The story of a Puppeteer and a girl from Algeria
By Loucif Turkia
This is the fifth pottery piggy bank. I’m going to break it and count the money I saved and received from the owner of the puppet theatre.
The latter was a miserly and miserable fellow. He lived alone in a house where part of his space was allocated to spectators, most of whom are poor children who learned the shows. I amused myself behind the curtain listening to two little girls rehearsing the supposed dialogue between the two puppets, the black and the blonde, and the alleged quarrel turned into reality and a bitter truth.
Then I took my place again, with my colleague, behind the curtain and we continued the show after having resolved the quarrel. Soon, calm returned and we went beyond the script, that day, when my colleague began to repeat: I love you, my doll. Then, he involved the children in the show and asked them: Who loves Selena more than me?
The audience replied, “We love Selena!” we love Selena!
-What for?
-Because she’s a doll and she loves children.
Moussa was punished by exclusion from the theater. When I saw him leave in anger, I stopped him so that I could understand the decision made by this miserable landlord, but he didn’t give me the opportunity. I have inquired with the administration; the exclusion seemed to me an arbitrary decision against Moussa. I went to the theater owner’s office to see what happened. This idiot accused me of having a share of responsibility, which annoyed me enormously, so I yelled at him and said: “You wretch! I will not stay here any longer and I will leave of my own free will!”
But where is Moussa now?
I liked the idea of hanging out in the textile market. Suddenly, I saw Moussa inside a shop, I was watching from afar what he was doing.
Maybe he will design new puppets and organize street performances, which he has been dreaming of for a long time, but our village is small and sparsely populated; most of its inhabitants worked in gardening for a private owner.
My relationship with Moussa goes back to the time when we were at the Maison d’Enfance S.O.S. He was the only one who agreed to play with me and talk about our presence in this place full of children of unknown parentage. I was the only black pearl among them. Moussa, too, was blond. I asked myself the question: How is it that a black girl can have the chance to be in the company of Moussa?
I could see that little girls were racist.
It’s my thirtieth birthday, and there had to be a cake from the best store surrounded by these racist girls who came to eat and not compliment me. Narjes, who tries to show himself at my expense at every opportunity, was to me the annoying person whose presence I hated. I remembered that I often replaced her in the presentation of the stage, for which she was responsible, in order to save the show and maintain the attention of the audience.
In my birth certificate, I could only read my name “Selina”. The person who gave me this name was Moussa, who was eight years older than me. He used to take care of me whenever I was oppressed by racist little girls. He defended me and said: it’s my black doll!
We were all in the best restaurant serving sweets and tea and hosting, too, birthday parties. It was Moussa’s idea and I was happy about it, but I could see that he was slow to come and I noticed that racists were making fun of them.
I saw the blonde enter through the revolving door carrying a longitudinal box wrapped in a black ribbon. I smiled because I realized that every black color is mine. He didn’t put it on the table but held it with a firm grip, then he called the waiter: “Bring the cake and put on some soft music, it’s the birthday of my friend, my black pearl, the one who comforted me!” I noticed that the store couldn’t accommodate other girls. After cutting the cake and taking pictures, I found myself in the blonde’s arms making me dance like the princesses. Then I whispered in his ear, ‘What’s in this box?’
He stopped me for a moment while asking for everyone’s attention: “We will have our own theater and I have chosen an actress from among you, to tour the world with me. We will present our shows in the streets and I will now ask Selena to open the box.
The presence of the black ribbon on the box is enough to reassure me that I am going to travel around the world with the puppet theatre. In the box, there is a black puppet; I will accompany the blond on his rounds. My joy was great.
He had a big complaint from the participants. I kissed the blond and we left the restaurant while I greeted passers-by with the black puppet…
A question came to my mind: “Where did you get the money from, Moussa?
You paid the waiter handsomely and brought me my black doll.
He was smiling, and I understood that behind this smile there was a successful joke because I had known his quarrels since childhood. He used to steal children’s belongings, sell them at the market and bring chocolate with the money he gets, but this time there was no chocolate.
All that this wretched profiteer was able to gain by exploiting all our efforts in the puppet theatre was in my pocket.
“Did you steal his money?” They will report you to the police!
-After a long life, God willing (laughing with the ecstasy of victory). I will have no mercy on anyone, I will become rich and I will marry you Selina, will you accept my marriage proposal?
I felt his temperature, he grabbed my hand and kissed it and said, ‘We’re going to take revenge on this miserable world!’
We saw Narjes running towards us panting, Moussa didn’t give him time to catch his breath which is in danger of being taken away.
– Narjes, unlucky figure! What’s the matter?
-The police… The police.. Is looking for you. This wretch has denounced you, but what have you done?
“Leave, it’s night, go back to your lair quickly!”
“I won’t do it, I’ll go with you!”
I missed the presence of Narjes in my life.
She is here for Moussa, a little love she has for him
She is a beautiful blonde and she suits her well. There was silence for a few moments, and Musa’s deep sigh was on account of my complaints.
The warning siren of the police car made us flee from the place. We found ourselves in a port, when the ships covered the water, and the quarrelsome Moussa became our captain; we receive and carry out his orders. The glow of love disappeared from his eyes and was replaced by an evil gaze.
We were ordered to swim and get rid of our belongings, but I refused to get rid of my black doll, and even Nargis rebelled, as her small bag contained lipstick and a red dress stolen from the fanciest stores in town.
Moussa reluctantly agreed and we jumped into the water. Narjes pretended to be drowned so that Moussa could save her. She was in his arms, while I was the one who found the way out. It was a merchant ship containing crates of fruit produced by the people of the city. We slept soundly. Musa woke up before us and said, ‘Here they are, the seagulls!’ They are seaside birds.
Narjes rubbed her eyes, she’s lazy; she opened her bag and pulled out the mirror and lipstick to put on makeup. Moussa grumbled: “Your beauty will not be useful in such a situation; all caution and precaution are asked of you.
Selina, watch for the exit!”
I didn’t see any of the passengers on the boat, maybe they were sleeping, I said, “Let’s jump into the water!”
We did it. We swam to the port and the fatigue exhausted us too much.
We penetrated the crowd of customers and decided to divide up the roles. I am the maid of the blonde lady and that made her happy; I saw her smile with a hypocrisy that provoked me. I am free and I can leave them alone, but Moussa urged us to resist and help each other.
One of the porters who had been working on the merchant ship for years recognized us, he approached us and his smile preceded him.
“Thank God you escaped from the hands of the police!”
The three of us are in a state of astonishment.
-But?
“Did you sleep well?”
– The three of us: Thank God and thank you for allowing us to spend the night on your boat.
– The owner of the ship wants you in something that will benefit you.
We followed the porter and crossed the wooden corridor that connects the ship to the port. The porters unloaded the goods in full activity. We entered the pantry. There was a teapot, just prepared, that smelled of its aroma. The man was well dressed and excited.
He motioned for the doorman to leave and asked us to sit down; we sat down; Moussa sat between the two of us and we held hands. The owner of the ship looked at us for a long time. Then he offered us cups of tea, and then he returned to his seat.
We enjoyed the taste of tea and exchanged questioning glances with each other. Moussa put down the cup and asked: “Come on! Say what you have to say, sir!”
“I have an only daughter who rebelled years ago. I want you to bring her home.
Then he got up, took his daughter’s photo out of the drawer and gave it to Moussa. Looking at this photo, we were amazed by the beauty of the young lady, her grace, her sweet smile, her wide eyes and her brown hair falling over her shoulders.
I looked at Narjes as if she had swallowed her tongue as I disdained the disgusting blackness of my doll. Moussa did not take his eyes off the photo of the beautiful girl as he asked:
– Where can you be?
“In this city,” replies the ship’s owner.
-But why? Have you not assigned the task to one of your employees? Why me?
“Make sure that she loves you, marries you.” You will have children. I will have grandsons, and you will one day be a rich master.
“I only accept the first part of your offer, but I can’t get married!”
-Are you married?
“I love this adorable black girl and I don’t want any other.
“Refuse you, my daughter… thief?!
We were amazed at the fact that this man knows everything and nothing escapes him. That day, he didn’t bother us, he let us sleep and rest. It seemed, moreover, that he had eyes that followed us everywhere, wherever we were, and we thus became under his influence. Moussa insisted on refusing; His screams intensified. As a result, the owner of the ship took a brass coin and hit it on his face. He wounded him and his blood flowed. Moussa fell to the ground, Narjes was screaming terribly. I advanced, trembling, towards this very violent man, proposing to him:
“We accepted your offer, sir, but we need the medicine box so we can treat his wound immediately, because we were afraid it would become infected.”
He placed the equipment close to me and left us. I saw him, through a circular window, talking to two porters, who were listening attentively.
I wiped the blood and put a bandage on the wound that Narjes had sterilized.
A moment later, the two porters gave us help and carried Musa to a private room.
The owner of the ship was bartering with us in this bad circumstance. Moussa is in a semi-coma in the locked room. We had to find the rebellious girl so that her father could hand over our wounded friend to us. But if it fails, he will get rid of it by throwing it into the open sea. Our miserable life on the streets was more compassionate than what we feel now.
I asked Narjes for help because she was very intelligent and she knew how to talk with people well by seducing them with her charming beauty. We went to the popular market; It was an alley crowded with customers of both sexes, and where the voices of the salesmen combined with each other.
– Focus if you hear a girl’s voice! I asked Narjes.
– We have to sneak to the end of the aisle and then go to another destination.
She was there, fortunately, offering bottles of orange paste and timidly lowering her head to avoid our eyes. I took Narjes by the hand and showed him where the girl was all alone.
– She’s really the girl you want!
– No customers, no calls, or promotion of its products.
We approached her. Narjes asked for the price of a bottle. The girl didn’t answer and just looked at us.
Narjes put two bottles in the bag and gave the money to the girl and then we turned around. The girl followed Narjes using signals to communicate.
-Oh my god! She is mute!
It was a moonlit night, so everyone in the anchored ship was talking and telling each other stories and it was so normal that the owner of the ship would talk to one of his helpers about the orphans.
I was hearing, secretly, what they were saying while Narjes looked at the stars as if she were seeing them for the first time. The two men followed them, charmed by her beauty.
The owner of the ship said:
“I was in charge of bringing orphans and unloading them as a burden in this miserable city. I collected a fee for each bastard rejected by his family. My daughter hated me and abandoned me when I told her the truth.
I used to spend the night at the prostitutes’ hotel when I was a young man. One of these women became pregnant but it was not known who caused it. When I left, the woman left me a two-year-old daughter.
The escape of Moussa and his two friends made me call the girl back and have the idea of bringing her back to the good life. When I saw that Moussa was an intelligent young man, with an ambition for wealth, which made him agree to marry her. It allows me to change my thoughts about life and accept all these bastard children.”
Hearing all that has been said; I felt very jealous and felt like my soul was being taken away from me.
It was inconceivable to see the owner of the ship offer his belongings to Moussa, Narjes feeling good in this situation because she is greedy for money and she is a real professional thief. All the more, the situation lends itself suitably to the mute; she will be good, too.
Hearing Moussa’s moans coming from inside, I rushed to him, he called me: Selena! Selena!
I found the dumb woman close to him, looking at him until he awoke. Her features were calm and she was smiling. She brought the owner of the ship in while holding his hand as if she were hastening the wedding.
The hymns and the owner’s dance with Moussa, the mute and the blonde Narjes were in a circle to which I was not summoned. I was offering drinks and delicious food to the audience. I wondered if life could reorganize our ranks and roles:
“Something of the puppet theatre, Selina!”
The owner of the ship was asking for entertainment at the expense of my nerves. I carried my black puppet and walked in. I couldn’t find words to say in the show, but I said: I’m going to try to swim and I’ll fight the big fish, but what is its color?
The audience replied: “It must be a black fish!”
The audience laughs. As for me, I would jump into the water and start swimming. It was a scary feeling!
To commit suicide in this way!
I screamed and my arms were too exhausted. I didn’t beg Moussa. Suddenly, Narjes jumped into the water, she was swimming and approaching me little by little. Then she caught me; held me by the head to take a breath and she stimulated me to resist until we touched the ground. She was putting something on his back. Finally, here we are, lying down, then, being very tired, I asked her: What are you wearing on your back?
She told me: All the owner’s money is in my possession in exchange for Moussa.
Read: When Evening Comes – Poetry from Algeria
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Turkia Loucif is an Algerian writer who grew up in a family of many members and lived in a house left over from the houses of French centenarians in the neighborhood of arches. Her passion began with telling oral stories to her two sisters before bed, her mother realized her talent and she loved nature, flowers and squirrels, she frequented the school library and read novels in French. She dreamed of becoming a journalist and used to take this profession as a child, she used to make her notebook a microphone and talk to some of her family members. Her writing style caught the attention of her teacher, who registered her in a literary competition and won first place at the age of 12.
