Book Quotes The Hunchback Of Baghdad

Book Description

Jabar Ouda —Hunchback of Baghdad or Hump of Baghdad — is a man in his sixties, obese, monkey-faced, ugly, strong, and short. He has a defective right eye marked with a white spot in its pupil, is dark-complected and limps, and has a hump atop his back.Usually,he speaks angrily to himself, swearing and cursing as he walks. An edgy, ill-tempered person, who works as an undertaker, he hasworked in most cemeteries of Baghdad and its environs. He is known by his ingenious name Hump of Baghdad. He owns several mortuaries. His ill fameas an undertakeris widespread in Baghdad, as he has buried several celebrities, and due to the fact that he has been in this profession since he was fifteen. His voice is throaty and coarse, a voice that fills children’s souls with terror. Alternatively, maybehis smoke-blackened teeth disgust the soul of whoever speaks to him. Especially, he is not particularly liked in Iraqi society. When he makes a decision,neither his family nor subordinates dare to comment on or discuss it. All that arouses his anger is avoided by them. He has two sons, Salman, 30 years old with a tiny body and somehow accursed with his father’s ape-like features, slopingforehead, sunken eyes, jutting chin, black, spliced, carefully combed hair, and the mustache. The youngest, Aboud, is somehow well built, with a hawk-like nose, wide mouth, large head, and two scars on his forehead. However, the mother, Hosnia,performs the last rites for females;she also does not hesitate for a second to steal anything. She has ugly features, a blackened face, and a large, round nose, a mean smile, and a big hairy mole. She wears a black veil, over her roughly shaped hair, has toughened senses. “Months havepassed since the downfallof Baghdad, and Saddam’s phantom still haunts the souls of the public; although, no one knows his whereabouts,” Jabar says while reclining on the couch in the middle of a small reception room.In a house whose walls are torn by dampness, corners cracked wide open, and without even lights to scare away the ghosts of darkness. War has left nothing useful, no water or electricity, only killing ghosts knocking on houses, leading their inhabitants to an unknown destiny. They were sitting having tea as if in a secretive meeting, to make their plans after Baghdad’s downfall under a lantern’s dim light. “Stupid war. We have not removed him, so where is the certainty to celebrate?” said Aboudseriously. His elder brother throw a warning glance towards him, saying, “I do not want to hear you saying such gibberish again.” Then with a resentful look he asked, “Understood?” “Understood”, replied his younger brother, with his head down obediently. The elder brother continued to look at him cruelly, drinking his tea. Rudely, he said, “Saddam Hussein has killed a lot of us as if we were sheep. He has had what he deserved.” “Only God knows how much I hate him”, said their father, gazing meditatively at the ceiling and wiping his chin. He has destroyed us.” He altered his pose, as if about to say something different.“The most important thing is that our business will grow. People will kill each other and Baghdad’s downfall will not pass quietly. The game is just starting. We have not entered the democratic era yet — we will need centuries to get used to democracy. Our people have no use for justice. We have to prepare our mortuaries for this purpose.”He laughed maliciously and turned to his wife. “Is not that your chance, Hosnia?” With a sly smile, Hosnia replied, “The most important thing is that we do not want law. Law has impeded our richness; our network must spread immediately. We were about to be hanged during Saddam’sera, if it was not for that blessed American interference.” Yes, all were imprisoned in Abu Ghraib prisonawaiting their execution. Jabar and his sons were accused of stealing human organs and forgery of death certificates. Moreover, some witnesses had asserted that Jabarhad committed necrophilia with a 15-year-oldgirl’s corpse. His wife was involved in forgery and replacing infants with corpses of infants, in coordination with hospital staff, to convince new mothers that they had delivered dead babies. “Tomorrow I’ll meet Doctor Salem”, said Jabar.“The organization operations will start again.” Then he whispered, as if emphasizing something important.“The operations will grow this time. Do you know with whom shall we operate?” All these charges were dropped after Baghdad’s downfall.Criminal records were burnt, and The Hump of Baghdadstarted to dig his depraved path,as he is now on the loose,grateful to the gracious invasion. “With whom shall it be?” they asked in low voices, jointly.