Watch Us Dance

leïla slimani Watch Us Dance Translated from the French by Sam Taylor volume two To Bounty, without whom nothing would be possible. Contents Title Page Dedication Dramatis Personae Part I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Part II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Acknowledgements About the Author By the Same Author Copyright Dramatis Personae Mathilde Belhaj: Born in Alsace in 1926, she met Amine Belhaj in 1944 while his regiment was stationed in her village. She married him in 1945 and, a year or so later, joined him in Meknes, Morocco. After three years at the family house in the medina, they moved to a remote farm where Mathilde gave birth to two children, first Aïcha and then Selim. While her husband worked furiously to make the farm a success, she turned her home into a clinic to care for the health of the peasants from the surrounding area. She learned the Arabic and Berber languages and, despite many difficulties and her opposition to certain traditions, particularly those concerning the status of women, she grew to love Morocco. Amine Belhaj: Born in 1917, the eldest son of Kadour Belhaj, an interpreter in the colonial army, and Mouilala, Amine became head of the family after his father’s death in 1939. He inherited Kadour’s lands but, when the Second World War broke out, chose to enrol in a Spahi Regiment. Along with his aide-de-camp, Mourad, he was sent to a POW camp in Germany, but managed to escape. In 1944 he met Mathilde, and they were married at a church in Alsace in 1945. In the 1950s, while Morocco was in turmoil, he devoted himself to the farm, which he dreamed of turning into a prosperous, modern business. He developed new varieties of olive and citrus fruit trees and, after years of setbacks, his partnership with the Hungarian doctor Dragan Palosi finally enabled him to start making a profit. Aïcha Belhaj: Born in 1947, Aïcha is Mathilde and Amine’s only daughter. She went to a convent school, where she finished top of the class. A shy, mystical child, she is her parents’ pride and joy. Selim Belhaj: Born in 1951, Selim is Mathilde and Amine’s only son. Spoiled by his mother, he too went to a colonial school. Omar Belhaj: Born in 1927, Omar is one of Amine’s brothers. As a child and as a teenager he felt a complex mix of admiration and hate for his elder sibling. He resented the fact that Amine fought for the French army and that he was their mother’s favourite. An impulsive young man, he joined the nationalists during the war. In the 1950s he became a leader in the anti-colonialist rebellion and was involved in the violence that preceded Moroccan independence. Jalil Belhaj: Born in 1932, Jalil was the youngest of Amine’s brothers. Suffering from mental illness, he lived his life alone in his bedroom, staring endlessly into a mirror. When his sick mother moved to Amine and Mathilde’s farm, Jalil was sent to stay with an uncle in Ifrane. After refusing to eat, he died of starvation in 1959. Mouilala Belhaj: Born at the start of the twentieth century, Mouilala married Kadour Belhaj. Though her family was middle class, she never learned to read or write. Many of her ancestors were mentally ill and would run naked through the streets or talk to ghosts. She gave birth to seven children, four of whom survived: Amine, Omar, Jalil and Selma. A courageous, loving mother, she adored her eldest son and admired his French wife, Mathilde, for her freedom and education. Around 1955, starting to show the first symptoms of dementia, she left her house in the medina to live out the rest of her life at Amine and Mathilde’s farm. She died a few months before her son Jalil, in 1959. Selma Belhaj: Born in 1937, Selma is the sister of Amine, Omar and Jalil. Cosseted by her mother, this radiantly beautiful girl was jealously guarded by her brothers and regularly beaten by Omar. An inattentive student, she frequently played truant from school, and in the spring of 1955 she met the young French pilot Alain Crozières and became pregnant by him. To avoid scandal and dishonour, Amine forced her to marry his former aide-de-camp, Mourad. In 1956 she gave birth to her daughter, Sabah. Mourad: Born in 1920, Mourad is from a small village eighty kilometres from Meknes. In 1939 he joined the army and was sent to the front, where he became Amine’s aide-de-camp before being promoted. Secretly in love with Amine, he was jealous of Mathilde. When the war ended he went to Indochina with a Moroccan regiment. Sickened by the violence, he deserted and found his way back to Morocco, where he took refuge with Amine. Given the job of foreman on the farm, he carried out his duties so zealously that his underlings hated him. He married Selma in 1955. Monette Bart: Born in 1946, Monette Bart is the daughter of Émile Bart, an aviator at the base in Meknes. A student at the convent school, she became close friends with Aïcha. Her father died in 1957. Tamo: The daughter of Ito and Ba Miloud, two workers living in the douar near the farm, Tamo was hired as a servant by Mathilde. Although treated harshly by the Frenchwoman, she found her place within the Belhaj family and worked for them until the end of her life. Dragan Palosi: A Hungarian gynaecologist of Jewish origin, he took refuge in Morocco with his wife, Corinne, during the Second World War. After a bad experience at a clinic in Casablanca, he decided to move to Meknes, where he opened his own practice. In 1954 he persuaded Amine to go into business with