A Twofold Tale

In the evening, Tafrara, Chimere, and Fadina have been joined by four other women of the tribe, Illi, Tala, Sabratha, and Tazoula. As they drink atay, Tafrara introduces Chimere to all of the tribal women. “Ladies, this is my old friend Chimere. We met in university many years ago. She has a special gift and I’ve asked her to join our team. She sees and feels things which we don’t.”

“You mean she’s a shawafa?” asks Illi, the youngest.

Chimere laughs “No, but it’s OK, I’m used to being called that. My powers are an unusual gift from God. I don’t contact the djinn, and I don’t make amulets and magic potions. I’m sure you’re all a bit skeptical. People usually are. I have an idea that will change your minds. Since I don’t know any of you, I’d like to hug you each, just for about 2 minutes, enough to see a just few things about you. Then I’ll tell you what I saw, OK? Don’t worry, I won’t say anything embarrassing. Since you were the one who asked, how about going first, OK? What’s your name?”

“I’ll see if you can find out.” Illi smiles and they embrace.

Two minutes later Chimere gives her brief summary. “Your name’s Illi, which means ‘my daughter’ in Tamasheq. You’re an only child and you’ll be twenty in two months. You love nature more than you love people, especially horses, which you have a special affinity with. You have a gift from God too; you can talk to horses and they understand you. You own three that you ride bareback, and your favorite horse is Assaad, he’s a 4-year-old black Arabian stallion that you’ve had since he was a colt. You love one of the young men of the tribe but I won’t mention his name if you don’t want me to. You’ve been friends for 7 years and he rides with you often. Your best friend is here with us, her name is Tala, and she rides bareback too.” (Chimere also sees that her boyfriend loves her best friend but doesn’t tell her).

Illi is speechless. “Next? Perhaps your friend Tala?” She looks around and easily guesses who she is, stretching out her arms towards her. Tala comes to her embrace. Another two minutes and Chimere gives her description. “You’re two years older than Illi, your name means ‘Fountain’ in Tamasheq and it suits you well, because you express your innermost thoughts and feelings in poems that well up out of you like a spring. You love to dance and you’re a talented belly-dancer. You could easily earn a living dancing, but you prefer doing it only for pleasure. You have two younger sisters and two older brothers. One of the men of the tribe tried to abuse you when you were 17, but your screamed, scratched his face, and blinded his left eye with your right index finger. Your father and brothers caught him and he was banished from the tribe.”

Tala is just as astonished as Illi and all the other women.

“Who’s next?” Chimere looks around at the three remaining women. “Fadina?”

“We don’t need to hug, we’ve already been introduced. You know that I’m Mas Anazar’s daughter and that I’ve studied tactical warfare. That’s enough for now.”

A short stocky dark-skinned woman comes to Chimere. After two minutes, “You’re name is Sabratha, and your gift is straightening out people’s bones, especially the vertebrae. Everyone in the tribe comes to you for your expert massages. You love to read and it’s a problem for your nomadic life. You’d like to settle down so that you could collect books. You were married at 18, but you lost your first and only child, Tithrit, when she was only one year old. She fell ill and you couldn’t get a doctor in time. Tithrit means ‘star’. Your husband left you after that and you went back to live with your parents. That was more than a decade ago. You want your independence but at the same time you like your life in the tribe because everyone loves you and you feel needed.”

Sabratha, who normally wears a permanent smile, is in tears, thinking of Tithrit.

“Young lady?” Chimere motions to the last of the women, who comes to her. Same scenario. “Your name’s Tazoula, which means ‘Resurrection’ and you have a phoenix tattooed on your right shoulder (it’s not showing). You’re an artistic person but you don’t like to show it. You want to do filmmaking; like that you can be creative and stay behind the scene. You want to join us partly to leave your parents and fly on your own wings. You have two older brothers who have already left the tribe for the city, and your parents want you to stay with them and marry one of the tribal men. That idea doesn’t appeal to you, but you don’t know how to tell them that you don’t want to marry.” She’s seen that Tazoula is attracted to women.

Now that all the women are convinced of Chimere’s perception, Tafrara tells them what this is all about. Fadina was already given the rundown, but the others are all in the dark still. After a complete briefing of the situation, she gets to the present question. “Now that you all know what this is about, are you all still in? If not this is the moment to opt out. No one is forcing you to risk everything. I’ve made that choice, Chimere and Fadina also. So?”

All of the women state their consent to join.

“We’ll leave just after breakfast at daybreak. You’ll all have to get used to waking up early if you’re not already. Fortunately, there are seven of us, because my Cherokee has just enough seats! We’ll spend the next month training in self-defense. First we’ll visit two of our women comrades in Al Madinat Aladwa, Aziz Elbaz’s two wives Scheherazade and Kabira. They’ve been organizing the resistance there. Perhaps they’ll want to join us for the training.”

The group has dinner together, nomads’ sand-cooked unleavened bread and Meifrisa, rabbit stew, and then they return to their own tents.

The next morning Illi says goodbye to Assaad and her other horses and tells them she’ll be back to see them soon. The tribe bids farewell to all 7 of the women and they hit the road in Asra’s Grand Cherokee. They take food with them for the route and drive straight through the 15 hours to Al Madinat Aladwa, just stopping from time to time to stretch their legs and use the toilet. Asra, Chimere, Fadina, and Sabratha take turns at the wheel. Asra calls Scheherazade on the road to announce their arrival, and they go straight to Aziz’s villa.they arrive around midnight, and Cheherazade has prepared rooms for them (The villa has 10 bedrooms). A quick midnight snack and they turn down.

After breakfast all the group is together at the table. Asra makes introductions all around and then they talk strategy.

“I hope your nomad tribe is making good use of Aziz’s money.” Scheherazade is still skeptical.

Asra responds coolly, “Don’t worry. They’ll accomplish their mission and more. My father is a man to be trusted. The prison will not be built. My friend Chimere has informed me that the first delivery of drones has already been made from Al Naqab, and we know that they’re being stored in a military hangar, but we still have to find them.”

“And how did your friend get this information?”

“She has her way. All of the women here can attest that she has powers of perception that are uncommon. They’ve all witnessed a sample.”

Chimere interrupts, “Scheherazade, Can I speak with you and Kabira in private for a few minutes?”

Scheherazade nods her approval, and they go into another room, out of earshot from the other women, where Chimere reveals all that she knows about the parallel worlds. “If you’re still skeptical, I can prove my powers just by embracing you for a few minutes.”

“That’s alright. I know all too well that there are things which cannot be explained.” Let’s get back to our meeting.”

Back with the others, Scheherazade resumes leading the meeting, “Our first resistance meeting is scheduled for tomorrow evening. You’re all welcome to come. I’ve also planned a concert with Aziz’s band in a month, the time to advertise it. We’ll use it to boost the cause. Our attorney Kaltoum Jiddi has informed me that Aziz will be let out on preventive custody so he’ll be able to sing. I’ll be a backup singer. Perhaps some of you women are singers too?”

Tala speaks up, “I’m not a singer, but I am a dancer, and I’ll be happy to do that if you like.”

Scheherazade looks at Tala, admiring her feminine shapes, “Maybe so, we’ll see. What were your plans with your group here, Asra?”

“I’ll be training all of these women in self-defense for the next month. Then we’ll attempt to infiltrate the National Security and sabotage or destroy the drones before they’re put into operation. We’ll all be at the meeting, and anyone there who wants to join our team is welcome.”

Scheherazade seems satisfied. “Good. I’ve got enough work to do on my own so I won’t be joining your team. What about you, Kabira?

“It’d be great to learn some self-defense, but I have my daytime job to cover at the Ministry of Culture, in fact, I have to get going now. Maybe I can train with your team when I’m not working?”

“Can you come every day after work and all day on the weekends?” Asra is thinking that maybe Kabira’s position will be helpful.

“Sure! I’ll come and join you today after work.”

“Great. Glad to have you with us. There’s one more thing to resolve. We need a place to train. Both my bungalow and Chimere’s house are too small to accommodate everyone. Scheherazade, Kabira, can you put us all up for a month while we train?”

The two women of the house look at each other, Kabira’s smiling hopefully, and Scheherazade has a look of resolution as she responds, “I guess that will be alright. It’s all for the cause.”