The Sheltering Sky

They got up. The Lyles smiled from their corner as the trio left the room.

Tunner announced: “I’m off for a siesta. No coffee for me. See you later.”

When Port and Kit stood alone in the hall, he said to her: “Let’s have coffee out in the little café by the market.”

“Oh, please!” she protested. “After that leaden meal? I couldn’t ever walk anywhere. I’m still exhausted from the trip.”

“All right; up in my room?”

She hesitated. “For a few minutes. Yes, I’d love it.” Her voice did not sound enthusiastic. “Then I’m going to have a nap, too.”

Upstairs they both stretched out on the wide bed and waited for the boy to arrive with the coffee. The curtains were drawn, but the insistent light filtered through them, giving objects in the room a uniform, pleasant rose color. It was very quiet outside in the street; everything but the sun was having a siesta.

“What’s new?” said Port.

“Nothing, except as I told you, I,m worn out from the train trip.”

“You could have come with us in the car. it was a fine ride.” 

“No, I couldn’t. Don’t start that again. Oh, I saw Mr. Lyle this morning downstairs. I still think he’s a monster. He insisted on showing me not only his own passport, but his mother’s, too. Of course they were both crammed with stamps and visas. I told him you’d want to see them, that you liked that sort of thing more than I did. She was born in Melbourne in t899 and he was born in 1925, 1 don’t remember where. Both British passports. So there’s all your information.”

Port glanced sideways at her admiringly. “God, how did you get all that without letting him see you staring?”

“Just shuffling the pages quickly. And she’s down as a journalist and he as a student. Isn’t that ridiculous? I’m sure he never opened a book in his life.”

“Oh, he’s a halfwit,” said Port absently, taking her hand and stroking it. “Are you sleepy, baby?”

“Yes, terribly, and I’m only going to take a tiny sip of coffee because I don’t want to get waked up. I want to sleep.”

“So do I, now that I’m lying down. If he doesn’t come in a minute I’ll go down and cancel the order.”

But a knock came at the door. Before they had time to reply, it was flung open, and the boy advanced bearing a huge copper tray. “Deux cafis,” he said grinning.

“Look at that mug,” said Port. “He thinks he’s come in on a hot romance.”

“Of course. Let the poor boy think it. He has to have some fun in life.”

The Arab set the tray down discreetly by the window and tiptoed out of the room, looking back once over his shoulder at the bed, almost wistfully, it seemed to Kit. Port got up and brought the tray to the bed. As they had their coffee he turned to her suddenly.

“Listen!” he cried, his voice full of enthusiasm.

Looking at him, she thought: “How like an adolescent he is.”

“Yes?” she said, feeling like a middle-aged mother.

“There’s a place that rents bicycles near the market. When you wake up, let’s hire a couple and go for a ride. It’s fairly flat all around Boussif.”

The idea appealed to her vaguely, although she could not imagine why.

“Perfect!” she said. “I’m sleepy. You can wake me at five, if you think of it.”

XIII

They rode slowly out the long street toward the cleft in the low mountain ridge south of the town. Where the houses ended the plain began, on either side of them, a sea of stones. The air was cool, the dry sunset wind blew against them. Port’s bicycle squeaked slightly as he pedaled. They said nothing, Kit riding a little ahead. In the distance, behind them, a bugle was being blown; a firm, bright blade of sound in the air. Even now, when it would be setting in a half-hour or so, the sun burned. They came to a village, went through it. The dogs barked wildly and the women turned away, covering their mouths. Only the children remained as they were, looking, in a paralysis of surprise. Beyond the village, the road began to rise. They were aware of the grade only from their pedaling; to the eye it looked flat. Soon Kit was tired. They stopped, looked back across the seemingly level plain to Boussif, a pattern of brown blocks at the base of the mountains. The breeze blew harder.

“It’s the freshest air you’ll ever smell,” said Port.

“It’s wonderful,” said Kit. She was in a dreamy, amiable state of mind, and she did not feel talkative.

“Shall we try and make the pass there?”

“In a minute. I just want to catch my breath.”