Princess Sultana's Circle (13 page)

“
Darling,” I cried, “you
are going to make yourself sick. Hush, little one.” Amani’s sobs
were coming from deep inside her body. I had heard of a female
cousin who had cried so hysterically at the sight of her deceased
mother that she had broken a blood vessel in her throat and had
nearly joined her mother in the grave! I now had horrific visions
of such a thing happening to my own daughter. Never had I seen
Amani so tormented!

Kareem lovingly held his
child in her arms. “All right, Amani. You can keep these birds. I
will buy Faddel some more.”

This idea did not meet with
Amani’s approval, either. She screamed, “No! Would you provide the
murderer with new victims?”

Kareem held tight to his
child. He and I exchanged a look of despair. He took her small face
in his large hands as he pleaded, “Amani, if you will only stop
crying, I promise you, I will think of something we can
do.”

Amani’s wild cries slowly
turned into pitiful whimpers. Kareem gathered his child in his arms
and carried her into the palace and to her room. While Kareem
comforted Amani, I searched her room and removed every item that
could possibly be used to inflict self-injury. I also removed every
sharp or pointed object from her bathroom. Amani did not seem to
notice.

On the way back to Amani’s
room, I ordered Maha to assist our female servants in making a
sweep of our palace. Until this crisis passed, I wanted anything
that could be used as a harmful weapon to be locked
away.

Maha began to grumble that
we were willing to save Faddel’s stupid birds but did not care that
young girls were being held there against their will. It was true
that I had forgotten all about Maha’s claim to have discovered a
harem of distressed girls. I now assured my daughter, “Maha, give
your father and me time to calm this situation. After that, I
promise, I will check to see what is happening with those young
women.”

When Maha made an ugly face
and began to make fun of her sister, my patience snapped. “Hush,
now! You know how Amani feels when it comes to animals. How would
you feel if your sister slashed her throat or hanged
herself?”

“
I would prepare a feast
and hold a great party,” Maha snarled.

I slapped Maha twice. Maha
became contrite and hurried to do my bidding.

When I returned to Amani’s
room, my wonderful husband was patiently making a list of Amani
immediate demands for the care of the rescued birds. He obviously
sensed, as did I, that Amani was dangerously close to a nervous
collapse.

Kareem turned to me and
held out the list. “Sultana, send one of the drivers to purchase
twenty large birdcages, a variety of bird seed, and any bird treats
and toys that the store might stock.”

“
Yes, of course,” I
murmured. As my eyes scanned the list, I did Kareem’s bidding.
Within the hour, two of our drivers had returned from two pet shops
in the city; both had cleaned out the stock in those stores of
everything intended for the care of birds.

Kareem instructed all six
of our gardeners to lay aside their normal tasks, and help move the
birds from their small cages into the new, larger ones. Only after
Amani inspected the birds and saw for herself that these creatures
were properly fed, watered, and housed in large cages, did she
agree to sleep.

I was still apprehensive,
so I arranged for six servants to take turns watching over my child
while she slept.

Maha, still angry over the
events of the day, refused to join us for the evening meal. Kareem
and I were too emotionally exhausted to care, and we sat silent as
we ate our light meal of chicken kabobs over rice.

Faddel called Kareem on the
telephone three times while we were eating, but Kareem refused to
take his calls. Only after our meal did he telephone him back to
assure him that he would visit Faddel the following day.

Kareem then informed the
cook that we would take our coffee in the women’s gardens and
together we walked outside, where we sat at a table under one of
the trees. Although it was nearly dark, the lively sounds of
fluttering birds chirping and splashing in bird baths created a
noisy commotion that was difficult to ignore. But I listened with
pleasure to the birds enjoying their new lives.

A look from Kareem led to
my moving from my chair into his lap. I knew that Kareem’s thoughts
were as mine: if we returned those birds, Amani was fully capable
of doing harm to herself. Yet, if we purchased new birds to replace
the ones she had stolen, Amani would certainly discover our
deception. On the other hand, Faddel was not the type to yield.
What on earth were we going to do?

I whispered, “Do you have a
plan, Kareem?”

Kareem sighed, but did not
speak for a long moment. Finally, he said, “That Faddel is a greedy
bastard. I have decided to deed him a piece of my prime property in
Riyadh, if he will agree to forgo having birds of any kind in his
ridiculous paradise. That should make Amani happy.”

“
Prime real estate for a
bunch of bedraggled songbirds! Oh, Allah. We will become a big
joke!”

“
No. Faddel will not speak
of this. Not only is he greedy, he is a coward. I will make it
clear that it would not be in his best interest to spread news of
our private business.”

“
He is an evil man,” I
agreed, suddenly remembering what Maha had claimed to have found
out. I was tempted to ask Kareem if he knew anything about Faddel’s
private harem, but I quickly decided that my poor husband had
already heard enough problems for one day.

As we sat under the trees,
suddenly, at the same moment, every bird in the garden began to
sing. Kareem and I sat quietly listening, overcome by the beauty of
the sound.

Later, after enjoying our
coffee, we retired to our quarters. The long day had finally come
to an end, and for that I was most grateful. When I remembered my
promise to Maha, however, I had difficulty getting to sleep.
Today’s events had drained me of all energy. What would a new
morning bring?

Chapter Seven

Heavenly Harem

When I opened my eyes the
following morning, I found myself alone in bed. I called out
Kareem’s name, but there was no response. My mind was so disordered
that it took some minutes for the events of the previous day to
come flooding back. Amani—and her birds! It was for this reason
that Kareem had awakened so early. This bird business with Faddel
would certainly be his first priority today.

I slipped on a simple
cotton dress before leaving my suite. First, I paused at Maha’s
door and listened. There was no sound, which was a good sign. If
Maha were awake, earsplitting music would reverberate through the
door. It was my wish that Maha would sleep through the noon hour. I
needed time alone to work out an appropriate response to the
alleged captive girls’ plight, and to prevent our household from
plunging into yet another crisis that involved Faddel.

With a sigh, I pushed that
unpleasant thought out of my mind as I walked toward Amani’s room.
My youngest daughter was still sleeping. One of the six Filipino
housemaids that I had assigned to watch over her was sitting by her
bedside, and reassured me, “Ma’am, your daughter slept peacefully
throughout the night.”

I retraced my steps back to
my own quarters before ordering coffee and a light breakfast of
yogurt, cheese, and flat bread from the kitchen. In contrast to
yesterday’s dreadful upheavals, there was time for delicious
idleness. I lazily stirred my coffee while sitting on our private
terrace and enjoyed the spectacular view over the Red Sea which our
Jeddah palace offered. It was a day fit for a God. The sky was
cloudless and blue, and rays of the sun were warm, not hot, at this
hour. Bands of sunlight penetrated deeply into the crystalline
waters of the Red Sea. Watching the slow-moving waves lap softly
against the shoreline, my body soon fell in rhythm with the sea. If
only all days could be as peaceful as this.

Before I had finished my
breakfast, Kareem returned.

He settled down in the
chair beside me and began to pick at my food with his
fingers.

In silence, I examined
Kareem’s handsome face, stretching out the minutes of tranquility
as long as possible.

“
Tell me,” I finally
said.

Kareem brought his eyebrows
together and then wearily shook his head. “That bastard, Faddel,
claimed to have developed a special affection for those damn
birds.”

“
He would not trade the
birds for land?” I asked in disbelief.

Kareem’s eyebrows lifted.
“Of course, he would, Sultana. But, he was deliberately
difficult.”

“
Tell me
everything.”

“
I do not wish to relive
every detail, Sultana,” he said impatiently. “All you need to know
is we now own cousin Faddel’s birds, or rather, Amani does. And I
have Faddel’s assurances that songbirds will no longer be brought
into his earthly paradise.” Kareem lowered his voice slightly. “I’m
convinced the man is a lunatic. Can Faddel truly believe that he
can outwit God by experiencing paradise without death?” Kareem
shook his head back and forth in wonder, “A lunatic.”

I smiled gratefully at my
husband. “At least Amani will be consoled. Not many fathers would
go to such extremes for the happiness of their children.” I leaned
toward my husband and playfully kissed his lips.

But Kareem’s expression
hardened. “Sultana, those cousins have never been our friends, so I
do not understand why you chose to visit them in the first place.
But, please, for the benefit of all, from now on, stay away from
that family.”

I tried to keep my emotions
from showing in my face. I desperately wanted to tell Kareem about
Maha’s shocking claim about a harem with girls kept against their
will, and if true, my urgent need to help them. But, I could not
speak, for this was not the time. I knew that my husband would
consider the fate of the captive women outside the realm of our
influence. He was certain to forbid my interference.

So when Kareem took my arm,
looked deeply in my eyes, and said, “Stay away from Faddel and
Khalidah. Do you understand, Sultana?”, I just nodded and muttered,
“Wala yoldaghul moumenu min juhren marratayn,” which means: “The
believer never gets a second snake bite from the same snake
hole.”

Satisfied that he had made
his point, Kareem stood up and put on his most serious face. “We
must be wise when choosing our acquaintances, Sultana. Any
association with such people as Faddel can only lead to unpleasant
consequences.”

He paused, then said, “I am
thinking of visiting Hanan and Mohammed. Would you like to
come?”

“
Thank you, but no. It’s
best that I remain with our daughters this day. But, please,
darling, will you take along the Eid gifts that I purchased for
them?”

I cared deeply for Hanan,
who was Kareem’s youngest sister, and her husband Mohammed.
Actually, apart from Kareem’s mother, Noorah, I liked every member
of my husband’s family, and I looked forward to our visits together
with delight. As the years passed, I came to realize that I was
fortunate indeed to be married into a family like
Kareem’s.

Kareem left our palace, and
after a bath, I went to inform Amani of her father’s good news. The
poor girl was still in bed and in a deep sleep. The previous day
had been so trying for her! Looking at Amani’s sleeping form, I was
overcome with love for her, despite her sharp tongue. I kissed her
lightly on the cheek before I left to find Maha.

With Amani’s crisis behind
me, I now knew that I must pay attention to Maha’s story to
maintain my daughter’s respect, and my own self-respect as a
champion of women’s rights.

Maha was up and getting
dressed. To my surprise, she was not listening to music. Her eyes
met mine in the reflection of her vanity mirror. I could see that
she was still angry about the previous day’s incident.

“
What happened to those
birds?” she asked in a surly tone.

Cautiously, I said, “Your
father handled the problem. The birds now belong to
Amani.”

Maha made an exasperated
face. “How did Father manage that?”

“
Your father made Faddel a
rather generous offer,” I admitted.

Maha’s lip curled. “Well, I
refuse to attend a bird funeral! I mean it, Mother!”

I gently placed my hand on
Maha’s shoulder and spoke to her image in the mirror. “If that is
your wish, Maha.”

She jerked her shoulder
away from my touch.

I knew that an apology was
in order. I sighed as I said, “Darling, I am sorry about yesterday.
Truly, I am, but to hear you say such cruel and unfeeling things
about your sister drove me mad. Believe me, should real harm come
to Amani, the last thing you would do is to feast and dance.” I
paused for a moment before adding, “If a tragedy should really
strike Amani, your heart would be forever burdened by your
thoughtless words.”

After considering my words,
Maha’s fury seemed to vanish. She smiled. “You are right, Mother.”
She swiveled around on her vanity stool, and stared intently into
my face. “Now, can we go and save those young women at Cousin
Faddel’s palace?”