Princess Sultana's Circle

everyone knows that when the professor
escaped, his own son and brothers were taken as hostages by our
family and imprisoned.” Amani flopped back into the easy chair,
expelling a deep breath. “And, that’s the story of the professor.
Practically everyone under the age of thirty in our country knows
this, and now many, many young people secretly support Professor Al
Massari.”
    I moved my head slowly and
heavily. Was this why sit-ins and demonstrations were disrupting
the peace of the land? Soon, I feared, the entire country would
share the professor’s urgent demands for change.
    “ We Al Sa’uds are doomed.”
I moaned, as I buried my head in my hands.
     

Chapter
Fourteen
    Kareem’s
Prophecy
    At that very moment, Kareem
entered the room.
    Concerned, he asked our
daughters, “What is wrong with your mother?” Maha blurted out,
“Mother is worried that Amani is a member of a revolutionary
group.”
    Confusion surged in
Kareem’s eyes, and for a short period of time, words flew this way
and that without anyone really understanding what was happening.
Once he realized that Amani had more information than she should
have of the man who was calling for our family’s downfall, Kareem
became a man wildly possessed.
    First, he screamed at
Amani, telling her that, “Daughter! Have you lost all good sense?
Are you a follower of this man?”
    Amani protested her
innocence, “I am not a follower! I simply reported what I have been
told.” My daughter stared coldly into my face, “Mother insisted
that I tell. It’s her fault!”
    “ Forget
what your mother said! You must not be associated
with anyone who has taken up the cause of our most vocal enemy! Arrests
are happening every day!” Kareem pounded the wall with his fists,
causing the expensive paintings to vibrate. “You stupid, stupid,
stupid child!”
    Alarmed, I watched as Amani
chewed the inside of her mouth.
    I was about to comfort my
child when Kareem directed the greater force of his anger toward
me! “Sultana! You have raised your daughters to be rebels! I tell
you, I won’t put up with it a moment longer!”
    I was so shocked at
Kareem’s accusation that I could not speak.
    Maha slipped from the room,
and Amani tried to leave with her, but Kareem ordered her to
stay.
    “ Wait here, Father, I have
something that will interest you.” Amani spun on her heels and
quickly left the room.
    Kareem stood frozen like a
stone.
    In my uneasiness, I circled
the room.
    Amani returned with a
briefcase, which she silently handed to her father.
    Kareem’s anger was
obviously growing by the minute, for he fumbled with the briefcase
lock. Once he had opened it, he examined one paper after another,
discarding sheet after sheet on the floor. I had never seen Kareem
in such a state of agitation.
    “ Where did you get these
papers?” he bellowed at Amani.
    “ My friend stole them from
her brother’s room,” she confessed.
    “ Here!” Kareem shoved a
stack of papers into my reluctant hands.
    I picked up a packet of
cigarettes and toyed with the pack as I tried to focus on the
printed pages. After lighting a cigarette, I finally calmed myself
to the point that I could understand the significance of the papers
I held in my hand.
    I quickly saw that the
papers were copies of actual press releases and documents written
by Dr. Al Massari and other Saudi dissidents. The document I
selected to read was entitled, “Prince of the Month,” which was an
exposé of the alleged activities of one of my older cousins, who
was a province governor. The document claimed that, “He has been
overheard to say in the Majlis, (the open house where citizens
bring complaints to their governor) ‘The tribes of the south have
the mentality of slaves, {I} fill their bellies and mount their
backs.’ And, ‘My grandfather Abdul-Aziz told me that the people of
this province are a combination of apes and slaves.’”
    The writer of this document
went on to accuse my cousin of various sins, including the
appropriation of huge tracts of Province land to his own name, and
then sell it for a huge profit.
    As I rushed through the
documents, I saw that each page contained at least one savage
indictment of an uncle or a cousin. One cousin was even implicated
in a murder! An accountant for Saudia Airlines had been beaten to
death after he had presented a bill for millions of riyals to this
cousin. Of course, nobody had ever been charged with this
crime.
    Any detachment that I hoped
to