evket; causing the boy to cry; and had the barber’s
apprentice and two other men move Shekure; Hayriye and the children a safe
distance away。 The theology student told me he’d take me home by way of a
shortcut; that is; he didn’t let me stay with the others。 Was this a twist of fate
or some cunning attempt to keep secret the whereabouts of their hideout?
There was a shop; which I understood to be a coffeehouse; at the end of this
narrow street we were passing down。 Perhaps the swordfight stopped as soon
as it’d begun。 Crowds of men were hooting as they entered and left; at first I
thought they were looting; but no; they were destroying the coffeehouse。 They
carefully took out all of the ceramic cups; brass pots; glasses and low tables
under the light of the torches of the onlookers and destroyed them all as a
warning。 They roughed up a man who tried to stop them; but he was able to
get away。 Originally; I thought their target was only coffee; as they themselves
claimed。 They were condemning its ill effects; how it harmed the sight and the
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stomach; how it dulled the intellect and caused men to lose their faith; how it
was the poison of the Franks and how Exalted Muhammad had turned down
coffee even though it was offered to him by a beautiful woman—Satan in
disguise。 It was as if this were the theatrics for a night of instruction in moral
etiquette; and if I finally made it home; I thought I might even scold Nesim;
warning him not to drink too much of that poison。
Since there ing houses and cheap inns nearby; a
curious crowd formed in no time; made up of idle wa