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THE SHORT STORIES OF ZAKARIA TAMER The Pill Man’s Fate J aber al-Maqsoun swallowed a yellow pill before going to the mosque and preaching a sermon which denounced the yellow pills that Said al-Hallaa the barber was pushing. He said the pills defied the will of the Creator who, if He had wanted, could have created all people rich, powerful, happy and free of diseases or defects. Ahmad al-Hatmi, a secondary school teacher, swallowed a yellow pill, sat in a café and, in a loud, angry voice, told everyone around him that if Said al-Hallaa the barber really loved his neighbourhood he would give out the yellow pills for free or sell them at a reduced price, and not exploit their desperate need for the pills. Salim al-Habbal, who had a massive moustache, swallowed a yellow pill on the sly and proudly told his drunken friends, who were staggering around all over the home of Samira the dancer, that a man was born a man and a barber could never put right what destiny had made wrong. But the people in the Quwaiq district didn’t care what was said in public about the yellow pills. They just agreed that they were amazing and wonderful and strange. The pills had an extraordinary mental and physical effect, almost like magic. They made barren women pregnant, gave old men the strength to sleep with four women in one night, turned abject cowards into bold, courageous men who went around undeterred, looking for someone to fight. They turned stupid, lazy kids into smart, hard-working children who won top grades in all their exams, and changed pathetic, miserable, obsequious people into people who were brimming with fun and pride. When the women in the neighbourhood saw their menfolk standing tall, with their heads held high, walking along as though they alone owned the world, they didn’t need to ask what had come over them. They knew immediately that they had secretly joined the ranks of those addicted to the yellow pills sold by Said al-Hallaa the barber. Said’s life had changed and people had started trying to win his favour, whereas throughout his earlier life it was he who had to please them. He closed down his barber’s shop and turned away the customers who had been in the habit of having their hair cut there, and nobody held it against him because everyone far and near knew he was now making as much money in 54 BANIPAL 53 – SUMMER 2015
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THE PILL MAN’S FATE one day as he used to earn in a whole year. He sat at home, confident that those who wanted his pills would seek him out, even if he were living on the other side of the world. In the beginning the pills started a maelstrom of rumours about their effects but the rumours soon died down, to be replaced by other rumours speculating about where they came from. But whenever Said al-Hallaa was asked about them, he just smiled and pointed upwards. He was tracked closely for days but the monitoring only added to the uncertainty because he was just sitting at home hugging his little boy or his wife. No strangers visited him and he didn’t visit anyone. The postman never brought him any letters or parcels, and he didn’t buy anything from the shops that could be used as raw material for the pills. No one was able to find out where they came from, how they were made, who made them or what the ingredients were. His wife’s friends tried to lure her into disclosing information that would reveal how her husband obtained the pills, but it turned out that she didn’t know anything more than was already known. She told them her husband insisted she never take any pills because she was perfect and just the way he wanted her to be, and he didn’t want her to be as she wanted to be. Big businessmen came in droves to see Said al-Hallaa, with tempting proposals for manufacturing the pills and marketing them all over the country, and his answer was that the pills were only for his neighbourhood. Other people, experts in importing and exporting, offered to export the pills to various foreign countries to make massive profits, but Said al-Hallaa rejected their offers in angry disapproval and answered that the profits would then be tainted money. Resentment against him began to grow and spread in the neighbourhood, especially when there Front cover of Sour Grapes BANIPAL 53 – SUMMER 2015 55

THE SHORT STORIES OF ZAKARIA TAMER

The Pill Man’s Fate J

aber al-Maqsoun swallowed a yellow pill before going to the mosque and preaching a sermon which denounced the yellow pills that Said al-Hallaa the barber was pushing. He said the pills defied the will of the Creator who, if He had wanted, could have created all people rich, powerful, happy and free of diseases or defects. Ahmad al-Hatmi, a secondary school teacher, swallowed a yellow pill, sat in a café and, in a loud, angry voice, told everyone around him that if Said al-Hallaa the barber really loved his neighbourhood he would give out the yellow pills for free or sell them at a reduced price, and not exploit their desperate need for the pills. Salim al-Habbal, who had a massive moustache, swallowed a yellow pill on the sly and proudly told his drunken friends, who were staggering around all over the home of Samira the dancer, that a man was born a man and a barber could never put right what destiny had made wrong. But the people in the Quwaiq district didn’t care what was said in public about the yellow pills. They just agreed that they were amazing and wonderful and strange. The pills had an extraordinary mental and physical effect, almost like magic. They made barren women pregnant, gave old men the strength to sleep with four women in one night, turned abject cowards into bold, courageous men who went around undeterred, looking for someone to fight. They turned stupid, lazy kids into smart, hard-working children who won top grades in all their exams, and changed pathetic, miserable, obsequious people into people who were brimming with fun and pride. When the women in the neighbourhood saw their menfolk standing tall, with their heads held high, walking along as though they alone owned the world, they didn’t need to ask what had come over them. They knew immediately that they had secretly joined the ranks of those addicted to the yellow pills sold by Said al-Hallaa the barber. Said’s life had changed and people had started trying to win his favour, whereas throughout his earlier life it was he who had to please them. He closed down his barber’s shop and turned away the customers who had been in the habit of having their hair cut there, and nobody held it against him because everyone far and near knew he was now making as much money in

54 BANIPAL 53 – SUMMER 2015

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