me up and down with the stony and slightly threatening haughtiness Algerian policeman adopt when they intend to remind you that you are in enemy territory in a police station and, as such, are potentially guilty of any crime they might care to accuse you of. The subliminal message emitted by this den, painted âadministrative greenâ, is extremely clear: you who enter here, do not imagine that we are here to serve you; should you persist in this delusion, remember that only a dozen steps separate the grotty normality of our offices from the sordid jails in the cellar below!
As a teenager in Constantine, I had been introduced to this cast-iron truth after making a salacious jibe about a traffic policeman. Unfortunately, I hadnât noticed one of his colleagues on duty a few yards away. The two cops had handcuffed me and led me down into the basement, where the offended man had pulled out an erect penis and threatened to sodomize me unless I made up by giving him a blowjob. I think he would have raped me if my screams hadnât put the wind up his colleague. The policeman then tucked his dick away and proceeded to beat me with his truncheon. That evening my father was summoned and informed by the officer on watch that I was liable to imprisonment for having insulted a policeman in the discharge of his duties. However, he added, if my father promised to punish me severely for my misdemeanours, the police would forget all about it. My poor old man thanked them profusely and gave me a second volley of blows at home. Naturally, I didnât dare tell him about the rape I had almost suffered. Furthermore, having first choked on his indignation, he might actually have given me my third thrashing of the day and called me a queer incapable of defending his honourâ¦
A servile chuckle escaped me at this memory.
âMy wife panics easily. You know, with everything thatâs going on. Itâs in a womanâs nature to be more anxious than a rabbit. As for my daughter, donât you worry, I⦠(I brandished an imaginary stick) as she deserved. I hope we didnât bother you too much with these stupid matters.â
The man made a strangled sound that could just as well have been a life-saving yes or a fatal no . I felt a pain in my belly: This twat doesnât believe you⦠Try something else, quick! Your daughter⦠your daughter!
I mustered all my remaining strength to assume the attitude of a citizen worried about the detrimental consequences for the police of a blunder he has made.
âIt would really cap it off if youâve already started investigations just because of some silly woman! Might we have to pay a fine?â
My heart was beating so fast that my thoughts suddenly became confused. To regain my footing, I sucked in the sickly, contaminated air of the police station hard. I tried another smile but just stopped myself in time, as this last masquerade threatened to turn into a fiasco.
The cop was busy trying to extract a scrap of food that was stuck in his teeth with his tongue and didnât bother reacting to my tone of complicity. He was probably wondering which mental drawer to file me away in. I reckoned from the face he pulled that heâd opted for the category âstandard bootlicker who blubs at the thought of losing some doshâ. Grabbing a register, he asked me for my name and telephone number before scribbling âCancelledâ opposite some writing I couldnât decipher. Then he went back to reading some of the documents lying around on his desk.
I ran back to the car. Meriem opened the door for me. She had been crying.
âWhat took you so long?â
Her hair was totally dishevelled. Grief and worry had made her ugly overnight. My throat tight, I had a kind of dark, hare-brained revelation of the boundless love I felt for this woman: âIt doesnât matter whether youâre beautiful or ugly, Meriem, itâll take a whole lot more
As a teenager in Constantine, I had been introduced to this cast-iron truth after making a salacious jibe about a traffic policeman. Unfortunately, I hadnât noticed one of his colleagues on duty a few yards away. The two cops had handcuffed me and led me down into the basement, where the offended man had pulled out an erect penis and threatened to sodomize me unless I made up by giving him a blowjob. I think he would have raped me if my screams hadnât put the wind up his colleague. The policeman then tucked his dick away and proceeded to beat me with his truncheon. That evening my father was summoned and informed by the officer on watch that I was liable to imprisonment for having insulted a policeman in the discharge of his duties. However, he added, if my father promised to punish me severely for my misdemeanours, the police would forget all about it. My poor old man thanked them profusely and gave me a second volley of blows at home. Naturally, I didnât dare tell him about the rape I had almost suffered. Furthermore, having first choked on his indignation, he might actually have given me my third thrashing of the day and called me a queer incapable of defending his honourâ¦
A servile chuckle escaped me at this memory.
âMy wife panics easily. You know, with everything thatâs going on. Itâs in a womanâs nature to be more anxious than a rabbit. As for my daughter, donât you worry, I⦠(I brandished an imaginary stick) as she deserved. I hope we didnât bother you too much with these stupid matters.â
The man made a strangled sound that could just as well have been a life-saving yes or a fatal no . I felt a pain in my belly: This twat doesnât believe you⦠Try something else, quick! Your daughter⦠your daughter!
I mustered all my remaining strength to assume the attitude of a citizen worried about the detrimental consequences for the police of a blunder he has made.
âIt would really cap it off if youâve already started investigations just because of some silly woman! Might we have to pay a fine?â
My heart was beating so fast that my thoughts suddenly became confused. To regain my footing, I sucked in the sickly, contaminated air of the police station hard. I tried another smile but just stopped myself in time, as this last masquerade threatened to turn into a fiasco.
The cop was busy trying to extract a scrap of food that was stuck in his teeth with his tongue and didnât bother reacting to my tone of complicity. He was probably wondering which mental drawer to file me away in. I reckoned from the face he pulled that heâd opted for the category âstandard bootlicker who blubs at the thought of losing some doshâ. Grabbing a register, he asked me for my name and telephone number before scribbling âCancelledâ opposite some writing I couldnât decipher. Then he went back to reading some of the documents lying around on his desk.
I ran back to the car. Meriem opened the door for me. She had been crying.
âWhat took you so long?â
Her hair was totally dishevelled. Grief and worry had made her ugly overnight. My throat tight, I had a kind of dark, hare-brained revelation of the boundless love I felt for this woman: âIt doesnât matter whether youâre beautiful or ugly, Meriem, itâll take a whole lot more
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