simoon

كان يا ما كان (kan ya ma kan) [[It happened, or it did not happen->permission1]] [[It was, or it was not->permission2]] //in the oldness of time//

Do you want to hear a story about the violent and suffocating dry desert wind known as simoon or do you prefer to go to bed? [[Yes, I'm listening.->WhereIsGuimard]]

Can I tell you a story about the violent and suffocating dry desert wind known as simoon, or do you prefer to go to bed? [[Yes, I'm listening.->WhereIsGuimard]]

(text-colour:#ffc078)[The simoon is coming! Where is Guimard?] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[[[He will be here in a minute.->HauntRightAway]] [[How should I know?->HauntRightAway]] ] //

(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[//What my arts can not accomplish, [[the sun->TheSun]] will.//]

(text-colour:#ffc078)[Why didn't you haunt him right away?] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[[[ He must harm himself. If I hurt him, the white men would kill our whole race.->Suicide]] [[The French soldiers think I was their guide, Ali, but they don’t know that I'm also Biskra. I need to keep my two-spirit identity secret for now.->Haunting]]]//

(text-colour:#ffc078)[How are you going to get him to die by suicide? ] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[The simoom parches the brains of the white men like dates, and then] [[they see terrible things.->PreviousIncident]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[ The simoon will make his life so hateful that he will] [[rush out into the great unknown.->Snowfall]]//

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Every moment of enjoyment which they stole from me when they killed Ali has gathered like the] [[poison under the tooth of the viper->KilledAli]] //

(text-colour:#ffc078)[Do not rely on the simoom today, for snow has fallen on the mountains, and in half an hour all may be over.] [[Biskra, can you still hate?->Boundless]]

(text-colour:#ffc078)[Aaah yes, I think I’ve heard about this— that time when six Frenchmen laid violent hands on themselves before they reached their destinations. Biskra, can you still ][[hate?->Burning]]

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[My hatred is as boundless as] [[the desert->KilledAli]]//

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[My hatred is as burning as the sun and stronger than] [[my love.->KilledAli]]//

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[What the simoon can not do, ][[I can do.->LoveYa]]//

(text-colour:#ffc078)[Well said, Biskra, and you will accomplish it. My own hatred has withered like grass in autumn, since my eyes have seen you. Take of my strength, and be the arrow to my bow.] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Embrace me, Youssef! ][[Embrace me!->noPDA]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[ I— and no other— will bear your offspring! I, Biskra, may be despised, but] [[I am strong.->ProveYourself]]//

(text-colour:#ffc078)[There's no time for that now. Shouldn't we practice your secret arts now? ] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[I already learned everything I need to know from the marabou stork, Sidi-sheik, and you know full well that I've] [[practiced in the markets since I was a child.->GuimardEnters]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[I know all the secrets necessary to scare a cowardly Frenchman out of his life; the coward who creeps upon his enemy and] [[sends his lead balls in advance of him.->GuimardEnters]] //

(text-colour:#ffc078)[Yes, today you will be proving yourself worthy of the honor bearing my child! Shouldn't we practice your secret arts now? ] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[I already know everything—even] [[ventriloquism.->GuimardEnters]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[What my secret arts can not accomplish, the sun will, for] [[the sun is with us.->GuimardEnters]]//

The sun is the Muslim's friend, but you may burn yourself! Take a drink of water, for I see that your hands are shrivelling up. [[Drink the water.->Drink]] [[Pour the water out on a heap of sand.->Sand]]

This pile of sand is your [[hourglass.->Drink]] The sky measures time even for the hell of the unbelievers.

Your eyes begin to look red and your lungs grow parched. [[I will water the sand, then revenge will grow.->Revenge]] [[I will dry up my heart.->DryHeart]] [[Burn, sun! Suffocate, wind!->Suffocate]]

(Suddenly, Guimard bursts through the front door to your house.) (text-colour:#ffe066)["The simoon is here!" "Where do you think my comrades have gone?" Guimard exclaims.] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[I led your comrades] [[westward toward the east.->WestEast]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Please have a seat Lieutenant,] [[let me get you some water.->DrinkSand]]//

(You take an empty bowl, [[fill it with sand->GuimardDrinks]] and hand it to Guimard.)

(You have Guimard lie down on the ground with [[his head on a sand heap.)->GuimardRests]]

(text-colour:#ffe066)[Guimard sips from the bowl and says: "It is cold— but it doesn't quench my thirst. I loathe water! Take it away."] [[(Take the bowl->GuimardRests]] from Guimard.) (Insist that Guimard [[take a drink.)->Insist]]

(text-colour:#ffe066)[Guimard asks: "What is that [[whimpering->Whimpering]] sound?" ]

(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[//Drink, Drink! you say to Guimard. //] (text-colour:#ffe066)["I can't, I have hydrophobia," he replies.] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Do not be alarmed. I will cure you and drive out the demon by the power of music. ]// [[(Sing a song to Guimard.)->Sing]] [[(Play your guitar for Guimard.)->Guitar]]

(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[//That is that dog that bit you, Guimard.//] (text-colour:#ffe066)[Guimard replies: "What dog? I have never been bitten by a dog."] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Don't you remember the mad greyhound that bit you on the next to the last hunt in Bab-el-Qued? Don't you feel how the wound stings? I will stop your pain with ][[the power of music.->Guitar]]//

(text-colour:#ffe066)["What are you singing? Guimard inquires. "You sound so much like Ali, but it can't be! We killed him last week."] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Was I singing? I'll prove to you that it wasn't me by] [[placing a palm-leaf in my mouth.->Ventriloquism]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[You do not recognize me, because] [[your senses are bewildered.->Bewildered]]//

(text-colour:#ffe066)[Guimard exclaims: "Please, no music! I can't bear it! What use can it be to me?"] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Music tames the malevolent spirit of the snake, do you not believe that it can rule the spirit of a mad dog? ] [[Listen!->Bewildered]]//

(text-colour:#ffe066)["What hellish delusion is this?" Guimard exclaims. "Who are you, you devil, who sings with two voices?"] (text-colour:#ffe066)["Are you a] [[man->Man]] (text-colour:#ffe066)[(text-colour:#ffe066)[or a]] [[woman->Woman]](text-colour:#ffe066)[?] (text-colour:#ffe066) [Or] [[something else->Both]](text-colour:#ffe066)[?"]

(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[//If you wish to escape from your delusions of eye and mind, believe me, believe what I say, and do what I command.//] (text-colour:#ffe066)[Guimard replies: "You do not need to ask me to believe, for I see that everything is just as you say it is."] What do you command Guimard to do?// [[Pray->Pray]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[to the only true God, the merciful, the compassionate!] [[Lie down->LieDown]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[on the ground. ]//

// (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[I am Julius, your old friend. You do not recognize me, because your senses are] [[bewildered.->Bewildered]]//

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[ I am Elise, your spouse. You do not recognize me, because your senses are] [[bewildered.->Bewildered]]//

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[I am your child George. You do not recognize me, because your senses are] [[bewildered.->Bewildered]]//

(text-colour:#ffe066)["How shall I pray?" Guimard asks.] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Say these words after me: God is the only true God, there is no other God but him, the merciful, the compassionate! And you must prostrate yourself] [[like this.->LieDown]]//

(You tell Guimard to put his ear to the ground and ask him what he sees and hears.) (text-colour:#ffe066)[He replies: "I see a stream gurgling and hear a lamp shining in a window with green shutters."] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[//Tell me who sits at the window, Guimard. //] Guimard replies: (text-colour:#ffe066)["It's my child [[George."->George]] "It's my spouse [[Elise."->Elise]] "It's my closest friend [[Julius."->Julius]]]

//Aaah, it's your child George. (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[But who stands behind the curtain with] [[his arm around your spouse's neck->Julius]](text-colour:#ffa8a8)[, you ask Guimard.] //

//(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[So it's your spouse Elise. ] [But who stands behind the curtain with his arm around ][[your Elise's neck->Julius]](text-colour:#ffa8a8)[, Guimard?]//

(text-colour:#ffe066)["Oh, the devil!" Guimard exclaims. "It's Julius who's standing behind the curtain with his arm around Elise's neck!"] (You strum an eery chord on your guitar and ask Guimard if he still sees his child George.) //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Don't you hear the deacons singing, Guimard, as they carry the body of a child to the grave? Do you see the] [[wreath on the coffin->Farewell]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[they are carrying between them?]//

(text-colour:#ffe066)["There is a violet ribbon on it, and on the ribbon is printed in silver: //'Farewell, my beloved George!— Thy Father.'//" George! My beloved child! Elise, my wife, comfort me! Help me! Where are you? Elise! Have you left me? Answer! Speak the name of your beloved!" ] (A high-pitched voice from the roof calls out: [[Julius, Julius!)->Julius2]]

(text-colour:#ffe066)["Why is Elise calling for ][[Julius->WhyJulius]](text-colour:#ffe066)[?" Guimard demands to know desperately. ] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[It is time to write your ][[last will->LastWill]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Guimard!]// (Get [[a skull->WhyJulius]] out from the closet.)

(text-colour:#ffe066)["Wait, what is my name?" Guimard asks in a daze. "Elise, my dear, answer me, for] [[your spirit is here->Mirror]](text-colour:#ffe066)[, I feel it... and you solemnly promised me never to love any one else!" ]

(Guimard struggles to finish writing in the notebook you've handed him.) (text-colour:#ffe066)['Elise, I curse you! Simoon -- I am dying...'] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Now] [[you may die->AmIDead]](text-colour:#ffa8a8)[, a cowardly soldier, who has deserted his comrades. You shall have ][[a beautiful funeral->AmIDead]](text-colour:#ffa8a8)[, jackals shall sing your body to its grave.] //

(text-colour:#ffe066)["Am I dead?" Guimard cries out.] //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Look at yourself in] [[this mirror->Mirror]](text-colour:#ffa8a8)[, Guimard. If you are not, you soon will be. //]

(You hold the skull up in front of Guimard's face.) //(text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Guimard, don't you see the dimple in your chin] [[where your little pointed beard grew->Death]] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[that your Elise loved to stroke?] (text-colour:#ffa8a8)[Don't you see] [[where your ear was->Death]](text-colour:#ffa8a8)[, the ear that your sweet baby George used to kiss in the morning at breakfast?] //

(Guimard, who has looked and listened to all this with horror, falls down dead.) (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[FIN]