“It’s ludicrous!” Tariq shouted. “Mama’s boy is going to marry Tahiya!”

Everything seemed ludicrous, alien, incompatible with the euphoria beginning to rise from the drug I’d just taken.

“What kind of lunacy is this?” Halima shouted. “She’s ten years older than you!”

Tariq spat out threats so vehemently that saliva was sprayed in every direction.

“Don’t make matters worse,” Halima pleaded.

“I’ll bring destruction on this house,” Tariq shouted, “and everyone in it!” Whatever excitement I could have felt had receded. All I could muster was scorn and indifference, but before I could express anything, Halima told Tariq to take his clothes and get out.

“Behind my back!” he yelled. “In this filthy house!”

“It’s your presence that makes it filthy,” came my rejoinder, in so calm a tone that it sounded very strange in this stormy atmosphere. He didn’t bother to look at me.

Then Halima asked Abbas, “Is it true, what he says?”

“We’ve reached an understanding,” said Mama’s boy.

“Why weren’t you considerate enough to consult us?” I said with lofty indifference and, getting no response, went on: “Will her salary be sufficient for running a home?”

“I’m going to take your place as the company’s prompter.”

“From author to prompter?”

“There’s no inconsistency between the two.”

“My son’s gone mad!” cried Halima convulsively. Then she told Tariq, “Don’t you act like a crazy fool, too.”

He began making threats again, whereupon she yelled, “Get out of our house!”

“I’ll stay here until Doomsday!” came his parting shot. Exit Tariq, leaving the scene to the Noble Family. I looked maliciously from one to the other, enjoying myself.

“I don’t even know her except as this or that person’s mistress,” Halima said to Abbas, imploring him to reconsider.

I roared with laughter. “Your mother’s an expert. Listen and take note!”

She went on pleading with him. “Your father, as you well recognize, has become a good-for-nothing. You’re our only hope.”

“We’ll begin a new life,” said Abbas.

I laughed. “Why have you deceived us all this time with your high-flown morality?”

Abbas strode out, and she broke into sobs. In the depths of my heart I would welcome his final departure, exulting over the collapse of the alliance between him and his mother against me. His had always been a dissenting voice, and I was fed up with him. Let him leave, and the house would become calm and harmonious. I’d even been afraid of him at times. He personified the meaning of words I hold in contempt, the nature of acts I abhor.

Halima was bewailing her fate. “Alone! Alone!”

“Alone! Don’t pretend to be what you are not. In what way are we different? The same source, the same life, the same final goal!”