The Runaway!

It was Suad's habit to throw herself into problems and troubles that were sometimes of some concern to her, and most of the time of no concern to her at all. Yesterday she came home accompanied by a girl of bewitching beauty, fifteen years of age, named Nazik.

Hardly had Suad entered her house when she made straight for the telephone and dialed a certain number. After a moment she said: Is this the Citadel?

It was not natural in the least for Suad to be calling the Citadel, where the general headquarters of the Syrian gendarmerie is located; nor was it usual for her to dial the correct number on the first try.

The gendarme working the switchboard at the other end of the line answered her: Yes, khanum, this is the Citadel.

Suad said hastily: Would you connect me with the gendarmerie post in the village of Anat?

Moments later she was speaking to the officer of the gendarmerie post in the village of Anat, saying: Would you be so kind as to call someone from the house of Ali Hasan in your village to speak to me on the telephone?

The officer answered her: That house is far from the post. If you wish to pass along some piece of news, I am ready to do it.

— Then please tell them that their daughter Nazik is at my house and that she is well, and that they should send someone to take her back to the village.

The officer asked her: Is she alone in your house?

— Yes.

— Is her fiancé not with her?

— No. She is alone.

— Strange. We rather think they ran away together. We have telephoned the police in Damascus and all the frontier posts to search for them. Note, moreover, that the girl has not yet come of age. Thank you for this information. I will inform her parents at once; for now, keep the girl in your house until I telephone you again.

Suad asked him: Are things unquiet in your village?

— A quarrel broke out between the two families, but we now have the situation completely in hand.

Suad said: That being so, I think it would be wise for you to come along with her parents.

— I will do so if the matter requires it, or I will send a trustworthy person.

Suad put the receiver back in its place and turned to Nazik, who was smiling, the innocence of children upon her face, and asked her to sit down. When she had done so, Suad said to her: You little devil, it was your good luck that I came to rescue you at the last moment. Otherwise God alone knows how your affair would have ended.

At that moment Suad's brother came into the room, and having heard part of the conversation asked: What is going on?

— As I was about to enter the broadcasting house to record my talk, I saw her standing at the roadside with a crowd of people around her. It suddenly occurred to me that a little thing like her could have no business with people of that sort. And without preamble or argument, I took her by the hand into the broadcasting house.

Suad's brother said, addressing Nazik: And now, tell us your story.

Nazik smiled and hid her face with her two hands, which were adorned with gold bracelets. Suad began to encourage her, saying: Come now, let us hear your story.

Nazik looked at Suad through the gaps between her fingers, then lowered her hands from her face with a bold movement and said with an air of unconcern: I ran away from my parents' house.

— When?
— Today.
— How many hours ago?
— About two hours ago.

Suad's brother put in: And why?

Nazik said, with a wink: Because I am engaged.

Suad, who had caught sight of the gold engagement ring on the girl's finger, said: I see — then added:

— You mean you do not love your fiancé.

Nazik said in a tone that brooked no argument: Not at all — we love each other to the point of madness.

Suad's brother asked: When were you engaged to him?
— Three years ago.

Suad asked her, astonished: Three years? How old were you then?

— Yes, three years ago I was betrothed to him, and I was twelve years old.

— And why do you not marry?

Nazik said, heaving a sigh from her breast: My parents will not allow us to marry.

Suad's brother asked: I do not understand how they consented to the engagement and now deny you the marriage — did they take this position

because of your age?

Nazik said, glancing about her with looks full of rancor: No, not because of my age — but my family, may they go to the devil. I have an invalid father, a wicked brother who spends nine months of every year in prison, and a fat mother whose bulk fills the entrance of Souq al-Hamidiyeh.

And she laughed carelessly.

Suad said: I see no reason for your father's withholding consent to your marriage.

— In fact there is no reason for it, except that she spent everything we had saved on my father's illness and my brother's misdeeds. A short while ago my brother came out of prison, and the first word out of his mouth was to demand that I ask my fiancé to pay three thousand Syrian liras, the advance portion of the dowry.

— And what did you do when your brother demanded that of you? And what was your fiancé's answer?

— I knew his answer in advance. It so happened that my fiancé had bought a farm tractor a few days before my brother came out of prison, and it used up all the money he had saved. He asked for a delay of six months so that he could pay; and the moment my brother heard that, he flew into a rage and rained blows upon me. That happened last night, and I fled today while he was asleep. I thought I would find a house where I could work as a maid.

Not long afterward the telephone rang in Suad's house. She took up the receiver and heard the gendarmerie officer say: Please keep the girl in your house until tomorrow morning.

— Have there been developments in the village?

— Her family do not believe that she ran away alone; they are convinced she ran away with her fiancé. Her fiancé must be searching for her in Damascus at this moment. Poor fellow. He will come back to the village tonight and we will tell him what happened. I will telephone you again tomorrow morning. Suad turned to Nazik and said to her:

— You will sleep at my house tonight, and tomorrow we shall see what we can do for you.

The next morning a woman of middle years knocked at the door of Suad's house, accompanied by a young man of good appearance. She greeted Suad and said that she was Nazik's mother, come with her daughter's fiancé. Suad left them in the sitting room and went to fetch Nazik, who refused to meet her mother and was stubborn about it.

Nazik said, in a voice all but choked with tears: And why must I see her? She has come to take me back to the village, where they will rain blows upon me. I will not go back with her. Please keep me in your house, and I promise to serve you with my very eyes. I can sweep the floors and mop them and wash the dishes; I can also wash the clothes and iron them, and do many other tasks besides the cooking. I will do all these tasks for the rest of my life and expect neither wage nor reward for it. Please help me. Do not let them take me back to the village.

— But your fiancé is here too... Do you not wish to see him?

Hardly had Nazik heard this than her face lit up and she said hastily: Where is he?

A few minutes had not passed before Nazik and her fiancé came into the sitting room, both smiling the smile of a happy child. The mother planted a kiss on her daughter's face and then pinched her nose. After drinking a cup of coffee, she asked leave to return with her daughter to the village. But Nazik refused, saying: I would rather stay in this house as a servant than go back to my former prison.

Her mother was at a loss, and she looked at Suad with an expression that said: I appeal to you for help.

The mother said: I have no authority over my daughter. And she began to weep, saying: If the matter were in my hands, I would not take her back to the village before she married him, and I swear I will not charge him a single piaster.

The telephone rang, breaking in on Suad's quiet reflection, and her hand reached for the receiver. The caller was the officer of the gendarmerie post in Nazik's village, who wanted to know whether Nazik's mother and fiancé had reached Suad's house. Suad reassured him that they had arrived, and asked him whether it would be wise to allow the girl to return to the village.

The officer answered: Yes, there is nothing to fear in her returning.

— But Nazik refuses to return so long as her brother is in the house. What is to be done?

— Tell her that men of the military police arrived in the village after her mother left, and notified him that he must report at once to the general recruiting headquarters to perform his military service. Two years in the Syrian army will discipline him, no doubt of it, and make a good citizen of him.

Suad said: Thank you.

— Thank you, khanum. And the officer rang off.