The Influence Peddlers

by Hedi Kaddour

  Gabrielle, shattered, tried to continue to work, to write a dispatch on this new catastrophe. She tried to obtain information from Marfaing. Marfaing was no longer at the contrôle civil. The rumor spread that he had been recalled to the capital; he might even be going back to France, dismissed from his post. No, he was there, in the countryside, already in the field, making preparations, but he was letting the spring tense up, he was waiting for the right moment, he said. And it was lucky that the coolness of the early evening had numbed the insects. Most of the cloud had landed after more than twelve hours of flying, at the edges of crops, the locusts worn out. They hadn’t managed to reach the real vegetation, masses of them on the ground, as far as the eye could see, over dozens and dozens of square miles, insects now busy eating those among them who had been exhausted by the voyage. The idea was to prevent them from taking off in the morning en route to the grain, the barley, the wheat, and everything else—they eat everything, even the esparto, millions and millions of insects seeking all the young shoots, tender, green, of all the plants. At five in the evening Marfaing had launched a pre-alert, and, an hour later, the order for a general mobilization. The people were ready, no need to persuade them, or to round them up. It was a moment when the entire population spontaneously came together, wrote Gabrielle, in tears, everyone wanted to participate and to be seen participating.

  And at midnight there were thousands of men in the middle of the countryside, in front of the carpet of herbivores whose weakened rustling still made the hair on their arms stand up, people arranged in groups, obedient, efficient. They had come in military or requisitioned trucks. Some were carrying brooms or shovels, others sheets of metal on which the stars were sometimes reflected. Everyone, said the authorities, is expected to provide the assistance necessary to destroy the locusts, and to comply with the requisition of personnel, matériel, tools, and animals necessary for the destruction of the locusts. Yes, the requisition of animals, it was almost laughable, because of the racket the turkeys and chickens made when they ate the locusts. And out there, in the field, one mustn’t forget the pigs, those of the colonists, the enthusiasm of some hundred pigs when they’re let loose on a carpet of locusts, each pig capable of consuming twenty pounds all at once . . . And Marfaing liked this battle against the locusts: a plague, orders, techniques, a short and intense struggle, a photographer, and everyone united against those nasty insects, the big, the small, the ex-striker, the colonist, the native, the owner, the khammes, the merchant, the dockworker, the Maltese, young and old, the Americans, everyone working in the middle of the night, elbow to elbow, under the authority of the state, of Marfaing and the caïd, a sleepwalking Si Ahmed, whom Marfaing looked after like a nursemaid, forcing him to drink, discreetly taking him by the arm when he sensed he was on the verge of collapse. Si Ahmed’s eyes were red. He refused to rest, saying: “Do you know what I see when I don’t look at those beasts from hell? I see hell itself! Since the day before yesterday I have been in hell!”

  In the fight against the beasts from hell Marfaing became the generalissimo of a righteous battle, and he managed, at the heart of the battle, the differences between the proponents of traditional methods (chickens, turkeys, pigs, blows with shovels, collecting in sacks) and the modernists, who proposed fire, mainly petrol fire, the most spectacular, being careful not to harm the land. So first push the drowsy locusts, using rakes and brooms, toward the canvas barricades or the zinc panels whose only opening was into ditches. The insects fall into them, and are crushed. Two or three locusts flew off, traveling a few yards at eye-level, and people had goose bumps because they said to themselves that the others could do the same, and the others meant millions. No, they’re too drowsy. There were places where people stomped on them like grapes, singing. Then they poured gasoline, burned them, a great spectacle, tall flames reaching to the stars, and the photographer took advantage of the light to catch Marfaing in his jodhpurs, his colonial shirt and helmet, pointing at the flames. And there was something even more modern than fire, a machine that arrived by train from the capital. It was made of a dozen enormous rollers with twenty circular blades each, arranged in staggered rows, pulled by a tractor. It crushed and shredded the insects. Marfaing wanted everyone to see it, steel against locusts, a twentieth-century battle! On the periphery, there were still some natives who were gathering the insects and putting them in sacks, and they were given salt to eat. Locusts eat everything, and everyone can eat them, they say, or at least the poor can.

  Raouf’s funeral had taken place the day before. There were a lot of people, including Marfaing; he recounted the official version, a tragedy, a stray bullet while he was trying to protect the French journalist he was accompanying. Laganier pointed out to him that it was a bit contradictory, protection and a stray bullet. Marfaing told him to shut the hell up. The burial went rather quickly, Raouf in three sheets, prayer, formulas, minha khalaqnakum wa fiha nu‘idukum . . . it is of earth that We created you, We return you to it . . .

  The little band of La Porte du Sud was there, led by Karim. Aboulfaraj was there, the Americans, too, all of them, Kathryn between Tess and Wayne, who were holding her up, and Montaubain, who had found Chemla. Chemla expected to be arrested. He was concentrating on his pain, and Montaubain was observing him. Like him, Chemla had his right hand in his pocket. He was probably doing the same thing. In his head Montaubain was singing “L’Internationale,” his fist closed, without knowing if Raouf would have wanted that song. Taïeb was there. His father had sent him to get Si Ahmed and bring him to the capital in an ambulance. He had decided to have the caïd stay with him. Taïeb stood next to Rania, who had demanded to be present. At one point he felt sick, and wondered why, then realized it came from his sister’s suffering. That surprised him. They were standing apart from everyone else, and since Rania was with her brother, Ganthier was able to approach them.

  A few days later, the Americans and their equipment set off from the port of Nahbès on a large cargo ship chartered by the studio. Before leaving, they held a memorial for Raouf at the bar of the Grand Hôtel. Gabrielle and Montaubain had the strength to go. Not Ganthier. Kathryn and Tess were wearing black. Neil spoke about the Arabic lessons Raouf had been giving him:

  “We laughed a lot. He used examples from erotic literature to help me retain the rules of grammar . . . But he didn’t let me get away with any errors.”

  People made toasts. Neil concluded with a phrase that everyone approved:

  “He was a boy who flattered no one.” And Kathryn came out of her silence to say, smiling:

  “Not even me.”

  Gabrielle stayed in Nahbès. She tried to take care of Rania and Ganthier. Both were even more devastated than she. She wrote dispatches while traveling between the two farms. Ganthier worried her, he was somber and determined, he was going to put it all behind him. I am accustomed, he said, in fact no, I’m not, the war makes one sensitive. He was there when they put Si Ahmed in the ambulance. Don’t wish anything for me, Si Ahmed had said, yuhatti-muna raybu ezzamane ka’anana zujaj. Ganthier bent over to give him a hug. He had recognized a verse that Raouf would recite when he despaired of the world, “The vicissitudes of time shatter us like glass.”

  The next day Ganthier told Gabrielle that he was going to sell everything and move to the Ardennes, to finish up his days there, adding: “What’s worst in all of this, is that I no longer want to love anyone!” Ganthier looked at Gabrielle, but she wasn’t focusing. Usually she always had the last word, but here she was at a loss. Ganthier didn’t say anything else. Only his old servant woman knew he wasn’t sleeping. Gabrielle tried to comfort him. I no longer love anything, he repeated, that is truly hell.

  In the capital he had had a long conversation with the superior of the order of White Fathers. The superior had told him:

  “We have a center in the mountains where we collect the traditions of this country, the tales, the poems, the songs, the proverbs, the customs . . . You are a good Arabist, tha
t’s also our specialty, and you speak Berber. Think it over. You have been a true Christian, we welcome you with open arms, stay with us, as a librarian. Perhaps one day your work will be useful, to another generation, other young people from this country, like him.”

  Ganthier bequeathed his estate to the White Fathers. He tried to give half to Rania, who refused. She saw him at her house, answering, “I don’t care,” to her servant, who said that receiving a non-Muslim . . . Her face and hair were uncovered. They spoke for a long time of Raouf. When he was about to leave the servant was still there. Rania didn’t dare say what she had planned to say. She simply brushed his cheek lightly with her hand. Ganthier had asked the White Fathers to create scholarships for Franco-Arabic studies, then he had a moment’s hesitation: “I really think I’m an atheist.” The superior replied: “For the library, that’s not a big problem.”

  Gabrielle ultimately decided to go back to Paris. She paid a final visit to Rania. It was very dark that night. Rania was retreating into herself so that her unhappiness would not overwhelm her. She pointed to the sky:

  “Here they say that day and night are only the black and white rings of the same snake.”

  They were on the veranda, trying not to cry. At one point Gabrielle said:

  “Ganthier is entering a monastery . . . It’s like he’s committing suicide.”

  “I know,” said Rania. Her voice was almost aggressive, and Gabrielle was bold enough to ask:

  “Which of the two . . . ?”

  Rania answered: “What does it matter now?” And a bit later: “Those who leave, they leave us with the illness of living . . .”

  With Si Ahmed gone from Nahbès, Belkhodja no longer had anyone to help him. He was hungry. And the fishmonger, by closing his door with a hard look, made him understand that he shouldn’t get too close to the merchandise before it was thrown out.

  Back in the United States, Neil and Kathryn divorced. Neil also broke with Lakorsky in spite of the success of Warrior of the Sands. He started an independent studio along with a few friends, including Wayne, Samuel, and George Macphail. Six months later, Kathryn joined them. Neil is working on Eugénie Grandet.

  GLOSSARY

  Annamite A native of Annam, former kingdom and French protectorate along the east coast of French Indochina, now part of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was also known by the name Quôc.

  babouches North African leather slippers.

  Baedeker Baedeker Guides are famous travel guide books published by the Karl Baedeker firm of Germany beginning in the 1830s.

  baksheesh A sum of money given as a bribe.

  bicot Pejorative term for a North African.

  bordj A large, fortified house in North Africa.

  caïd (also spelled qaid or kaid) A provincial governor.

  CGT The General Confederation of Labour (French: Confédération générale du travail, CGT) is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.

  chaouch A North African low-level bureaucrat.

  civil list An annual stipend paid to a royal ruler.

  contrôleur civil Under the French protectorate, the contrôleur civil was responsible for overseeing the French government’s interests on the provincial level. He was the one who held true power.

  darbuka The “goblet drum” is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-shaped body used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and eastern Europe.

  djellaba A loose, hooded cloak, typically woolen, traditionally worn in Arab countries.

  dolichocephalic Having a relatively long head.

  douar A camp or village of tents in an Arabic country.

  Duc d’Aumale A specific sexual position named after Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis d’Orléans, Duc d’Aumale (1822–1897), who is believed to have invented it. The woman is straddling the man, who is lying on his back.

  fatma A term used by North African colonists for their female servants. It is the contracted form of the very common name Fatima.

  felucca A traditional wooden sailing boat used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean, including Malta, and particularly along the Nile in Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, and the Maghreb. Its rig consists of one or two lateen sails.

  Guide Bleu A series of French-language travel guides published by Hachette Livre, which started in 1841 as the Guide Joanne. The Guide Bleu was addressed to those seeking “discovery in depth.”

  Hallaj Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858–March 26, 922) (Hijri c. 244 AH–309 AH) was a Persian mystic, revolutionary writer, and teacher of Sufism. He is most famous for his saying “I am the Truth,” which many saw as a claim to divinity, while others interpreted it as an instance of mystical annihilation of the ego which allows God to speak through the individual.

  hammam Turkish bath.

  houri In Islamic mythology, houris are commonly described as “splendid companions of equal age (well-matched),” “lovely eyed,” of “modest gaze,” “pure beings” or “companions pure” of paradise, denoting humans and jinn (genies) who enter Jannah (paradise) after being reborn in the hereafter.

  Ifriqiya or Ifriqiyah The area during medieval history that comprises what is today Tunisia, Tripolitania (western Libya), and the Constantinois (eastern Algeria), all part of what was previously included in the Africa Province of the Roman Empire.

  Intercolonial Union A group of exiles from the French colonies in Vietnam dedicated to the propagation of communism. It published two papers, one in French, Le Paria, and one in Vietnamese, the Soul of Vietnam, which carried emotional articles denouncing the abuses of colonialism.

  jebba A traditional Maghrebi robe made of silk and wool typically worn by men.

  Kemalist Kemalism, also known as Atatürkism, or the Six Arrows, is the founding ideology of the Republic of Turkey. Kemalism, as it was implemented by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was defined by sweeping political, social, cultural, and religious reforms designed to separate the new Turkish state from its Ottoman predecessor and embrace a westernized way of life, including the establishment of democracy, civil and political equality for women, secularism, state support of the sciences and free education, and the adoption of the modern Turkish alphabet, many of which were first introduced to Turkey during Atatürk’s presidency in his reforms.

  “La Marseillaise” The national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after France declared war against Austria, and was originally titled “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (War song for the Rhine army). The French National Convention adopted it as the republic’s anthem in 1795. “La Marseillaise” was a revolutionary song, an anthem to freedom, a patriotic call to mobilize all the citizens, and an exhortation to fight against tyranny and foreign invasion. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching on the capital. During the European revolutions of 1848, the German people sang “La Marseillaise.”

  The Muallaqaat (“The Suspended Odes”) Long, classical Arabic poems written in the pre-Islamic period.

  madrassa An Islamic religious school.

  makroud North African pastry. The dough is made mainly of semolina, not flour, which gives the pastry a very specific texture and flavor. Makroud are often filled with dates or almonds.

  marabout In the Maghreb, a marabout is a recognized local Muslim saint whose tomb can be the object of a popular cult. The marabout is often attributed with the ability to grant wishes and even perform miracles. The name is also given, through metonymy, to the tomb itself.

  méchoui In the cuisine of Northern Africa, méchoui is a whole sheep or a lamb spit-roasted on a barbecue. The word comes from the Arabic word šawa, “grilled, roasted.” This dish is very popular in North Africa.

  Numidia An ancient kingdom of the Numidians in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia, in North Africa.

  Pola Negri (1897–1987) A Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame duri
ng the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles.

  quintal A unit of weight equal to 100 kilos, or about 220 pounds.

  Walther Rathenau (1867–1922) A German statesman who helped manage the German economy during World War I and who served as foreign minister at the beginning of the Weimar Republic. Rathenau initiated the Treaty of Rapallo, which removed major obstacles to trading with Soviet Russia. Although Russia was already aiding Germany’s secret rearmament program, right-wing nationalist groups branded Rathenau a revolutionary when he was in fact a moderate liberal who openly condemned Soviet methods. Anti-Semites also resented his background as a successful Jewish businessman. Two months after signing the treaty, he was assassinated in Berlin by the right-wing terrorist group Organization Consul. The public viewed Rathenau as a democratic martyr until the Nazis banned all commemorations of him.

  Les Renseignements généraux The intelligence arm of the French Ministry of the Interior, keeping tabs on political parties, trade unions, lobby groups, and various individuals. The Direction centrale des Renseignements généraux (DCRG), often called Renseignements généraux (RG), was a branch of French intelligence under the Direction générale de la Police nationale (DGPN). Created in 1907 under that name, the primary purpose of the RG was to inform the government about any activity that might threaten the state.

  resident general Under the French protectorate, the head of the French administration, which “doubled” the local government at every level, from the sovereign to the caïd. The resident general held true power in the country.

  Rif The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought in the early 1920s between the colonial power Spain (later joined by France) and the Berbers of the Rif mountainous region.