”

“Well, let’s face the situation with a certain amount of wisdom.”

She buried her face against the wall. “If only I had some place to go.”