The fall of a curtain...

Yasins' life was changed from this moment,

Sitting next to her was her father, not someone else. When he saw him, his heart pounded harder. His father had removed his cloak and rolled up his sleeves. He was shaking the tambourine and gazing at the performer with a face brimming joy with joy and happiness. The door was open only so long as Zanuba was in the room, one or two minutes, but during that time he witnessed an amazing sight: a secret life, a long story with many ramifications. He awoke like a person emerging a long dream, deep sleep to the convulsions of a violent earthquake. (P. 249)

This part of the paragraph is extremely powerful where Mahfouz conveys the importance of having Yasin see his fathers' other life. Yasin has never seen his father drinking, singing, playing instruments, or even being relaxed in anyway. Yasin's heart pounds hard when he sees that his father is sitting next to a woman and not only that he is the complete stranger to him. Mahfouz not only lets Yasin in on Ahmad secret it seems that he is letting the reader have a look over Yasin's shoulder. Mahfouz uses the methapor of the earthquake to show this revelation to Yasin,  "He awoke like a person from a long dream, deep sleep to the convulsions of a violent earthquake (249)" A dormant earthquake erupts without mercy when the time comes and nothing in the world can ever be hidden forever. Yasin was amazed at the sight he saw of the father he never really knew. So many things ran through Yasin's mind and he probably wanted to know about this made who smiled with such happiness.