390
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
—they get the ugly girls—and are unhappy. Our women adore
money. We prefer money to everything else. I am sorry for
this. I am sorry we have no ideals of love."
"How about the other kind of love?" I asked Sabaa.
"There is much of that here. I think it is an unjust method.
But when men do not meet women, they go with young boys.
Men who have their boys say: 'This is my boy. He belongs to
me.' They do not permit anyone else to touch him. They give
the boy money for food and clothes. As for me, I do not desire a young boy."
"Don't the boys' parents object?"
"If they are poor what can they do? I know of one old man
who pays the boy and also his family. You see now why our
need is for a social revolution? When we have it, reforms will
follow."
"I have learned much f &