Mernissi seemed to have a happy childhood. Shespoke fondly of many of the memories she shared in Dreams of Trespass. Thishappiness was threatened though, by the more liberal women that lived on theterrace. In their quest for women's liberation, Mernissi's freedom wasjepardized. One of the things Merniss spoke most fondly of was the amount offreedom the children had. Since they saw everything the women on the terracedid, the children had a lot of leverage, which Mernissi speaks of in chapter18, American Cigarettes: Grownups committed worse crimes[than fooling around inolive jars], such as chewing gum, putting on red fingernail polish, and smokingcigarettes, although theses last two took place rarely, given the dificullty ofattaining such foreign items in the furst place...Since we children could havegotten any of the adult criminals in trouble with Father,Uncle, and Llala Maniif we described what we saw, we were treatted with exceptional indulgence, andenjoyed an unusually comf!
             ortalbe position on the terrace. No grown up couldboss us around without us threatening to realiate by informing the authorities.And indeed, the authorities relied heavily on us when they suspected somethingfishy was going on, for they belived that "children tell the truth."All the trespassers, therfore, gaveus VIP treatment, showering us with cookies,roasted almonds, and sfinge (doughnuts), and never forgetting to hand us ourtea before every one else.(175-8) This power over the adult women was in dangerof disolving with the more liberal women pushing for more freedom. If the womensuccede in getting more freedoms then they are liberated from the blackamilingchildren. But this in turn takes the freedom from the children who needed thewomen to keep getting what they want. Mernissi and the other children of theterrace needed the adult women to commit "crimes", and without themthey would have had the "VIP treatment" they were used to ...