#Literary Text Midaq Alley

1-They walked off together. Abbas had spent a sleepless night and a thoughtful morning. His head

2-ached and his eyelids felt heavy. Scarcely a trace of the previous day's bitter mood remained, and
he

3-now bore no thoughts of revenge. Instead, a deep sorrow and black despair had settled on him.

4-Hussain asked, "Did you know I left home soon after you went away?"

5-"Really?" "Yes, I got married and started living a life of luxury and ease."

6-Forcing himself to express more interest than he felt, Abbas answered, "Praise be to God . . . well

7-done . . . splendid . . . splendid."

8-They had now walked as far as Ghouriya, and Hussain stamped the ground with his foot and said

9-resentfully, "On the contrary, everything in life is filth and corruption! They laid me off. There was

10-nothing to do but return to Midaq Alley. Have they fired you too?"

11-"No. I was given a short holiday," replied Abbas listlessly. Hussain tried to keep the jealous note

12-from showing in his voice. "I persuaded you to go away to work, and you resisted the idea.

13-Remember? And there you are enjoying it while I'm out of a job."

14-Abbas was probably more aware than anyone else of his friend's jealous and spiteful nature. He

15-replied, "Things are ending for us too, so they tell us."

16-This cheered Hussain a bit and he asked, "How can the war end so quickly? Who would have

17-believed it possible?" Abbas shook his head. It made no difference to him whether the war

18-continued or ended, or whether he worked or not. He no longer cared about anything. It

bored

19-him to talk with his friend, although he found it better than sitting alone thinking.

20-"How can it have ended so quickly?" asked Hussain. "Everybody hoped Hitler would be able
to

21-prolong it indefinitely. It's our bad luck that's brought it to an end."

22-"You're right . . ." Hussain shouted furiously, "What hopeless wretches we are. Our country
is

23-pitiful and so are the people. Why is it that the only time we find a little happiness is when
the

24-world is involved in a bloody war? Surely it's only the devil who has pity on us in this world!"
He stopped speaking as they made their way through the crowds coming from New Street. It

25-was getting dark now. "How I longed to be in combat," sighed Hussain. "Just imagine what

26-it would be like to be a heroic soldier, plunging from one glorious victory to the next.
Imagine

27-being in airplanes and tanks attacking and killing and then capturing the fleeing women; not
to

28-mention spending money, getting drunk, and raising hell. That's the life! Don't you wish you

29-were a soldier?" Everyone in the alley knew that Abbas was thrown into panic at the sound
of a

30-siren and he practically lived in the air-raid shelters. Be a combat soldier? He wished he had

31-been born brave; he would have loved the life of a soldier, avenging himself on all those
who

32-had hurt him and spoiled his dream of happiness and a luxurious life. So he replied weakly,

33-"Who wouldn't like that?" He turned his attention to the street and this brought tormenting

34-thoughts to his mind. Oh God, would time ever erase memories of the alley from his heart?

35-Here was where she walked; here was where she breathed this very air. He could almost see her

36-straight slim figure walking before him now. How could he ever forget? He frowned at the

37-thought of longing for someone so unworthy of his love. His face set in a look of vicious cruelty

38-as a blast of the previous day's feeling of betrayal returned to him. He would forget her.
Otherwise

39-his heart would burn itself out with fantasies of her resting blissfully in his rival's arms. He cursed
40-his soft treacherous heart. It had plotted against both his spirit and his body in loving someone

In these stories we see the Cairo of the Second World War, living under the pressures of the presence
of a Britain at war and in the expectation of a Nazi invasion. The social and psychological and ethical
consequences of the German air raids
#Non-Literary Text

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