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“I’m very happy to hear that, my uncle; what’s Bevan looking for, with this
message of his?”
Ibrahim looks him in the eyes and says, “Explosives! Can we get them for him?”
“What does he need explosives for?”
“It’s Bevan’s business; can we get them for him?”
“Of course, we can; how much?”
“Enough to fit in a briefcase, enough for a big bang.”
Ibrahim sits in his chair in the study and takes a deep breath; he looks at Talal
again and nods for him to take a seat. He takes a pen to write something down;
then changes his mind and says, “Don’t forget, no matter what happens and how
it goes down, Hakim is not to be involved, and it’s your responsibility to make
sure of that; am I clear Talal?” Ibrahim’s eyes dive deep into Talal’s, as if he’s to
get Talal’s soul to swear to it right there.
“I promise you, my dear uncle, Hakim’ll be kept out of it, no matter what.
Ahmed has met a few American punks who will find what we need. When that
happens, I’ll make sure Ahmed leaves and returns home.”
“Very good, very good. You have money for all this, I suppose. We’ll talk
about this again; now go and rest. The servant will call you soon for dinner.”
Emily has been in the guest room for a while; it’s quite a large bedroom with
its own bathroom and a small sitting area on the side. The floor is decorated with
large tiles in light and dark earth tones; the bathroom is huge and the tub big
enough for two. There’re two windows and a door opening onto a large balcony
overlooking the grounds filled with colourful trees and shrubs. She’s standing
outside on the balcony when Talal comes in and hugs her. They stay there
looking toward the garden below with the desert sun still quite high in the sky.
It’s 6:30 in the evening and the temperature is a comfortable 30+ degrees on this
first day of October. He kisses her lips.
“Welcome to my country, sweet Emily.” He leaves her to examine every little
detail of the room as he steps into the shower.
The maid comes and gets them for dinner at 8:30 p.m. Ibrahim and Mara are
waiting for them, and to Talal’s surprise, Rassan and Abdul, the two guards, join
them for dinner. The dining room is huge and can accommodate more than
twenty diners sitting; the table and chairs are a different style from what Emily is
used to in the United States, yet they are very functional and comfortable. For
dinner tonight there are six of them.
Emily and Talal are seated to the right of the head where Ibrahim sits, but there is
a seat left vacant between them and Ibrahim. Mara sits to his left, then there is an
empty seat and the two guards sit next to that. Mara leans across the table and says to
Emily, “This is Hakim’s seat to your left; nobody sits there except Hakim.”
Hellenic Canadian Literature 