Chicago, Alaa Aswany [first e reader .TXT] 📗

she wished it to be. And here a question might arise: Wasn’t it strange that Marwa should go from one extreme to the other so quickly? Was the advice of her parents enough to push her to the bosom of Danana, whom, only a few days earlier, she couldn’t stand to see? To answer yes would not be a complete answer. There was a deep, hidden feeling that impelled her to win Danana over with all her might: not out of love, of course, nor out of fear of the fate of divorced women, but because her parents’ warning had caused her great confusion. So she wanted to give her marriage the best possible chance. If she succeeded she would be happy, but if she failed she would not blame herself and her parents would not be able to blame her. Hence her attempts to win her husband over, despite their strong persistence, had a phony celebratory aspect to them, like two lawyers on opposite sides, or two tennis players who had just finished a very close match, shaking hands. Marwa treated her husband in an excessively nice way as if making her parents her witnesses so that in the future they wouldn’t rush to judgment and accuse her of wrecking her home. Her new behavior, despite its affectionate tenderness, also had the smoothness of a trap. Danana felt that instinctively and realized that the battle between them was still raging, even if it had taken another form. So he was reserved in what he said to her or did with her.

Danana, however, did not have any surplus energy because the final warning that Dr. Dennis Baker had given him had caused great turmoil in his life. The old man did not leave him any choice: he had to submit the results of his research within a few days, otherwise he would ask to be relieved of supervising him. Were that catastrophe to happen, it would put an end to both his academic and political future. He had to act fast or else everything would be lost. How his enemies would gloat if his research were terminated! Those who hated him would rejoice at the news: Did you hear? They took away Ahmad Danana’s scholarship because he didn’t finish his research on time. Haven’t I told you? He’s always been a loser!

Danana spent several days in his office at school. He locked himself in from the morning until the evening. He didn’t open his door to anybody and didn’t attend lectures or classes of any kind. Three days passed that way until last Wednesday when a unique incident in the history of the department of histology occurred, which people recounted in different ways, some of which were exaggerated. What was certain was that at about one o’clock, after lunch break, Dr. Baker was busy conducting some experiments while humming softly on account of the small bottle of white wine that he had had with lunch. He was preoccupied, with the utmost concentration, with testing a new photograph of some nerve cells that he had taken with the electron microscope. He came to at a sudden knock on the door. In his hoarse voice, without raising his head, he said, “Come in.”

The door opened and Danana appeared, carefully carrying some papers. Baker looked at him and, remembering what had happened between them, frowned and said in a not-too-friendly tone, “How can I help you?”

Danana laughed, as if he had just heard a friend tell a joke, and said, “Dr. Baker, why are you treating me so harshly?”

“Tell me what you want. I don’t have time to waste with you.”

Danana sighed then moved two steps forward and extended his hand with the papers toward Baker, his face looking like someone about to give a surprise. “Please.”

“What’s this?”

“The results you asked of me.”

“Really? Did you get it done?” Baker exclaimed in disbelief as he looked at the results with great interest. He soon looked pleased and said to Danana, who sat in front of him, “Well, my friend. You are finally taking your work seriously.”

“I had to work hard after you kicked me out of your office last week,” said Danana in a tone of feminine reproach bordering on the coquettish.

Baker seemed at a loss and said apologetically, “Please appreciate the fact that I am responsible for the research I supervise. Any negligence there impinges on me personally.”

“Dr. Baker, was it really necessary to kick me out? I too have dignity.”

“I am sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

Danana didn’t look as if he had forgiven but made a gesture with his hand, as if he would forget what had happened for the time being. Then he assumed the pose of a generous man turning a new page, saying, “Let’s talk about work. That’s more important to me.”

Baker pulled a piece of paper and a pen and said enthusiastically, “After obtaining these results, we have to start the statistics phase. We are going to feed all these figures to the computer to see if they are statistically significant.”

Danana asked in annoyance, “After all the effort I exerted and the long hours I spent working, could the results be without statistical significance?”

“I don’t think so.”

“But it is possible that my hard work will be wasted and the results be statistically insignificant!”

“In that case I’d be responsible because I laid out the research plan. But let’s think positively. The results will be significant, I am sure.”

Danana stood up and it occurred to him, before leaving, to say something pithy. He said, “Professor Baker, despite everything, I am happy and proud to work with you.”

“Me too, Danana, and, once again, I am sorry,” said Baker and gave him a strong handshake. Then he sat down and laid out the results and started studying them. After half an hour, Danana was sitting in his office when Baker came in, rubbing his bald head with the finger of his right hand as he usually did when he was engaged