A Twofold Tale

The drums start up at sunrise, calling the tribe to gather. All of the escaped political prisoners are with them. As soon as everyone is out of their tents, of Mass Anazar Ait Tamdoult addresses them. “We have to move quickly; the armed forces will be searching for us. I’ve held council, and we’ve decided that it’s best for everyone to disband and go different directions.” He instructs the prisoners to come together. “We are in a revolutionary war. If there are there any of you who wish to go your own way, please leave now.” Everyone stays. “Good, that’s settled. Now, because we’re separating, Every family of the tribe will take some of the escaped prisoners with them. Come and take them.” He waits until everyone is with a family. “Pack up everything and leave, now. All able-bodied men will come to meet in the caravansary at the Ait-Ben-Haddid fortress a week from today. Leave some of your men with your families in the desert. It’s a good place to meet, we’ll continue together to the valley of Tizi-n’Talout in the high mountains, where we’ll set up camp. We’ll be able to hide out there and carry out our operations more safely than here in the desert.”

“And what about women who want to fight?” Asra pipes up boldly.

“You’re absolutely right Tafrara, any women who want to join in the battle are welcome. And since you brought up the subject, I’m sure you won’t object to being the women’s squad commander and giving them combat training, is that correct?”

“That sounds excellent. Please, only physically fit women should join.”

“All women who want to join our ranks should report to Tafrara now, and she will make the selection of the women’s squad members.”

Aziz notices that Mass Anazar called Asra Tafrara but keeps it to himself ’Ali certainly knows this.’ He’s thinking.

After Asra has seen all of the interested women, she’s selected only 10, 5 from the prison camp and 5 from the nomad tribe, who will be under her supervision and who will report to her at the fortress. As they prepare to go, Aziz speaks to Asra in their tent “You can’t know how grateful I am to you and your clan. You’re a warrior, and a woman, one hell of a woman. I’m going back to Al Madinat Aladwa, to see Fatima Zahra and to call a meeting of all the members of the resistance group and update them on everything. Don’t worry, I’ll be at the fortress next week before we all leave for the mountains.”

“I’m coming with you, if you don’t mind, that is.”

“I heard that you sold everything for the cause, and you don’t have your bungalow anymore. We have a guest room, and I’m sure Fatima Zahra would approve.”

“Good idea, you know we’ll have to keep a low profile. We’re marked. Mahfoud has to be furious. I’m sure they wouldn’t hesitate to take us out with snipers this time.”

They say farewell to Mass Anazar and the others. Everyone is going different ways. They get a ride with a group to the town of Al Khalf Altilal on the Tajiz river, where they can catch a premium coach to Al Madinat Aladwa. It’s a 12-hour ride, and there are only 2 departures. It’s too late for the morning bus when they arrive, so they have to wait for the evening bus. Travelling at night will be better anyway. Less chance of being seen by the police. They have all day to kill and there’s nothing to do in the town, so they check into the Riad Kasba Asmaa as if they were staying the night. It’s a 20-minute walk from the station. With the hot July weather, a swim in the pool would be nice, but they’re travelling without any bags, and don’t have any swimwear, so they take advantage of the AC and make love in a beautiful king-size bed with a traditional carved cedar headboard. The sculpted scene depicts lions coming from the left and right towards the center, but the last of the lions of the region were killed off long ago.

At the same moment, Nizam Mahfoud has just been informed that all communication with the prison has ceased. The shortwave radio isn’t responding, and no telephones are answering either. He gives orders for an elite SOF team and 3 H3 military helicopters to pick him up and take off from his villa. It’s over 600 miles to the hidden political prison in the desert, but the choppers do it in a little more than two hours. Arriving on site, they quickly free all of the imprisoned guards and Mahfoud gives each one a personal interrogation. He comes to only one sure conclusion. Asra Hanadi led an attack. He’s furious with his incapable national security force. She’s been running loose since the day after her arrest, and that was a whole month ago. She was the only person outside of the security force that knew the location of the prison. He’s also sure that Ali Elbaz is involved because they were arrested together. Mahfoud sends out orders to post checkpoints everywhere in the country and to diffuse their photos.

The bus route passes through both Ait-Ben-Haddid and the valley of Tizi-n’Talout, where they’ll be setting up camp in a weeks’ time. Asra knows both places, but this is Aziz’s first sight of either. They stop for a rest at the centuries-old fortress, and he has the impression that they’ve stepped back in time 400 years. Nothing seems to have changed.

Even though Al Madinat Aladwa is a bustling metropole, the bus station is small and unimposing. As they step off the bus, Asra notices a policeman pointing at them and whispers hastely, “Ali, keep cool, we’ve been spotted. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them. When I attack, run. Don’t stop, meet me in the old walled city, at the Kitab Mumazaq bookstore. If it’s still closed there’s a mosque right nearby.” The police approach, toting assault rifles in front of them, and ask for their ID. Asra smiles “Good morning officers, just a minute.” She pretends to search in her purse, and then whirls around in a spinning back kick to the face of one, followed by a second in the face of the other, all in a matter of seconds. Both policemen are decked out unconscious and Ali is running, Asra close at his heels, they run together, Asra leading the way, throughout the maze of the souks. She knows every inch of the old walled city. They stop at the used bookstore to catch their breaths. Ali’s flat isn’t too far. Both of them want to make their time alone together linger as long as possible without wasting time either. Walking side by side they hold hands and exchange glances, their eyes full of admiration for each other. They couldn’t get word through to Fatima Zahra about their arrival, so it’s a surprise to her when they arrive. Aziz doesn’t have Ali’s keys anymore, so they knock and wait. Asra looks quickly in all directions and seeing that there’s no one around she grasps Aziz’s head with both hands and gives him a deep kiss “I do love you so, Ali.” She whispers.

News of Asra’s attack on the policemen at the bus station have already reached Mahfoud’s ears. Now he sends orders out to shoot to kill either of them on sight.

Fatima Zahra opens the door a split second after their kiss. “Quick! Come in!” They sit in the upstairs living room where Aziz sat the first time he came to the house. It’s Asra’s first visit and she’s admiring the portrait when Fatima Zahra brings tea and cakes.

“You know that Asra sold everything to help the revolution. She doesn’t have a place to live, it would have been too dangerous to return to either of her addresses anyway. So, I told her she could stay with us in the guest room. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all. She’s more than welcome.”

“Asra just took down two policemen who controlled us at the bus station.”

“She killed them?”

“No, just knocked them cold. They knew who they were looking for. It’s not safe for either of us to be seen outside. Now that they know we’re in Al Madinat Aladwa, they’ll be combing the city for us.”

Fatima Zahra turns to Aziz, “I think we should tell Asra about you and your twin brother.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I would have told her earlier, but now there are two of us to tell the story.”

Asra has a baffled look already, and Aziz starts to explain. “All of the time that you were coordinating with us to plan the attack on the prison, you were certainly wondering how Fatima Zahra was able to communicate with me.”

“Yes, that was incredible, but as long as you had a way, I decided just to trust you.”

“That’s why we know we can trust us now. What we’re going to share with you is beyond any physical reality you’ve encountered. Perhaps you’ve heard of astral voyages, or out of body experiences?”

“Yes, I know something about them, I’ve never yet experienced one, but I do visualization before every combat, perhaps that’s somewhat similar?”

“In fact, the astral voyage is just a small part of the picture. Firstly, the body you see is Ali’s, but the mind in that body is Ali’s twin brother Aziz. I am Aziz. I live on the planet Al’bassita, which is identical to this world, that you call Al’ard. It’s a parallel world. You remember that bump I got falling off the spinner? I should say Ali got. Well, I got hit on the head at exactly the same moment on my planet, by riot police, and we found ourselves in each other’s bodies.”

Asra’s thinking, ’That explains why he’s so different!’ But she doesn’t say a word.

“That’s just the beginning. I’ll let you tell the rest, Fatima Zahra.”

Fatima Zahra goes on to tell Asra the whole story about Scheherazade and their switching places with the mushrooms, while Asra listens starstruck. “So, all the time Aziz was in prison, he was talking to his brother by mental transmission, who spoke with my sister, who in turn spoke with me. Ali is still in the other world with my sister, and they have their own battle to fight. In fact, you just helped us in the other world as well. Now, there are practically no more mushrooms left. We’re going to lose contact until we can get some more. They only grow one time of the year, that’s between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, in a little over 3 months, and they only grow in one place that we’ve found, in the valley of Tizi-n’Talout in the high mountains.”

Asra and Aziz look at each other in amazement. “Fatima Zahra!” Aziz exclaims, “That’s the valley where our army is going to camp!”

“Indeed Aziz, God works in mysterious ways! We’ll have to make sure your army doesn’t trample our precious purple mushrooms, they’re called Psilocybe mairei by the way.”

Asra has a broad general knowledge of many things, including Mycology. “You’ve never thought to cultivate them, so you never run out? It would be a lot easier than returning to the valley of Tizi-n’Talout every year at the same time.”

“You’re right, we never thought of that, we’ve been so used to returning every fall anyway to visit our grandparents. Do you think it’s possible to cultivate the spores of the dried mushrooms? I have a tiny bit left.”

“It’s remotely possible, but extremely difficult to grow mushrooms from the spores of dried mushrooms. You need special equipment and expertise. Growing them from fresh mushrooms is easy though. We’ll have to start a farm after the next trip, Insha Allah. Has anyone else tried them? I mean, people who don’t have a twin on the parallel world?”

“We’ve kept this a secret all these years. People would think we’re insane. Maybe other people have tried them, and maybe if they were in contact with their double on the other world, they would just think that they were hallucinating. I take it you want to talk to yourself on Al’bassita?”

“That’s what I had in mind alright! Imagine, being able to talk to yourself in another world!”

“For us, it was wonderful being able to talk with the sister we hadn’t known. And now, it would seem that Ali’s skills and knowledge are needed on Al’bassita, and Aziz’s skills and knowledge are needed on Al’ard. Scheherazade and I have our role too. We were there to catch them when they landed in each other’s shoes.”

“Yes. Thank God you were there when the switch happened. Let’s get down to business, shall we? We need to find a new place to meet, and we need to hold a meeting as quickly as possible. Tonight would be best.”

“I’ve already worked that out in preparation for your return, praying that you’d make it back. School’s out for the summer, and Driss El Jafri is the director of the Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi private school, here in the neighborhood. He’s offered the school as a meeting place for the resistance group, at least until the start of the school year. I’ll inform everyone to be there this evening after dark. Let’s say after the evening prayer, OK?”

“Sounds good. Asra will be able to fill the group in about our nomad allies.”

Everyone is happy to see Ali and Asra back in their ranks, and their story of capture and escape is motivating for all. Ali names all of the prisoners who were freed and informs everyone about the meeting at the Ait-Ben-Haddid fortess caravansary in six days. They decide that it’s best to keep a group in Al Madinat Aladwa and communicate between the two by carrier pigeon as Fatima Zahra has been doing with Mass Anazar Ait Tamdoult.

Aziz remembers the discussion he had with Ali when he was still in prison, and asks the group if anyone has seen Nadim Nurani, code name: Homeboy (the only person whose name was scratched out who was not in the prison). He’s not at the meeting. He doesn’t tell anyone why.

One of the members, Abdel Lemziri, is a hi-tech and electronics geek. He speaks about research he’s been doing on EW, Electronic Warfare, and says that it’s possible to use electromagnetic signals to disclose the army’s position and also to disable the drones. The equipment needed is lightweight, portable, and not too expensive to put together. He’s assigned as a team leader to put the system in place and create multiple emitters for use both in the city and the mountains.

Not wanting to attract attention, they forgo singing “We Gotta Move”. Nevertheless, as they’re about to break the meeting, there’s a loud rapping on the front door of the school. The meeting is in the auditorium, and Driss quickly leads everyone to a fire-escape door at the back of the building before going to open the front door. The group spreads out rapidly into the swarming maze of the old walled city.

Driss finds himself facing two men of the urban brigade. One has the double striped epaulettes of a corporal. They both have their names and numbers on their badges. The director’s quick witted and addresses them cheerfully, “Hello corporal Ouassal, hello officer Shabara, beautiful evening, isn’t it? I’m Driss El Jafri, the school director, what may I do for you?”

The corporal speaks in a humorless and weighty tone that matches his bearing, that of a professional wrestler, “Hello sir, we received a call from one of your neighbors saying that there were lights on in the school. School is over and it’s late at night. Can you explain what’s going on here?”

“Of course, I was here alone, making a checkup of the facilities. I want to make sure any repairs are done before the new school year starts. I’m dressing an inventory (this is true, so he has both an inventory and an alibi).”

“After half-past ten? Isn’t that a little late?”

“Working at night when my children are asleep is better, that way I can spend time with my family during the day. I don’t mind. It’s part of my job. By the way, can you please inform your superior to make it known that I’m around here at night sometimes? That way you won’t have to go out of your way for nothing again. Don’t worry about burglars, we don’t have anything they’d want to steal anyway.”

“Do you mind if we come in and take a look around?”

“I don’t see why but do as you please.”

“We’ll look around then. We have orders to check anything unusual, and this is definitely in that category.”

They do a thorough inspection of the premises and leave satisfied that there’s nothing amiss.

Back at the apartment, Asra asks Aziz why he mentioned Homeboy during the meeting, and he tells her about the likelihood of his being the informer. “Remember the discussion we had in your bungalow before we got snatched? Nadim Nurani was scratched off the list but wasn’t in prison with us.”

“Yes, you and Fatima Zahra thought that maybe I was an undercover agent. No hard feelings though. Now I know that you’re not Ali!”

Something has come up in their living situation. Now that Asra knows that Aziz is in Ali’s body, the sleeping arrangement has to be resolved. The two women are both strong but have very different character traits. Asra is more like Scheherazade; bold, a thrill-seeker, adventure-lover, impulsive, and somewhat intimidating, whereas Fatima Zahra is quiet and thoughtful, dependable, trustworthy, gentle, compassionate, peaceful, and loyal. Asra brings up the subject, going directly to the point “Fatima Zahra, since Ali isn’t in his body, you can’t really stay faithful to him if you sleep with Aziz, now, can you?”

“I don’t see it that way at all. The only physical body here is my Ali’s, and we’ve already slept together since Aziz came into it, haven’t we Aziz? (Aziz nods and smiles) What am I supposed to do until they change back? My sister Scheherazade has done the same with Ali in Aziz’s body.”

Asra doesn’t want to let on that she was already having an affaire with Ali, but she doesn’t want to give in either. Aziz is amused as he’s understood her dilemma, and he makes a suggestion, “Why don’t we all sleep together? The bed’s big enough for the three of us. That is if you two don’t mind sharing Ali’s body and my mind with each other. Fatima Zahra, you know that while Ali’s in my body, he’s taking a second wife. Our situation’s not much different. Another option is that you each sleep in your own rooms and I’ll sleep on the couch!” he laughs and puts his palms up. “It’s up to you to decide, ladies.”

Fatima Zahra is bright, and she’s sensed that Asra was probably in an intimate relationship with Ali; what other reason could there be for her wanting to sleep with Aziz? Nonetheless, the gentle and peace-loving part of her gives in, hoping that Asra will follow suit. “I’m OK with the first option, I won’t let you sleep on the couch!”

“That’s settled then. Me too.” Asra chimes her agreement, and they all get ready for bed. Aziz is thinking ’This is great! I have four women, two for my mind, and two for my body!’