The Clouded Truth
MADAME DESTINE WAS uncomfortable – not just perched upon the wooden stool at the table in Ahman's carpet store, but generally uncomfortable from all that she had discovered from the stout Egyptian. Gradually, the clouded truth about her past was being revealed, and for one formerly practised in foretelling the future, it was an uncomfortable experience.
'But I don't remember it, Ahman. Any of it!' Destine exclaimed. 'I am forced to believe this letter is genuine, and yet what other truths am I then forced to accept? That I was here in Egypt twenty years ago in 1833, and I foresaw that one day I would return to complete a task that I could not? But what task? This letter speaks of everything and nothing! Who is this Aloysius Bedford character? The more questions I ask, the more confused I become.'
'I am sorry, Madame, but I can add nothing other than what I have already told you…and what you have already told yourself,' said Ahman, watching Destine's deflated expression waver. 'Back then you entrusted me with two letters and one very large mystery…but no answers. I have been waiting all this time for you to come back.' Ahman smiled, trying to coax one in reply from Destine – to no avail. 'This is as strange for me as it is for you.'
'I doubt that, monsieur, for you are an integral part of the enigma,' said Destine, as she slipped off the stool and began to pace around the carpet store. 'You bake my favourite cinnamon bread – a lot better than I do, I might add – you know my name, you know me. I have so many questions that I cannot speak them fast enough!'
'Then perhaps our journey will enlighten you in time,' Ahman said.
Destine stopped pacing. 'Journey? What journey?'
'The one the letter speaks of, Madame,' said Ahman. 'We are going to continue this trail for the markers, are we not?'
'We?' asked the Frenchwoman.
'Of course we!' replied Ahman cheerily. 'You do not expect me to let you carry this burden alone, do you? What kind of friend would I be then?'
'I wish I knew, Ahman. In fact, I wish I knew a lot of things.'
'We cannot dwell on our yesterdays, Madame…what is done is done. We must focus on the here and now and unlock this trove of mystery. Blind to the past or not, we will follow your younger self's trail to uncover the truth – together!'
'If only I could remember!' The Frenchwoman thumped her fist upon the table, sending the small wooden box flying through the air. Its contents spilled onto the floor, and as Destine stooped to pick them up, something caught her eye.
It was another letter, an exact replica of the previous. As she turned it over in her trembling hands, she noticed the words: '2 of 3' written on the envelope's reverse.
'What is this?' she asked.
Ahman scratched at his beard. 'Ah, well…I did say you gave me two letters.'