The Comfortable Prison
TROTTING ALONG A sandy track that led from Hosni town into the flatlands, Cornelius Quaint was sat astride a mule that was past its prime to say the least. He looked down at his beast of burden, sheer disgust evident on every inch of his face. Alexandria rode next to him on a dapple-grey horse, taking amusement from his discomfort. The dusty track presented a large pile of white rocks with a single palm tree growing between them, and it seemed an excellent place for them to rest. Alexandria dismounted first, and took a large blanket and a canteen of water from a pack on her horse's saddle.
Quaint glanced at her as the gentle breeze toyed with her pirouetting curls, and he was reminded of their time together in the past. What they had shared was fleeting, what some might call a whirlwind romance. Of course, the problem with whirlwinds is that often they tend to leave a lot of devastation in their wake.
Alexandria tapped Quaint's shoulder, offering him the canteen of water.
'You were miles away,' she said with a smile.
'Actually, I was right here,' replied Quaint, taking the canteen. 'Just not right now. So, what about you, Alex? I'm surprised to see you are still in Hosni. I would have thought someone would have come along and offered to take you away from it all by now.'
'Where would I go, Cornelius?' Alexandria asked. 'Egypt is my home. It is where my heart is…and once was. All my memories are here. Both good and bad.'
Quaint licked his lips, wondering how best to broach a thorny subject resting upon them. 'So…I take it that you've still had no word from your father? It's been so long. I'd hoped that he would have contacted you by now.'
'So had I…once. But like the Nile eel, hope is a difficult thing to hold onto when it wishes to be free of your grasp.' A coil of her hair fell down across Alexandria's eyes and she valued its concealment. 'I will never know what the hardest choice for my father was – deciding to leave…or deciding never to return.'
Quaint rubbed furiously at the back of his neck. 'But I just can't fathom the man! More than my old tutor – we were friends! Your father was an intelligent man who loved his family dearly. I can't believe he'd just simply up-sticks and vanish without so much as a word.'
'Why not?' Alexandria asked. 'You did.'
Quaint reeled with the blow. 'That's different.'
'Your memory of him seems to be at fault, Cornelius. My father was far too busy with his obsession to worry about anyone's feelings. He cared more for digging around old desert tombs than being with his own family. Evidently…that is fact.' Alexandria fought back the urge to cry. She could not dare let her anger falter, for then it would only be replaced by sadness and she would not allow that. 'Joran was but a year old when my father left. He has no memory of him. He carries no anger inside his heart and I envy him for that. But my own anger is not something that I can discard so easily.' Alexandria's tone may well have been cold, but the emotion was all the more evident by its absence. 'What is past is past. My father is gone. If he wanted to return, then he would have already done so.'
'Unless he was unable to,' offered Quaint, hoping that Alexandria had at least considered that fact. 'Did you know that he was the reason that I came to Egypt in the first place? At college, his teachings ignited a passion for this country's history that still burns within my heart to this day. He was the best tutor that I ever had. If not for him…I would never have met you.'
'So now I have two things to blame him for,' Alexandria said.
'Twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge, Alex, especially against someone you can't make amends with…and I don't mean me, I mean your father, by the way. If you offer hatred shelter inside your heart, it will only end up taking permanent residence there. It will eat you alive…one little piece at a time. Believe me, I happen to be somewhat of an expert in that field.'
'My hatred is the only thing I have left to remember him by, Cornelius, do you not see? It is my only protection,' said Alexandria.
Quaint reached over and brushed the underside of her chin, forcing her to catch his eye. All her anger towards him had subsided now that she had found a more suitable target. She looked so fragile. 'It's not your protection, Alex – it's your prison. You're incarcerated by your hatred every day that you permit it to shackle your thoughts.'
'And so let us turn this conversation to your shackles, Cornelius…namely your altruistic streak,' Alexandria said, thankful for a change of subject matter. 'This task to save Egypt…why must it fall on your shoulders? Surely there are others in a position to help. What about the consulate in Cairo, what did they say when you informed them about this plot?' Seeing the blank look in Quaint's eyes, she stood swiftly from the blanket and kicked at a tuft of sandy grass. 'You have not even told them? Why do you think you are the only one who can put things right in the world?'
'Because sometimes I am!' flashed Quaint.
'You have to fix every damn thing that is broken, letting what is important slip through your fingers!' Alexandria fumed. 'That is why you ran away all those years ago. Something came to sway your attention, something that you could not leave alone, and you just upped and ran.'
'This isn't like that, Alex…it's my responsibility!' said Quaint, rising to his feet.
'It is your belligerent nature, more like!'
'I did not get involved in this plot to buff my ego, Alex – someone involved me! All I'm trying to do is make sure that he doesn't succeed! I want to wipe his stain from my memory once and for all. Whether you believe me or not, it doesn't matter…it is what I believe, Alex, and I won't fail in it. I cannot fail and I cannot relent, for there is no one else to pick up the pieces! But I can't do it alone…that is why I came to you.'
Alexandria reached out a trembling hand for him. 'I…I am sorry, Cornelius. I am being selfish. You are right…this is not about us. Seeing you again just took me by surprise, it…it brought some old feelings back to the surface. Forgive me.'
Quaint ruffled his hair. 'No, it's all right, Alex…I deserved it. And it's not as if I've not fought this argument before. Destine feels much the same as you do about my belligerent nature…but she knows that I do these things because it's just something that's a part of me. I can't ignore it…and I can't ignore what brought me to Egypt.'
Alexandria unclenched her jaw, and gave Quaint a gallant smile.
'I said that I would help you find someone who might be able to tell you something and here we are, for I did not choose this location by accident.' Her eyes skirted across the horizon, down into the valley below their feet. 'If there is any talk of criminal activities taking place in Egypt, they will know. The only question is whether you are brave…or foolhardy enough…to ask them.'