Gold Dust

20

You hear the strangest things from the mouths of strangers. “I knew this was going to happen,” Dudu told him at the outset. “I saw it in your eyes. I saw it in his eyes.”

“The hardship we shared transformed us from two creatures into one. I hope you can understand when I say that he and I should not be apart from one another.”

“Why didn’t you say so when the hunger began to gnaw at you?”

“It’s in a father’s nature to lose his mind when he hears his son cry. And now the matter rests in your hands. Don’t forget that he’s the one who pulled me out of the well. He’s the one who gave me my life. Put yourself in my place.”

The man was silent for a while. Then he said, “I’ll send you my response tomorrow.”

The next day, Ukhayyad heard the most incredible thing, though not directly from the mouth of the man himself. Instead, it was delivered by a messenger — the same laughing, toothless herder as before. The old man sat, stirring his evening tea. “He’ll give the piebald back to you on the condition that you divorce his kinswoman,” he said, with the studied foolishness of herders. He said it just like that, without preface or sense of shame.

Ukhayyad didn’t understand at first. So the herder repeated his master’s pronouncement a second, then a third time.

After a long silence, Ukhayyad asked, “What’s the one thing got to do with the other?”

“Since he made it a condition, there must be some connection. Only God knows the intentions of foreigners.”

“Imposing conditions on other people may be permitted by holy law, but only barely so. Is this how Muslims should treat one another?”

“Depending on the circumstance, Islam and holy law can be disregarded.”

“If I had my rifle with me, he would not have dared to send this message.”

“Even if you were holding your rifle in your hands this very minute, you couldn’t do a thing. His money has brought him servants and slaves and herdsmen — an entire retinue gathered with gold. He’s more powerful than you — and he’s got the piebald.”

The herder offered Ukhayyad a cup of tea. “You should not have pawned this jewel to him,” he repeated with the same brusque tone as before. “If you had pawned him to me, I’d have done the same, I’d think up devilish tricks to steal him away from you.” He smiled mysteriously and blew on his tea. “Always treat a foreigner as an opponent. Men never go into exile without good reason. And in the heart of every foreigner sleeps a secret.”

Ukhayyad did not blow on his tea, but let the cup sit buried in the sand. He listened to the bubbles of the foam as they scattered and popped. In the excruciating silence, even this sound could be clearly heard.

The herder said, “The truth is he told me something else I never thought to tell you before.”

“You can speak frankly with me. Nothing will shock me like this proposition he’s made.”

“Then don’t be surprised by what I say — strange things come from strangers.” Before going on, the man blew on his tea cup with an annoying sound. “He wants to marry her according to the customs of God and His Prophet.”

Ukhayyad shot him a look of utter disbelief. The herder looked down and closed his eyes. “Marry his kin,” he said, pretending to busy himself with the teacups. “He said he’d marry her according to the custom of God and His Prophet. There’s no shame in that, is there?”

“But I love her,” Ukhayyad shouted. “Did someone tell him I didn’t love her?”

“And he also loves her. That’s what he said. And blood relatives, by custom, have precedence — he also said that.”

“If only I had my rifle. . ”

“You wouldn’t do a thing. He’s got his men and bodyguards, his servants, and slaves. With his money and his gold, he’s bought everything.”

“God damn him and his gold. Does he think he can buy me — me! — and buy my wife with his gold?”

“He did buy you. He bought you the day you placed your piebald in his hands. As for your wife, he’ll get her from you too. He’s related to her, he’s kin. He’ll get her back from you and go back to Aïr with her. And he’ll do all this according to the law of God and His Prophet. What in this could anger God or mankind?”

“Did he say he was going to take her back to Aïr?”

“Yes.”

“What about my son? The boy is my son.”

“He’ll live in Dudu’s care as if he were his own son. He’ll live in comfort ever after. And, when he grows up, you can go retrieve him if you wish. That’s what Dudu said. He’s left nothing out of his proposition, as you can see. Didn’t I tell you that foreigners hide great secrets?”

“I’ll fight him. I’ll take back the piebald by force. When there’s no more sense of shame, force becomes the law of the desert. You know what I mean.”

“Force won’t accomplish anything. With his money and his men, he is much more powerful than you are.”

“Don’t forget I’ve got my tribe. The most powerful tribe. . ”

“Your tribe was scattered by the Italians — and he knows that. He also knows that your father, mercy on his soul, wasn’t pleased when you married his kin. I overheard Dudu repeating your father’s curse more than once, ‘Marry her and be damned.’ I don’t know where he heard it. But, as you know, nothing remains hidden forever, not even in the desert. Didn’t I tell you there was a great secret sleeping in the man’s heart?”

But Ukhayyad was to hear another strange thing a few moments later.

“I forgot to ask him what exactly their relationship is,” Ukhayyad said as darkness began to shroud the expanse of the horizon. “I never asked her either.”

The herder blurted out, “She’s his paternal cousin.”

“His cousin?”

“Yes. Dudu has been in love with her since they were children. The two fathers had a falling out and the two were separated from one another. It’s not surprising that her father would refuse to let her marry him. When her father died, her clan left for Azjar. During that time, Dudu was being held prisoner among the Bambara tribes. He had gone on a raid to steal gold and fell into an ambush. Years later, he managed to escape. He returned to Aïr and discovered that she had gone. He gathered his vassals and attacked the Bambara — and took that cursed gold as his prize. He then sold it in Ghadamès, and you know the rest of the story. He said that the reason he had gone after the gold was to secure a dowry. This is only part of the man’s secret. As for the rest, it remains concealed and only God knows what it is.”

Ukhayyad was utterly astonished. He doubled over low, like a dervish in the throes of ecstasy. “You were right,” he said. “A man doesn’t leave his country without good reason. You were right — secrets sleep in the heart of the foreigner.”