A story In Chain Part 5
By Mr Abdellah SALLO – teacher of English – Fes
While gossiping in the kitchen Abdo and his companions try to avoid any topic linked to El Younsi, for Abdo is worried to be blamed about why he has brought such a young man. However, one of these companions is glad and fond of receiving such a guest feeling that they belong to the same region. “_ The dinner is ready.” Chakibi said, “where is El Younsi now?”
A quarter of an hour later, El younsi has come in. “- You have a good smell here in the kitchen, haven’t you?” He said joyfully. “- Yes, Chakibi is keen on cooking, a delicious Tagine has been cooked “ Abdo said. Chakibi has clapped his hands, “ Are you ready for dinner?” He asked, the pitch of his voice expressing the sense of responsibility for dinner, has caught others’ attention. While sitting down around the dining table, everybody seized his chair, as usual, while eating people talk. Abdo has started his speech.
“ Are you married, El younsi?”
“No! Not yet” He responded negatively, “ You know our society, don’t you? It’s hard to get married; it’s hard to buy a piece of land where to build a house. If you want to marry, you need millions of dirhams. Wedding parties require too many expenses. Moreover, what’s more serious is how to find a spouse. Marriage is no longer what it has been before. If you want to choose a wife, you have to choose a good family, I mean a well-off family.
Abdo interrupted him, -“It’s not a question of choosing a rich or a poor family, but you have to look at the moral side of the one you decide to marry. First, have a look at her mother. They say ‘like mother like daughter’; if the mother behaves well, her daughter will be obviously similar. Besides, there should be a balance in age, at least a spouse should be over twenties so as to sensitize responsibility in her home. The groom must be over twenty five if the bride is twenty. The situation of the couple is another point that creates a tremendous conflict between couples; when an educated girl marries uneducated or semi-educated husband, this latter may often despise his wife, so there are various cases to study before you marry.
-“ Sorry,” Jamal interfered, “I think when people get married, they don’t take into account all these things, they get married by accident. How can you know about the situation of a family or the level of education or the good and bad behavior? Moreover when a problem occurs between wife and husband, the main reason is financial or a problem of children.”
-“If you are poor and you marry a poor girl, your life will become terrible.” El Younsi resumed, “as my case I can’t same an amount of money for a dowry. How can a teacher or an official worker save his dowry? It’s too difficult, even if you succeed to get married, you should be ready to face conflicts and problems. I think, nowadays, girls are no longer as patient as women in the past. What’s more terrible is that girls are disobediently reluctant to carry out their tasks and housework; they urge their husband to share certain tasks at home, they want them to cook and clean, to change and wash up the babies, set the table for meals and so on. Is this what you call a matrimony life?”
“But husbands are more or less unjust” Abdo responded, they normally do nothing special, some of them spend time and money with cigarettes in the café. At home, he is a master for nothing, a man puts off his clothes, eats his food, gets out for his pleasures. After a moment he resumed:
To be continued ……….
