After the Dream

by Stan Mason

  ‘I’m really sorry,’ apologised Diana meaningfully. ‘It was all so strange to me. The smallness of the room...the smell of the curry....the language I didn’t understand. I couldn’t handle it. I had to get out.’

  He clamed down significantly at her explanation. ‘Maybe the change in culture was too much of a shock for you,’ he reasoned, screwing up his face. ‘But you can see how it looked from my point of view. You left without warning.’

  ‘It was wrong of me,’ admitted Diana as Laura began to come to life. ‘I should have spoken to your first.’

  ‘Well you’re staying here now,’ he went on as his anger began to disappear. ‘Do you know how hard it was to track you down? I’ve been all over Agadir looking for you.’

  Laura shook her head to bring herself back into the real world. ‘You’ve found her,’ she snapped, ‘so what’s the problem?’

  ‘I’ll tell you what the problem is, lady,’ he retaliated becoming irate again. ‘She offended me and my family. She agreed to stay with me and we made arrangements for her to do so and then she walks out without saying a word. I offered her hospitality and she threw it back in my face!’

  ‘Oh, for Heaven’s sake, man, get off your high horse!’ she snapped back at him with annoyance. ‘Can’t you see she’s in pain. She can’t remember anything and then she’s throw out of hospital. What do you want from her?’

  ‘In my country...’ he began before he was sharply interrupted.

  ‘In your country, a gunman blew a hole in my sister’s head. Does that satisfy your insult... or is the victim yet a victim again!’

  He drew in his horns at her reasoning and held his hands in front of him. ‘Okay, I understand but we all have to live in the same world whatever our situation.’

  ‘You’re in contact with my allege husband every few days, aren’t you?’ ventured Diana with a plan in mind. Ahmed nodded slowly. ‘Well I want you to stop doing it.’

  ‘But he’s paying me to do so,’ bleated the lawyer meekly.

  ‘I’ll pay you more... although it’ll come from the same source....presuming I have my own money.’

  ‘Why would you want to do that?’ asked Laura puzzled at her sister’s demand.

  ‘I’m going to teach him a lesson.....one that he won’t forget.

  He may be a workaholic but I’m not going to take second place any more.’ She turned to the young lawyer seriously. ‘Will you work for me instead of him?’

  ‘If that’s what you want,’ he replied concerned at the change in orders. ‘He will soon contact me when nothing is received.’

  ‘When he does,’ continued Diana, with the bit between her teeth, ‘tell him to come over and visit me whatever work he has on hand. Tell him that I’m the priority. Is that understood?’

  Ahmed shrugged his shoulders aimlessly. ‘Okay...I’ll tell him.’

  ‘Good for you!’ congratulated Laura. ‘If I read you correctly, that man’s in for a hiding.’

  ‘You bet your life he is!’ declared her sister smartly. ‘I’m going to make him realise that family always comes first...far more important than work.’ She went over to the balcony with satisfaction showing on her face. ‘I’ve got a new life ahead of me and he’s going to have one as well or it’s all over.’ She burst into laughter and her sister joined in although the lawyer failed to be amused, shaking his head slowly in disbelief. The last thing he wanted was to become embroiled in a domestic row between a husband and wife.

  * * *

  Laura stayed with her sister for one further night just to make sure that she was settled after the trauma she had suffered at Ahmed’s house. However, Diana’s joy at the change from hovel to hotel was short-lived. When she rose from her bed on the following morning, she stood in front of the full-length mirror preening herself as she had done so often in the past but she soon checked and moved nearer to examine herself more closely. It was then that she received the shock of her life. To her dismay, her body was covered in little red spots from head to toe.

  ‘Oh my God!’ she cried loudly, waking her sister. ‘Look at me! Just look at me!’

  Laura rose and went over to stare at the red spots shaking her head slowly. ‘You’d better see a doctor right away. I think you’ve got chicken pox.’

  ‘Nonsense!’ retorted Diana. ‘People of my age don’t get chicken pox!’ She paused for a moment. ‘How old am I?’

  ‘You’re forty-three.’

  Diana looked away from the mirror momentarily. ‘Forty-three and I’ve no memory of anything that happened in the past. That’s terrible!’

  Laura’s eyes moved across to her sister’s bed and her body stiffened. ‘I think that some of your hair’s on the pillow.’

  Diana turned to her bed, screwed up her face, and nodded. ‘Dr. Mahmoud told me it might fall out. It’s the Beotag that causes it to happen.’

  ‘The what?’ asked her sister perplexedly.

  ‘Don’t worry about it. But he did say it might happen.’

  Her sister stared at her with a concerned expression on her face. ‘Who’s this Dr. Mahmoud? Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?’

  ‘He’s renowned in these parts. I call him the Wizard of Agadir. I had a friend at the hospital who had cancer and he cured her completely after all the English doctors gave up on her.’

  ‘Well I’m really concerned,’ stated Laura bluntly. ‘He’s making quite a mess of you.’

  ‘To be fair, he did ask me to report any side-effects from the treatment. He said there might be some.’

  Laura was extremely critical. ‘Side-effects! Is that what he calls it? Losing your hair....covered in spots........’ she paused for a moment to look at her sister closely. ‘...and I think you’ve got bloodshot eyes. What next?’

  Diana turned to stare into the mirror miserably, moving her head from side to side, although she was not particularly concerned about her condition. ‘It’s not very nice but it’s only a side-effect. It’ll go away soon.’

  ‘I think it’s diabolical!’ savaged Laura intensely.

  Twenty minutes later, Diana made her way to Dr. Mahmoud’s office with her sister.

  ‘I hope you know what you’re doing!’ accused Laura pointing to her sister’s face. ‘Have you seen the state of my sister? The spots are all over her body, her hair is falling out and she has bloodshot eyes. What are you doing to her?’

  Mahmoud appeared unmoved by the onslaught. ‘Sit down,’ he said calmly to Diana ‘Let me have a look at you.’ He rubbed his hand lightly over her cheek and then applied the necessary application to check her blood pressure. After that, he examined her hair, pointed a torch into her mouth to look at the back of her throat, and then examined her eyes. ‘Your eyes are bloodshot,’ he pronounced eventually, ‘and you have rubella....German measles. Your hair has thinned a little but you’re not likely to lose more. Your immune system has been affected by the ferradil-x but all is well. After a few days, the spots will disappear. I’ll take a blood test but you seem to be all right generally. I think you may have lost six pounds in weight.’

  ‘The weight loss has probably nothing to do with the treatment,’ cut in Laura informatively. ‘She’s had a hell of a time over the past two days after being thrown out of the hospital. It was enough to make anyone lose weight.’

  The scientist disregarded the comment looking at Diana’s hands. ‘There’s also a discolouration of your fingernails,’ he went on. ‘I’d like you to continue with the treatment for a little longer. I

  find that once patients get over the first hurdle, however bad it seems to have been, they get the full benefits of the treatment.’

  ‘Are you saying that you expect these things to happen?’ asked Laura trying to unravel the logic of the scientist’s thinking

  ’Of course,’ he replied assertively. ’If we scien
tists backed out of every project each time it appeared to go wrong at the start, no advances would be made. I have great faith in the essences I procure for my patients.’

  Laura pulled a wry face as she felt uncertainty about the scientist’s procedure. ’Okay...we’ll see what happens from now on.’

  ’Just keep taking the tablets,’ advised Mahmoud strongly. ’I’ll supply more before you run out.’

  ’Don’t you have any suggestions for this....rubella?’ asked Diana curiously.

  ’Go back to your hotel and stay in bed for two days. You’ll find that you are cured after that,’ he said finally, ignoring both women by picking up a random file and looking at the notes.

  Laura took her sister’s arm and led her from the office. ’I’m impressed with him,’ she said encouragingly. ’I’m not sure that he will help you find your memory but he seems to know what he’s doing. Listen to his advice for the moment and be patient. Let’s get you back to the hotel.’

  As they left the building, Laura hailed a taxi and they returned to the Hotel Sahara quickly. Once there, Diana climbed into bed as her sister ordered coffee to be sent up to the room. It was going to be a long two days but there was nothing more to do than rest.

  ‘What does my house look like in England?; she asked reflecting the flash of the building she had experienced when standing outside the hospital gates waiting for her sister.

  Laura shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. I’ve been in the States for over nine years. Charles sold the apartment you used to live in and he bought a house in the country but I’ve never seen it.’

  ‘So you don’t know if there’s a tall fountain and a wishing-well in the front garden.’

  ‘Not a clue,’ came the response. ‘I’ve never been there.’

  Diana lay back in the bed. It was going to be a long two days in bed before the red spots started to disappear but there was no option but to wait patiently..

  * * *

  Laura decided to go out for some entertainment that night leaving Diana on her own. There was nothing for her to fear. Any food or drink she desired could be obtained by a single telephone call to the reception desk. However one thing that no one could cater for was the images that passed through Diana’s mind. That night, she fell into a deep sleep and began to dream. It was much more pleasant this time, not against the background of the Sahara Desert but oddly enough in the Arctic near to the North Pole. She was dressed in thick brown furs with a bearskin hat that came down over her ears, and large leather gloves. Behind her was a tent that had been pitched into the ice. The atmosphere was cold...icy cold...with snow drifting down from a black sky. In real life, she snuggled under the sheets trying to keep her body warm clasping her arms around her body. In the dream, she began to sing a popular tune and, as she did so, a man, also dressed in furs, wearing a snow-visor, came towards her on skis. He crashed lightly into her in order to stop, laughing as he did so. Then he placed one gloved hand inside her coat feeling her breasts in a token of intimacy.

  ‘Naughty, naughty!’ she chided with a smile on her face. ‘Let’s go inside!’

  He followed her into the tent and removed his skis without delay. Then he removed his coat and the sun -visor. She stared at his face in disbelief. It was Ahmed....in the Arctic! He eased her coat off her shoulders and started to undress her slowly. It was still cold but suddenly warmth began to permeate her body. She felt a thrill as he touched her and they fell on to the mattress that lay on the ice, giggling as they landed.

  ‘I love you,’ he told her amorously, staring deeply into her eyes before placing his hand gently on her nipples. ‘I need you....I want you!’

  Her body stiffened slightly as he lay on top of her and her legs began to open widely in anticipation. His hands moved slowly over her bosom and then down to her legs. He started a series of kisses all over her arms, her breasts, her stomach and her pelvis. The feelings that surged up inside her made her feel like bursting. This was the moment of extreme desire.....of the highest emotion.....of wonderful fantastic penetrating love...and she was the woman being seduced by the greatest lover in the world. However, although the dream did not end with the same fate as

  those she had experienced previously, it suddenly began to fade into a thick mist in the middle distance. Ahmed seemed to disappear from her grasp and she found herself sailing through the air back to Morocco. Within a few seconds, she woke up feeling extremely frustrated at having lost the essence of the dream.

  ‘Damn!’ she shouted angrily, striking the bed with her hand forcibly. ‘Damn! Just a couple of minutes more and.........’ She tailed off huffing and puffing irately but she knew in her heart that she would go through to the end in a dream in the course of time. The strange element was Ahmed. Why did he always turn up in her dream? He was about fifteen years younger and she didn’t particularly care for him.....certainly not as a lover! Not at all! He was just a young handsome man and she didn’t want him as a toy-boy. Yet he was the one who always turned up in her slumbers.

  * * *

  Diana fell into a deep sleep and awoke late on the following morning. She took some time to bring herself back to reality and rose to examine herself in the mirror. The little red spots were still there. It was difficult to tell whether any of them had started to recede. Laura had left a note on the dressing-table to say that she had gone out early for a morning jog so Diana ordered breakfast from the reception desk and enjoyed the meal after it arrived. She was about to pour herself a second cup of coffee when she heard a key turn in the lock in the door. She looked up in trepidation as a young man holding a bouquet of flowers peered into the room.

  ’Surprise, surprise!’ he exclaimed brightly as he entered. He stared at Diana’s face and halted in his tracks. ’What in Heaven’s name happened to you?’

  She stared at him blankly in shock at his sudden entry. ’Who are you?’ she cried with concern. ’How did you get in here?’

  He paused to reflect for a moment and sat heavily in a chair. ’I’m your son, Robbie,’ he announced sad at having to explain. He placed the flowers in front of her on the bed. ’Robbie!’

  Tears ran down Diana’s face as she looked at him. He was a strapping young man, quite handsome, but she was unable to recognise him. ‘My son!’ she managed to say.

  H recovered his poise and smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry about it, Mom. Dad told me that you’d lost your memory. It’ll come back eventually. You won’t mind if I don’t kiss you. What is it....chicken pox?’

  ‘It’s rubella.... German measles.’

  ‘Karen will be coming shortly. She’s been held up with her work.

  ‘Karen?’ Diana’s mind went into a spin. Who was Karen?

  ‘You’re daughter....my sister.,’ he told her, realising that his mother’s situation was far worse than he had imagined.

  ‘Do I live in a house with a tall fountain and a wishing-well in the front garden,?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course you do,’ he replied easily. ‘Grantham Hall....that’s where you live.’

  She offered up an inwards prayer thanking God for restoring a tiny piece of her memory. It was beginning to return...very very slowly.. ’I had a flash of it but I don’t remember your father or you.’

  ’All in good time,’ he told her philosophically. ’I understand you’re having some kind of strange treatment.’

  ’Yes,’ she responded wondering how she had given birth to such an intelligent handsome man. ’I’m under a scientist by the name of Dr. Mahmoud....the Wizard of Agadir. He’s prescribed Beotag and ferrdil-x tablets. Unfortunately they produce side-effects one of which you can see for yourself. Apparently it tests the immune system to its fullest extent but it will correct itself in due course.’

  ’What the hell is ferradil-x?’ he demanded sharply.

  ’It’s the extract of a plant with no name
that grows in North Borneo. Dr. Mahmoud’s a very capable scientist. He cured a cancer patient at the hospital....a woman who was given only three months to live by English doctors.’

  ’How good is he on memory?’ The question was fired like a bullet from a gun.

  ’That’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question. We’ll find out eventually. But some things have already started to trigger in my mind. A couple of days ago I remembered a conversation from the cabbie who brought us here from the airport. It’s coming.’

  He looked around the room impressed by its excellence. ’Well at least you’ve a decent place to stay in the meantime. Dad told me you were in hospital so I went straight there only to learn that you’d been discharged.

  ’Discharged!’ she echoed. ’They threw me out saying they needed the bed urgently. What did you do next?’

  ’Dad told me that he’d employed a local lawyer to look in on

  you regularly and report back to him so that he could know how you were progressing. I looked him up and he told me you were here. I told reception that I was your son and they gave me a pass key to get in. I told them I wanted to surprise you but it’s turned out to be a damp squib.’

  She put out her hand to touch his arm. ’You’re wrong. You certainly did surprise me. Anyhow the important thing is that you found me,’ she said warmly staring at his face with a love that only a mother could express when looking at her child. This was her son! This handsome good-looking young man was actually her son! She came back to reality very quickly and pressed him for information. ’I know it’s a bore but tell me about yourself.’

  He seemed put out to have to explain his life story to his mother but after swallowing hard he began to relate the tale briefly. ’I’m twenty-one, my birthday was two days’ ago. I work on a major newspaper.....the sports column. I own a small apartment in in Wapping, London, which I share with Stella who I intend to marry soon. You’ll really like her. That’s about it in a nutshell.’

  ’I’m proud of you,’ she managed to say. ’Even if you seem to be a stranger to me.’