Unbelievable Woman”
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Written and translated by: Taghrid Fayad
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They keep an eye on her daily, whenever they went down to play in the backyard of their building. They tiptoe before they head towards the backyard, to make sure that she is not sitting in her balcony, so she won’t kick them out of the place.
She caught their attention all the time, with her frowning face and repulsive attitude, in addition to her sharp and confident voice. She was Hajja Mariam, who would just kick them out of that place, only by folding the book she was reading and put it down, in her balcony of her ground floor house, which overlooked the back yard of their building. She would put the book down, and look at them frowningly, saying one exact word: “Unbelievable”! So the girl and the two boys would stop their play at once, and would run quickly out of the backyard, where all signs of having fun would vanish that moment.
All the kids in the building were afraid of Hajja Mariam and of her stiff frowning presence, and even their moms had adopted that feeling. She was alone most of the time, since her husband rarely comes home. We guessed that he worked faraway, or maybe he travels for another country for work! He only stays for few days, at home with her, every month.
The way she had been living there, without any contact or communication of what so ever, with the neighbors, and as a result of her attitude, she had pushed most of us to create and weave horrifying stories, and imaginary tales about her. She earned a lot of nicknames and titles, such as “Dracula”, which was given to her by Rida, the eldest boy in our gang of three, who was living in the first floor, exactly above her flat. Rida had created and told us, a lot of horror stories about Hajja Mariam. He assured us that those stories were true, especially, that he tried a lot of times eavesdropping by putting his head on the floor of his apartment, over her flat directly. He told us that most of the times, he had heard the frightening screaming and shouting of young boys and girls, who were being tortured and then eaten by her!
I feel that I had been stripped of my soul, upon hearing that, and I would ask Rida: “She really eats them?” and he would assure me with his eyes wide open with fear: “Yes she really does that! I myself hear their screaming, and I even hear the sound of her teeth ripping into their flesh, and crackling their bones!”
We use to believe him undoubtedly. I was the girl of 12 years old, who was addicted to reading all kinds of stories, and would easily imagine that horrifying sight. And even the third boy in our gang, Abdallah, who was 13 years old, would easily believe any of Rida’s tales about the frowning lady in our building, who would kick us from there, just by frowning at us and saying: “Unbelievable!”
In spite of all those frightening stories about Hajja Mariam, we were astonished to notice that she had a sweet beautiful Persian cat as a pet. We couldn’t understand how could that delicate sweet creature live with the horrifying Hajja Mariam, the “Dracula”? We had even spotted her, from behind the circuitous balcony door, which was left like that most of the time. We couldn’t believe our eyes, Hajja Mariam, the “Dracula”, was pampering her beautiful cat! Yes believe me! She was caressing the cat!
Rida kept on enticing us to sneak into her apartment, through the balcony’s door, which was open, most of the time. He would assure us saying: “It is easy to get into Hajja Mariam’s flat. We will just need to watch and make sure that her balcony’s door is open, and that there was no sign of her or her cat, then at last, we would get in there, and we would be able to know all the secrets of “The Monster of the Building” And that was the nickname that was given to her by Abdallah, the second boy in our gang. But, by the way, I’m Sawsan, the only one in the gang that has not given her any nickname, yet.
We agreed to watch Hajja Mariam and the door of her balcony, and we made shifts among us for that purpose. We agreed that when the time comes, and Hajja Mariam is not at her home, anyone of us, who would find out about that, would then blow a certain kind of whistle, to summon the rest of the gang for action, because then we would sneak into her apartment to explore at last, the secrets of that mysterious woman.
One day, I heard the agreed upon whistle, while I was standing in the window of my apartment in the third floor of the building. I looked down to the backyard and saw Abdallah and Rida waving for me to get down. I rushed down to the backyard, where I found them telling me that they have been watching Hajja Mariam’s balcony for two hours, and there was no sign of the “Monster” at all. They were excited that the door of the balcony was open, and they haven’t seen her cat even, all that time. They got closer to see the room which was overlooking the balcony, through the crack of the half open door. Its lights were off, which confirmed that she was not at home.
The kids were greatly excited, since that was the chance they have been waiting for. They approached the fence of the balcony, and helped each other to jump into the balcony. They waited for a while there, before entering the house, since they were terribly afraid. Then Rida took the first step and got into Hajja Mariam’s apartment. Abdallah followed him then Sawsan was after them. The kids were astonished to find themselves in a huge hall, where they saw an enormous library that occupied three of the walls of that hall. There were also a variety of African and Indian style statues and sculptures of different shapes, sizes, and colors, for people, animals, and birds, scattered all over the hall, here and there on small tables and holders. The kids even saw a lot of strange colorful paintings and drawings in various sizes, hung everywhere around that perplexing hall. Amazing and various plants and flowers, natural and artificial, also participated in decorating the hall.
The kids were shocked and amazed, by what they have seen there, as if they have entered the intricate world of the “One Thousand and One Nights” which they have read before.
Sawsan laid down on one of the comfortable fluffy couches there, and started watching and meditating over the huge library with all its shelves that contained all kinds of books. She felt as if she was in heaven, since that was what she had dreamt about all the time, being around all kinds of books, beautiful sculptures, and paintings. Reading was her passion. Sawsan thought while she was looking around with her dreamy eyes, that she would never want any other place in the world.
“But I was awoken from my daydreaming, by Hajja Mariam’s hands holding my arm, as I saw Rida and Abdallah running out through the door of the balcony. I heard her saying in her familiar voice: “How did you dare to sneak into my house? What were you planning to do here, you brat kid? Your wretched friends had run away, and left you behind to face your destiny!”
I started to cry, and stuttered while I was apologizing to her. I didn’t know what to say…. And suddenly, something totally unexpected happened, Hajja Mariam’s tone and also her features had changed. She started talking to me in a kind way, though it was a little bit threatening: “Stop crying, and just tell me, why did you sneak into my apartment? What did you want to do? I will forgive you and let you go, if you just tell me that, and this is a promise!”
I was still a little bit afraid, and was trying hard to stop my tears from falling down, and I told her in a crying voice: “We…we just wanted to see how does your house look like, because you are alone all the time, and nobody from our building had ever seen your house! I am very sorry, that is not our right, to intrude into your house like that. But we were badly curious to know everything about you, especially that we are always very afraid of you!” I then wiped away my tears, and continued: “I told you the truth, because you promised me to let me go, if I did that.”
Hajja Mariam surprised me again, and said in a very kind tone: “Don’t be afraid, young girl! I will let you go! But first, I want to reward you for your great honesty and for another reason also!”
I believed her, and had had confidence in her by that time, and said: “What is that reason Hajja Mariam? In fact, I feel as if I am talking to someone else, because for the first time, I can hear that kind and sweet voice of yours!”
Hajja Mariam said: “I noticed how you were looking affectionately at the books, which I have never seen in a kid, or even in any other person I know before. I even had watched you before, sitting in a corner of the backyard, and reading in a book, most of the times. You are a distinguished girl!”
Hajja Mariam said that and smiled in a charming way. I thought: “Why does she hide all that kindness?” I smiled back at her and said: “Yes Hajja Mariam. I have great passion for reading, but I can’t find books to read, whenever I wanted.”
Hajja Mariam replied: “I will give you a book from my library every week then I will wait for you to come back here to discuss and talk about that book, after you finish it, and by the end of each month I will give a book to keep as a reward. Is that a deal?”
I replied excitedly and joyfully: “Sure it is a deal.”
Then Hajja Mariam said: “And now before you go, we will start our friendship by eating the fresh dessert that I have baked today, and every week I will make you a new kind of sweets, and I will choose a new book for you.”
Then Hajja Mariam patted me down, and said: “We shall become good friends Sawsan!” I smiled and said: “You even know my name, Hajja Mariam!”
She said: “Sure I know, and we will know more things about each other in the coming visits.”
I looked deeply into her eyes and said: “That is unbelievable! You are a fantastic woman Hajja Mariam! I can’t believe that you are the same woman that we use to run away from, whenever you uttered your only and famous word “Unbelievable!”
Hajja Mariam laughed and said her favorite word again: “Unbelievable!” But she said it in a very different tone this time!
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Taghrid Fayad *(A Lebanese writer, poetess, and translator)

“امرأة غير معقولة”
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يراقبونها يوميًا كلما نزلوا للَّعِب في الساحة الخلفيَّة للعمارة, يمشون بهدوء ليتأكدوا أنها ليست في البلكونة, حتى لا تطردهم، كانت تلفِتُ نظرهم كثيراً بتجهُّمِها الدائم, وصوتها الرخيم الهادئ, هي الحاجّة “مريم”. لا تحتاج كي تُبعدهم غير أن تتوقف عن قراءة الكتاب الذي في يدها، وهي جالسة في بلكونة شقتها بالطابق الأرضي من العمارة, وأن تُحِدِّق فيهم بعبوس ثم تنهرهم بكلمة واحدة: “معقول!”, عندها يسارع الولدان والبنت بالهرب، ويتوقف اللّعب فى الساحة القريبة منها.
كان جميع الأولاد في العمارة, حتى الأمهات يخافون الحاجّة “مريم”، وحَزْمِها في التعامل مع الجميع. هي وحيدة أغلب الوقت، فزوجها يعمل فى مكان بعيد ربما، أو يضطّره عمل للسفر، ولا يقضي معها في البيت غير أيام قليلة على فترات متباعدة.
نَسَجَ الجميع حولها الحكايات والقصص الخياليَّة, وحصلَتْ على ألقاب كثيرة، من بينها “دراكيولا”، أطلقه عليها صديقنا “رضا”، الصبيّ الأكبر في مجموعتنا الثلاثيَّة, والذي يسكن في الطابق الأول فوق شقّتها تمامًا. اخترع “رضا” حولها قصصًا مرعبة, وأكَّد لنا أنها حقيقية، فهو يضع أذنه على أرضيَّة منزله ليتصنَّتَ عليها، وعلى حدّ قوله كثيرًا ما سمِعَ صراخ أولاد تُعذِّبهم أو تأكلهم. تنخلعُ منّى روحى وأسأله: “تأكلهم؟”، فيؤكِّد لى بعينَين مرعوبتين: “نعم تأكلهم، أسمع صراخهم بنفسى، وأسنانها وهى تُقطِّع لحمهم”.
كنا نُصدِّقه، أنا الفتاة التى لم تتجاوز الثانية عشرة، ومغرمة بالقراءة، ويمكنها بسهولة أن تتخيَّل منظر الحاجة “مريم” وهي تأكل الأولاد، ومعى الولد الثانى، “عبد الله”، ابن الثالثة عشرة، الذى يُرحِّبُ بتصديق كل القصص الخياليَّة عن السيدة المتجهِّمَة، التى تطردنا بعيدًا عن ساحة اللعب، بنظرتها، وكلمتها الوحيدة: “معقول!”.
لكن أكثر ما كان يثير دهشتنا أنَّ الحاجة “مريم” لديها قطة فارسية جميلة جدًا، ورقيقة, فكيف تستطيع تلك القطة الرقيقة أن تعيش مع هذه “الدراكيولا”؟ الأغرب من ذلك، أنَّ “الدراكيولا” كانت تُدلِّلها, رأيناها من خلف باب البلكونة شبه المفتوح أغلب الوقت، وهي، لم أصدق عينىّ!! نعم، تُدَلِّل قطتها.
حاول “رضا” أن يُغرينا بمحاولة التسلُّل إلى شقة الحاجة “مريم” من البلكونة. كان يطمئننا: “الأمر سهل، فهي تسكن الطابق الأرضي، ويمكننا الوصول إليه. لا نحتاج غير أن يكون باب البلكونة مفتوحًا، وعندها (يبتسم بسعادة)، يمكننا التعرُّف أخيرا على أسرار “وحش العمارة”, كما أسماها “عبدالله”، الولد الثاني في المجموعة الثلاثيَّة. لكن أنا، وبالمناسبة، اسمى “سوسن”، لم أُطْلِق عليها أيّ اسم، حتى الآن على الأقل.
اتفقنا على مراقبة الحاجّة “مريم” وباب بلكونتها، وزَّعْنا أوقات المراقبة بيننا، وعندما تحين الفرصة، يُطلِقُ صاحب نوبة المراقبة صافرة معينَّة، نستخدمها فى استدعاء بعضنا بعضًا، ونتسلَّلُ إلى مخبأ “الوحش” كما يقول صديقيّ عنها.
وفي أحد الأيام سمِعْتُ الصافرة من نافذة شقتي بالطابق الثالث, ورأيتُ “رضا” و”عبد الله” يشيران إليّ بالنزول، نزلْتُ على الفور، وفى الساحة الخلفيَّة للعمارة، عند الطابق الأرضى، حيث شقة الحاجة “مريم”، أخبرنى “رضا” أنهما يراقبان الشقة منذ ساعتين، ولم يريا أثرًا للوحش، كما أن باب البلكونة مفتوح، والقطة المُدَلَّلَة لم تظهر، حتى أنهما اقتربا من سور البلكونة، ورأيا تلك الغرفة، التى ربما تكون غرفة نومها، مظلمة، والآن، هذه فرصتنا للتسلُّل, الحاجة “مريم” غير موجودة في الشقة.
اقتربَ الثلاثة من سور البلكونة، وساعدوا بعضهم بعضًا في تسلُّقه, حتى صاروا داخل البلكونة, لكن الخوف جعلهم ينتظرون قليلاً بمكانهم، ثم تسلَّلَ “رضا” إلى الشقة، وتَبِعَه “عبدالله”، ثم “سوسن”، وجدوا أنفسهم في صالة كبيرة تحتوي على مكتبة ضخمة تحتل ثلاثة جدران من الصالة, وهناك تماثيل أفريقية وهندية لأشخاص وحيوانات وطيور مختلفة الأحجام والألوان، منتشرة في كل أركان القاعة على حوامل وطاولات متناثرة في أنحاء الصالة, لوحات رائعة عجيبة، كبيرة، وصغيرة, نباتات وزهور صناعية متناثرة هنا وهناك، أحسَّ الأولاد بالذهول، كأنهم دخلوا عوالم ألف ليلة وليلة، التى قرأوا بعضها.
استلقَتْ “سوسن” على إحدى الأرائك الوثيرة, وأخذَتْ تتأمَّل المكتبة الضخمة بأرففها التي تحتضن كل أنواع الكتب, وأحسَّتْ كأنها في الجنة, فهذا ما كانت تحلم به كل الوقت, أن تعيش قرب مكتبة وتماثيل ولوحات بهذا الجمال, القراءة كانت حبها الكبير, اعتقدَتْ وهي تنظر بعينين حالمتَين أنها لن تحتاج لأىّ مكان آخر في العالم.
لكنى استيقظْتُ من أحلامى سريعًا على صوت أعرفه جيدًا, صوت الحاجة “مريم”، كانت تُمسِكُ بى، وفى اللحظة نفسها كان “رضا”، و”عبد الله” يهربان من البلكونة.
“كيف تجرأتم على التسلُّل إلى بيتي؟ وما الذي كنتم تُخطِّطون له أيها الأشقياء؟ لقد غدَرَ بكِ أصدقاؤك أيتها الشقيَّة, وهربوا”، قالت لى “الحاجّة “مريم”، تعلثَمْتُ أنا وبدأتُ بالبكاء, اعتذرتُ لها، و…، لا أعرف، فلم أتوقَّع ذلك، على الأقلّ ليس بهذه السرعة، تغيَّرتْ ملامح الحاجة “مريم”، صارت طيِّبَة، قالت لى بصوت به وعد وتحذير: “كُفّى عن البكاء، وأخبريني فقط ماذا كنتم تريدون, وسوف أسامحك وأدعكِ تذهبين, هذا وعد”، لم أتخلَّص من خوفي كله بعد، غالَبْتُ دموعي وبدأتُ أُتمتمُ بصوت باكٍ: “كنّا.. كنّا نريد أن نعرف كيف يكون شكل البيت الذي تسكنينه, لأنك لوحدك أغلب الوقت, ولم يدخل أيّ شخص من العمارة أبدًا إلى منزلك ولو حتى مرة واحدة، أنا آسفة، هذا ليس من حقِّنا, لكن الفضول قتلنا لنعرف عنك كل شيء, خصوصًا أننا نخاف منك كثيرًا”، مسَحْتُ حفنة كبيرة من دموعى، وقلت: “أنا قلت الحقيقة، لأنكِ وعدتني أن تسامحيني وأن تتركيني لأذهب”، وفاجأتنى الحاجّة “مريم” مرة أخرى وهي تقول لي بصوت حنون: “لا تخافي يا صغيرة, سأدعكِ تذهبين, ولكن يجب أن أُكرمك أولاً بسبب صراحتك الكبيرة معي, ولسببٍ آخر أيضًا”، صدَّقتُها، واطمأنَنْتُ لها، قلت: “ما هو حاجّة مريم؟ في الحقيقة أحسُّ وكأني أتكلم مع شخص آخر, لأنني أول مرة أسمع صوتكِ بهذه الرقّة والجمال”، قالت الحاجة مريم: “رأيتك كيف كنت تنظرين إلى الكتب بحب وطريقة لم أرها من قبل في أي طفل، أو حتى في أي شخص أعرفه، كما أنني لاحظتُك أغلب الأوقات وأنت جالسة فى ركن من الساحة وبيدك كتاب تقرأين فيه، أنتِ فتاة مميزة”، قالتها الحاجة “مريم” وابتسمَتْ، وكانت ابتسامتها جميلة، لماذا تُخبِّئ كل هذا الجمال، فرِحْتُ وابتسمْتُ لها، قلت: “هذا صحيح، أنا أعشق القراءة, لكني لا أجد كتبًا لأقرأها مثلما أتمنى”، قالت الحاجة “مريم”: “سأعطيكِ كتاب كل إسبوع لتقرأيه، وعندما تُعيدينه إليّ نتناقش فيه معًا، وفى نهاية كل شهر أعطيك كتابًا هدية مني، اتفقنا؟”، ردَدْتُ بسعادة: “اتفقنا”، قالت الحاجة “مريم”: “والآن، قبل أن تذهبى، سنبدأ صداقتنا بتناول الحلوى التي أعدَدْتُها بنفسي اليوم, وفي كل إسبوع سوف أُعدُّ لك حلوى جديدة وأختار كتابًا جديداً لتقرأيه”، مسَحَتْ الحاجة “مريم” على رأسى، وابتسَمَتْ ابتسامتها الجميلة وقالت: “سوف نصبح صديقتين، يا سوسن”، ابتسَمْتُ وقلت: “أنتِ تعرفين اسمى أيضًا؟”، قالت: “طبعًا، وسأعرف عنك وتعرفين عنى أشياء أخرى في المرات القادمة”، نَظرْتُ في عينيها بعمق وقلت: “غير معقول! أنتِ امرأة مذهلة حاجّة “مريم”، أكاد لا أصدِّق أنك أنتِ نفسك مَنْ كنّا نهرب منها فقط عندما تقولين لنا كلمتك الوحيدة: معقول!”.
ضحكَتْ الحاجة “مريم”، وقالت كلمتها الأثيرة من جديد، لكن بطريقة مختلفة هذه المرة: “معقول!”.

تغريد فياض

أوبرا مصر –  ترجمات