ORPHEUS LOOKS BACK
Surprisingly, that night I slept well, though in the morning my stomach never stopped contracting. How was Lizzie feeling? After the breakfast I hardly tasted, I went downstairs to make sure Salah had come. He was there. I told him to wait a while. At one o'clock, I went with him to the Misrair offices where they told me that the plane from Cairo had landed and was about to take off for the Gulf. It was expected to leave for Cairo, more or less, on time. I took Salah for a bite and back at the hotel, I packed my bag and placed Lizzie's passport in my handbag where I hid the dollars. I secured it as best I could and again put my toiletries on top. At four, I went to pay the hotel and I noticed that they charged me for three nights. I protested that I only slept two nights and they said that they charged for the third because I had not cleared the room by noon.
They really knew their job well! More out of pique than anything else, I told them in that case I would keep the room for the night.
Salah helped me carry down the suitcases and at four thirty, we went to Abu Hajjar. I had Salah park the car not far from the meeting place. I stayed a while with him. At one point, he asked me what it was all about. I told him I would explain later. From the car, I could see the corner of the rendezvous and so I stayed in the car until about five thirty. I then went and stood there. Nearly half an hour later, my heart started thumping. A woman was approaching with a long cape and a hood and I could not possibly misjudge her movements. My shortsighted eyes could not make the face with the sunglasses, but the walk cried out aloud, 'I am Lizzie. Here I come.' Oh my darling. My angel. I casually turned and walked towards the car. Orpheus leading Eurydice out of Hades. Then I stole a look. She was following. I walked to the car, entered and sat in the front seat.
Salah asked me, 'Where to?'
I said, 'Wait a second,' and the back door opened and Lizzie came in. 'Hello Michael.'
'Hello my darling. Salah, to the airport.'
He was momentarily shocked. Turned, looked at Lizzie and off we went. We drove in a tense silence. It was dusk by now and there were no lights on that stretch of road. The airport was not far off but we were late, yet I did not urge Salah to drive fast for fear of an accident or being stopped for excessive speeding. When we arrived, I told Lizzie to go to an out of the way spot and wait for me. With Salah, I took the suitcases, practically at a run, to the airline counter. The employee smiled politely and said the plane had not yet arrived.
'When is it due?'
'We don't know yet. We are expecting a signal. Do you want to check in?'
'Not unless I know when the plane is due.'
I left Salah with the bags and went to search for Lizzie. I found her sitting on a bench in a corner of the departure hall. In my agony, I had hardly the time or peace of mind to look at her lovely face hidden by the overlapping hood and sunglasses. Hardly the energy to tell her I loved her. All I could think of was how to get her and myself out of this hellish predicament.
'There's a delay, my love.'
'How long?'
'They are expecting a signal any moment.'
'What do we do now?'
'We'll wait a while to see if the plane is due soon or if it will come in late.'
'Oh God. Of all the luck!'
'Just keep cool, my darling. I'll be at the counter.'
For an hour I kept moving, in anguish, from the counter to Lizzie and back. Finally the signal came. The plane had minor air conditioning problems, which had been fixed and was scheduled to arrive at midnight. I rushed to Lizzie and gave her the news.
'What do we do, Michael?'
'We must go back.'
'God, please, I cannot possibly go back. Michael, please, let's hide and wait for the plane.'
'Lizzie my love, look at it this way. If you are not back home by about ten, Abdullah will start searching for you and I think one of the first places he would think to search is the airport. He will alert the police and we shall be finished. At the very best, there will be no other chance. At worst, it could be fatal. Whereas, if you go back now to Sarah and call him to send a car to pick you up telling him that after the shops you simply went to her to have a cup of tea and a chat, things will seem quite normal.'
'And the man who was on my tail?'
'Well, you assumed he was following. He has to look after you, not you after him. Tomorrow we'll give it another go.'
'Oh my God, I feel like crying but okay, let's return.'
It was nearly eight thirty. At a run, once again, we collected the suitcases and drove to town. Salah, without entirely understanding what was happening sensed the urgency and drove fast but carefully. We dropped Lizzie near Sarah's house, returned to the hotel and hauled the suitcases back into the room. It was nine o'clock. I was tense and disappointed but in a way calmer. We had experienced the baptism of fire and had survived. Next time, the one after, or the one after that, we would succeed. Anyway, things had been far too easy so far. Something was bound to go wrong to keep things in the normal mode. A strange thought kept recurring. A superstition. An illogicality. The primitive need to assign supernatural causes to failure or misfortune.
When Orpheus, the greatest musician in the ancient Greek mythology went to Hades to bring back to life his beloved Eurydice, Pluto the God of the underworld and Persephone his wife granted him this supreme gift. They warned him, however, not to look back at Eurydice as they were leaving Hades because he would lose her again, this time for good. He led her by the hand without looking at her but his longing was so great that he could not help glancing back at her and lost her forever. The myth of Orpheus had come to my mind as Lizzie approached me on the street and when I moved off towards the car, I could not resist looking back at her. I hoped I had not lost Lizzie forever. Tomorrow, I must not look back on any account. I opened my suitcase again, brought out my pajamas, put them on and lay in bed musing things over. Things were not all that bad. My head was still attached to my shoulders and liable to stay there. At eleven, I called Sarah with the agreed code and she answered immediately.
'Yes Michael.'
'Sarah, what happened?'
'Everything's fine. Lisa came in bad shape and after she calmed down a bit, I made her call Abdullah for a car just as you told her. He had been calling earlier but I never answered the phone because of the code we had agreed upon. He asked to talk to me and inquired if anything was wrong with my telephone and I said, yes, I could dial outgoing calls but seem unable to receive any. Anyway, he was relieved that Lisa was with me all the time as his man went back home and, shame-faced, told him he had lost her. He probably got a proper scolding.'
'Sarah, will you please call Lizzie tomorrow and remind her that we shall meet at the same time at the second meeting place. I shall call you at four to confirm.'
'But of course she knows that. Still I'll call her to make sure.'
'Thank you again Sarah, dear. Thank you very, very much.'
'The best of luck, once again. I hope and pray you make it this time around.'
'Oh, and Sarah, please don't think I'm mad.'
'What is it?'
'Tell Lizzie not to be surprised or wonder what's wrong if I don't look at her when we meet.'
'Why won't you look at her? '
'It's an ancient myth. The story of Orpheus from the Greek mythology. Orpheus was leading his beloved Eurydice out of Hades but was warned not to look at her until he reached the world of the living or he would lose her forever.'
'So what happened?'
'He could not resist giving her a glance on the way out and he lost her forever.'
'Do you believe this might happen to you?'
'Not necessarily, but I want to take Lizzie out of Hades too and this time I can't take any chances.'
Once again at ten thirty next day I went downstairs to make sure Salah had come. At one, we drove to the Misrair offices. The employee expressed regret at yesterday's delay. The plane did finally arrive at midnight and left at two in the morning. Most of the passengers stayed on and traveled on it. Today's flight had landed on time and was getting ready to take off for the Gulf. They expected it to return and leave for Cairo, more or less on schedule. Would I like to book on it? Yes, I would. I did, and then walked to the Cambio kiosk to change a small amount of money. Afterwards we had a bite with Salah. At the hotel I read a little, which pointed to an improved state of mind and at four paid the hotel bill, telling them again that I would be back tonight. I called Sarah and she said everything was set. Did she tell Lizzie about the myth?
'Yes, she was amused.'