The Last of the Angels Read Online Free PDF Page B

danger, a powerful drive encouraged the boy to persevere. He had decided that he should not be afraid when the jinni put in an appearance. Indeed, he was determined to talk with it, just as he would talk to any other individual, even if the jinni did not treat him to a trip. He would not mind such an excursion into the jinn’s strange worlds, featured in stories his father told him. All the same, Burhan Abdallah was actually carrying a list of requests that he hoped to present to the house’s good jinni, for the jinn can accomplish anything. He thought he would ask the jinni to change all the doors of the Chuqor neighborhood to gold, to turn the old woman Hidaya into a cow, and to provide him with a cap of invisibility, which he needed so he could smite some of the older boys.
    The boy continued to sit in a corner of the upper room, day after day, waiting for the jinni, which never showed itself to him, until he started to doubt its existence. Finally he grew convinced that the jinn show themselves when no one is expecting them. For that reason, he deliberately stopped waiting to see them and began to dig around in the discarded residue of past centuries. To his astonishment, he stumbled across a small, coffee-colored chest, a closed box on which there were carved cryptic designs and inscriptions that resembled charms and talismans. It was coated with dust and wrapped in spider webs. So he wiped it off with the end of his dishdasha’s sleeve and sat leaning back against the wall, gazing at it breathlessly. Since the inscriptions on the cover, in gold, were lovely, delicate, and quite similar to the Qur’anic inscriptions with which he was familiar, he supposed at first glance that he had stumbled on a copy of the Qur’an inside a box. For that reason, he kissed the chest and held it to his forehead. No sooner had he opened the box, though, than the earth shook mightily and a brilliant light flashed through the upper room, leaving him curled up in a ball. Then everything vanished and he found himself cast into the void. He shut his eyes, perhaps on account of the surprise. There he heard the four winds blowing from their directions, blending together into a sweet music. Then everything quieted down. All that remained was the music, which could still be heard in the distance. When the boy opened his eyes once more, he found himself seated in a grassy valley. In the distance, by a boulder, a blind man stood playing a flute. Farther down the valley he observed three old men wearing white, as if they were angels that had just descended from the heavens. They came toward him, smiling and leaning on the staffs in their hands. On their shoulders were sacks that shook with each step.
    At this point exactly, while he was in the valley, he heard his mother call him, but tarried to await the arrival of the three angels. Finally one of them accosted him: “Hello, Burhan. You’ve finally made it.”
    Staring at the valley, Burhan replied in confusion, “Made it? Where?”
    The man, who kept smiling, answered, “Go now; your mother is calling you.”
    Burhan Abdallah asked, “How can I go, when I’m here in the valley with you?”
    â€œClose the chest the way you opened it. We will always be with you from now on.”
    It happened that the moment the boy closed the box, he found himself seated in the upper room, leaning against the wall. So he sped down the steps, his heart pulsing with light and thunder.
    His father was drinking tea, and his mother suggested to him, “Today is Wednesday, your father’s weekly payday. He doesn’t begin work till after noon, but we need the cash. Would you like to go with him to bring the money home?” The boy Burhan Abdallah was happy to be entrusted with tasks like this and to be treated like a reliable adult. In the past his father had taken him along when going to work and had placed the envelope of money in Burhan’s pocket,