excerpt from
Such a Beautiful Voice Is Sayeda’s
from
The Best American Short Plays 2004–2005
SAYEDA It’s not a joke. It happened after you left for work this morning. It’s . . . I don’t know where to begin. [. . .] As soon as you left and I—I sent the children off to school. . . . I went about my usual routine: I prepared dinner, cleaned the house and all those other household chores that never seem to end. And then when I heard the noon call to prayer, I thought, why not take a bath. I deserved a break. So I did.
[Lights up on the bathtub. “SAYEDA”—or SAYEDA 2—is in the tub.]
I got a bucket of water. I washed my hair, and I, as I sometimes do, I began to sing, to amuse myself. You know how I do sometimes. But as I was singing and scrubbing myself, I experienced the strangest thing.
[SAYEDA looks at SAYEDA 2.]
You see—the voice that was singing . . . it wasn’t my own. At least it wasn’t my normal voice and nothing I recognized. It was like someone else had stepped into the room and was singing instead.
[SAYEDA approaches the bathtub.—We hear this other voice singing faintly over the speakers.]
And it was so beautiful. This voice. That felt like it might be coming out of my mouth but that wasn’t mine. Well, beautiful or not, you can imagine how I reacted. I thought someone had come into the room. But when I washed the soap from my eyes and looked around—there was no one there. Everything was as it should be. I was so scared. I muttered a prayer to God to protect me . . . and went back to cleaning myself. . . . And I started to sing again.
[The beautiful voice is heard again. At some point, also, the light breeze causes the sheets to stir.]
And again this voice rang out more powerful—and serene and intense, rising and falling like perfect dunes—and bubbling up like water in a spring. Well, I was ready to run. You know I don’t believe in ifrits, or jinns. But right then I called on God to protect me from the devil and any and everything He doesn’t sanction. Abdel Hamid, my heart was pounding so strong it felt like each heartbeat was a punch in my chest. I was scared to open my mouth. . . . But . . . but again I calmed down and I . . . this time I called out my name. [] Then I thought, what if the neighbors heard me? Or you came back and heard me call my name? You’d think I’d gone crazy. Who in their right mind calls out their name with such amazement and wonder? And it was wonderful. Not because of my name but because of this voice that was pronouncing it.
[SAYEDA 2 hurriedly puts on her galabeya, looking around as if still not convinced she’s alone.]
I know this all sounds like craziness and I thought so too. Worse, I thought there might be some truth to those stories of spirits that haunt us and make us their playthings, and I uttered the prayer—[. . .] Once I looked out the window and saw people going about their business I relaxed. . . . I breathed again. I finished drying. . . . And I started to comb my hair.
[The two SAYEDAs turn to each other.]
And in front of the mirror . . .
[The beautiful voice is heard singing.]
Can you believe it, my love . . . my voice was even more beautiful than before. I felt no fear now. And without that fear, my voice rose higher than ever before and played in the air like a bird enchanted with its own wings and flight and knowing it was free to fly wherever it willed. And I knew then for sure this was no genie. It couldn’t be. This was a human voice. This was my voice. And I was singing. It was me. . . . It was me. . . . Listen. Listen, Abdel Hamid, I’ll show you.