Raïhanyat,
Mohamed Saïd Raïhani’s Website
GUILTY FOR BEING DIFFERENT
(A Short Story)
This may
happen to you mainly in a cinema when you step too late into the dark space to
find the film already playing and the actors moving to and fro and raving over
things which have taken place in your absence...
Now, the
hammer is pounding on the stand to order silence from the crowding public in a
space like that of courts of law. Your great surprise will flare up when you
realize that the hammer-man is addressing himself
exclusively to you:
“You are
among today’s group, expecting a pre-condemnation for your probable tendency to
commit future crimes, which is, as you know, a preventive, local and normal
measure just like circumcision... As you know, the local character of our
legislature aims at preventing the danger of waking up the sleeping riot in
people’s heads by pre-condemning them so that everyone should be aware of the
limits of his roles”.
Suddenly,
you realize that you are both the film and the darkness which melts the
public’s individualities into one receiver:
“Let the eyewitnesses come up to the witness-box and
give their evidence, please!”
The
astrologer’s witness :
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
Would Your
Excellency kindly have a look at the main lines on the suspect’s palm? Will you
have the kindness to look at the head line? It starts outside life-line and
goes so terribly downwards predicting a future resurrection of a criminal
tendency which has been so far under control.
Moreover,
the convict will lead such a long life as the life-line on his palm is too
long, too clear and without the slightest break. Will Your Excellency have the
goodness to imagine a human on whose palm there is no trace of heart line: an
absolute coldness, an utter weirdness…
Additionally,
the suspect’s first name shows very clearly his astrological sign. It is the
zodiac of notorious criminals. The characteristics of this zodiac births are
the following: Ambiguity, obstinacy and inclination to wild loneliness.
The
father’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
The suspect
is my son. However, our relationship has never been as natural as the one
enjoyed by other fathers with their sons. He hates him from his early
childhood. He considers me a wall standing against his freedom at home. That is
the main reason why he shuts himself in a room where walls are stained with
entangled colours and meaningless lines hiding in some parts under animal
posters scissored out of multi-coloured magazines.
The
childhood friend’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth .
The suspect
was a primary school-fellow of mine. I can remember that he was the only pupil
in the class-room to wear a white blouse opposing the official school-blouse
colour: black. he also would so obstinately refuse
copying down the writing or drawing models which the primary school-teacher
used to outline on the blackboard and that is why his marks were always drawn
out for him out of the bottom of the marking scale.
The
optician’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
Let us make
things clear to Your Excellency. White colour which the suspect is crazy about
is not a simple colour as it may seem. Its signification is greater. White is
the result of resistance performed by Mass to
keep away the light rays shed on it. White, Excellency, is the colour of Resistance,
the colour of Refusal, and when a man selects a particular
colour, He chooses a visual language to express his own feelings and desires.
The present suspect is introducing himself to us through the colour of Resistance.
The
traffic police-agent’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
The suspect
is a common face to me. I can see him everyday
passing by. He is always that lonely and quiet silhouette walking by,
indifferent to whatever around him focussing on his internal rhythm:
two-four-two-four, which is the initial breathing exercise in a spiritual sport
the aim of which is to enable man to master himself and control the world....
The
municipal- library officer’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
I have
brought with me to put at Your Excellency’s command a list of books which the
suspect has borrowed from the municipal library shelves during this month. In
the first week of the month, he has read a book on philosophy and another on
religion. In the second week, a book on science and another
one on mythology. In the third week, a collection of poems and some
political documents…
I have tried
to imagine a human who can read in the same time prophets and atheists, despots
and outcasts, poems and pamphlets... I have tried and tried but I could imagine
nothing.
The
boss’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
As far as I
am concerned, neither his breathing nor his calmness can deceive me… That is
why I am constantly refusing his application to work in my company. The letters
of the words in all his applications are complete without crosses and with a
dominant, inky trait filled with exaggerated self-confidence. Yet, the letters
lack the necessary roundness and flexibility: They are mere triangles and
squares with sharp angles reflecting his inflexible character. However, his
care after letter-writing shows his fear to lose control over things which may
unveil him. Surely he is hiding something mischievous but what this thing is,
that is the evidence I cannot give to Your Excellency.
The
photographer’s witness:
I swear to
tell nothing but truth.
In all the
photos which I have taken for him, Your Excellency will find the same décor: a
bed and a small table surrounded by walls stained with colours, lines and
photos of wolves in different sizes devouring bleeding sheep. A wolf here and a
wolf there.... He considers himself a lonely, wild wolf. That is the key that I
can hand to Your Excellency to have access to the virtual urges of his
devouring sociability in herd life.
The
condemnation:
In
accordance with the eye- witnesses’ declaration
And
following the laws of the acts in force....
And...
The suspect, among today’s group, is supposed guilty by instinct and is
pre-condemned for life with a stay of execution. The session is over.
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