A tour offer collides with Salma’s promise to her students. Declining it leaves her with a responsibility to honour and an ambition she still values.
01Read the Arabic story
مُعَلِّمَةُ الْمُوسِيقَى الَّتِي رَفَضَتْ جَوْلَةً
وَصَلَ عَرْضُ الْجَوْلَةِ الْمُوسِيقِيَّةِ إِلَى سَلْمَى وَهِيَ تَطْوِي بَرْنَامَجَ حَفْلِ طُلَّابِهَا. ثَلَاثَةُ أَسَابِيعَ فِي مُدُنٍ لَمْ تَزُرْهَا، وَعَزْفٌ مَعَ فِرْقَةٍ تُعْجَبُ بِهَا. لَمْ تَكُنْ دَعْوَةً عَابِرَةً؛ فَقَدْ أَرْسَلَتْ إِلَيْهِمْ تَسْجِيلَاتٍ وَانْتَظَرَتْ رَدَّهُمْ أَشْهُرًا. وَضَعَتْ خُطَّةَ السَّفَرِ فَوْقَ نَوْتَةٍ مَفْتُوحَةٍ، فَحَجَبَتِ الْوَرَقَةُ الْمَقْطَعَ الَّذِي كَانَ الطُّلَّابُ يَتَعَثَّرُونَ فِيهِ. كَانَتْ بِدَايَةُ الْجَوْلَةِ تُوَافِقُ أُسْبُوعَ حَفْلِهِمْ الْأَوَّلِ.
اِقْتَرَحَ نَادِرٌ أَنْ يَتَوَلَّى التَّدْرِيبَ فِي غِيَابِهَا؛ وَهُوَ مُعَلِّمٌ تَثِقُ بِهِ، لَا بَدِيلٌ تَسْتَخِفُّ بِقُدْرَتِهِ. قَالَ إِنَّ الطُّلَّابَ سَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْ أُسْلُوبٍ آخَرَ. لَمْ تُنْكِرْ ذَلِكَ، لَكِنَّهَا تَذَكَّرَتْ وَعْدَهَا لَهُمْ بِحُضُورِ التَّدْرِيبِ الْأَخِيرِ، حِينَ يَعْزِفُونَ دُونَ أَنْ تُشِيرَ إِلَيْهِمْ بِكُلِّ بِدَايَةٍ. وَعْدٌ صَغِيرٌ، لَمْ يَدْخُلْ فِي حِسَابِ الْفِرْقَةِ.
اِعْتَذَرَتْ عَنِ الْجَوْلَةِ، وَأَبْقَتْ خُطَّةَ السَّفَرِ فِي دُرْجِهَا. سَأَلَهَا أَحَدُ الطُّلَّابِ لِمَاذَا لَمْ تَذْهَبْ؛ فَقَدْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَسْمَعَ مُعَلِّمَتَهُ خَارِجَ غُرْفَةِ الدَّرْسِ. لَمْ تَقُلْ إِنَّهُمْ أَهَمُّ مِنْ طُمُوحِهَا، بَلْ شَرَحَتْ مَا وَعَدَتْ بِهِ. ظَلَّ سُؤَالُهُ مَعَهَا، وَخَفَّفَ مِنْ رَاحَةِ التَّفْسِيرِ الَّذِي أَعَدَّتْهُ لِنَفْسِهَا.
فِي التَّدْرِيبِ الْأَخِيرِ، أَوْقَفَتْ ضَابِطَ الْإِيقَاعِ الْخَشَبِيَّ وَجَلَسَتْ فِي آخِرِ الْقَاعَةِ. تَأَخَّرَ الدُّخُولُ الْأَوَّلُ، ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامَ الْعَزْفُ حِينَ أَصْغَى الطُّلَّابُ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ. مَدَّتْ يَدَهَا لِتُشِيرَ، ثُمَّ أَنْزَلَتْهَا. لَمْ يَكُنْ بَقَاؤُهَا يَعْنِي أَنْ تَظَلَّ ضَرُورِيَّةً فِي كُلِّ لَحْظَةٍ. بَعْدَ التَّدْرِيبِ، كَتَبَتْ مُلَاحَظَةً لِنَادِرٍ عَنِ الْمَقْطَعِ الصَّعْبِ.
مَسَاءَ الْحَفْلِ، وَصَلَتْهَا صُورَةُ الْفِرْقَةِ مِنْ مَدِينَةٍ بَعِيدَةٍ. كَبَّرَتِ الصُّورَةَ، ثُمَّ وَضَعَتِ الْهَاتِفَ إِلَى جَانِبِ الْبَرْنَامَجِ الْمَطْوِيِّ. سَأَلَهَا نَادِرٌ إِنْ كَانَتْ سَتَقْبَلُ عَرْضًا مُشَابِهًا لَاحِقًا. قَالَتْ إِنَّهَا تُرِيدُ ذَلِكَ، وَإِنَّهَا سَتَتَّفِقُ مَعَهُ مُبَكِّرًا عَلَى تَسْلِيمِ التَّدْرِيبِ. وَصَلَ صَوْتُ الطُّلَّابِ مِنْ وَرَاءِ السِّتَارِ، فَطَوَتِ الْبَرْنَامَجَ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى، وَلَمْ تُغْلِقِ الصُّورَةَ.
Show English translationHide English translation
The offer of a musical tour reached Salma as she folded the programme for her students’ concert. Three weeks in cities she had never visited, performing with an ensemble she admired. This was no casual invitation: she had sent them recordings and waited months for their reply. She laid the itinerary over an open score, and the sheet covered the passage the students kept stumbling over. The start of the tour coincided with the week of their first concert.
Nader offered to take over the rehearsals while she was away. He was a teacher she trusted, not a substitute whose ability she dismissed. He said the students would learn from a different approach. She did not deny that, but remembered her promise to attend their final rehearsal, when they would play without her signalling every entrance. A small promise that had not figured in the ensemble’s calculations.
She declined the tour and kept the itinerary in her drawer. One student asked why she had not gone: he had wanted to hear his teacher outside the classroom. She did not say that they mattered more than her ambition, but explained what she had promised. His question stayed with her and reduced the comfort of the explanation she had prepared for herself.
At the final rehearsal, she stopped the wooden metronome and sat at the back of the hall. The first entrance was late, then the playing settled as the students listened to one another. She extended her hand to signal, then lowered it. Staying did not mean remaining indispensable at every moment. After the rehearsal, she wrote Nader a note about the difficult passage.
On the evening of the concert, a photograph of the ensemble arrived from a distant city. She enlarged it, then placed her phone beside the folded programme. Nader asked whether she would accept a similar offer later. She said she wanted to and would agree with him early about handing over rehearsals. The students’ voices came from behind the curtain; she folded the programme again and did not close the photograph.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| الْجَوْلَةِ الْمُوسِيقِيَّةِ | the musical tour |
| نَوْتَةٍ مَفْتُوحَةٍ | an open musical score |
| يَتَعَثَّرُونَ فِيهِ | they stumble over it |
| تَسْتَخِفُّ بِقُدْرَتِهِ | she dismisses his ability |
| بِحُضُورِ | by attending; to attend |
| طُمُوحِهَا | her ambition |
| ضَابِطَ الْإِيقَاعِ | the metronome |
| أَصْغَى | listened attentively |
| ضَرُورِيَّةً | indispensable |
| الْبَرْنَامَجِ الْمَطْوِيِّ | the folded programme |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Follow the details, shifts in perspective and limits of what the characters know. Open the English support when needed.
What to remember
- Salma honours a particular promise while recognising both Nader’s ability and the value of performing elsewhere.
- The ending preserves the cost of declining and leaves room for a future tour with an earlier handover.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Arabic Relative Pronouns: Joining Ideas with Alladhi and Allati
الْمَقْطَعَ الَّذِي كَانَ الطُّلَّابُ يَتَعَثَّرُونَ فِيهِ
Use alladhi to link the definite masculine passage to the clause describing the students’ difficulty.
Arabic Past-Tense Endings: I Wrote, You Wrote and We Wrote
كَتَبَتْ مُلَاحَظَةً لِنَادِرٍ
Identify Salma as the female subject of katabat, she wrote, before the noun for a note.
