After the Dream

by Stan Mason

  He smiled weakly and then stood up. ’I think I’ll share some coffee with you.’ He went to the telephone and rang the reception desk. No sooner had he replaced the receiver that Laura pushed the door open and ran flushed into the room.

  ’Phew!’ she muttered. ’It’s getting too hot out there to run.’ She stared at Robbie quizzically. ’What’s going on here?’

  ’This is Robbie....my son!’ boasted Diana proudly.

  ’Gee!’ exclaimed Laura in surprise raising her arm to waist level. ’He was only that high when I last saw him.’

  ‘I was almost twelve years old when you went to America, Aunt Laura.’ he told her with a smile on his face. He went over to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. ‘It’s lovely to see you again. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.’

  ‘You can say that again,’ she laughed holding him at arms length ‘Let me look at you!’ She scanned his face and body nodding her head vigorously. ‘You’ve turned out to be a real handsome man,’ she told him warmly. ‘Yes indeedee. You take after your mother.’

  He seemed embarrassed by the attention and pointed to the chair so that she could sit down. ‘Karen will be here in the next one or two days. She’s grown up to be a beautiful woman since you last saw her.’

  ‘Well I’m damned! Fancy seeing you here in Agadir,’ expressed Laura unable to get over his presence there. ‘To tell you the truth, I never thought I‘d ever see you again..’

  ‘We’re a pretty close family,’ Robbie told her. ‘In England that is.’ He regretting say that words after he had uttered them wishing he could have bitten his tongue. ‘I thought that you and Mom didn’t speak to each other.’

  ‘That’s all in the past, Robbie,’ concurred his aunt freely. ‘We’ve finally made it up.’

  ‘I’m glad ‘ he said precociously. ‘It’s good that you’ve both buried the hatchet. Any chance of a free holiday out there?’

  ‘You’re always welcome, Robbie,’ conceded Laura easily. ‘Any time.’

  The young man turned his attention to his mother. ‘Dad asked me to make arrangements for you to come home.’

  Diana stared at him wondering what her home looked like from the inside and she became fearful at having to live with a man who called himself her husband. She resented the suggestion so much that she was determined to put it off. Yet at the back of her mind she realised that she could not stay indefinitely in a hotel in Agadir. However she could put off the move for a while at least. ‘I’m Dr. Mahmoud’s patient,’ she explained lamely, ‘and this is a critical period for my treatment. Look at me now! I can’t go back to England looking like this. No one will sit next to me on the plane!’ No... I can’t leave Agadir at the moment.’

  Robbie shrugged his shoulders aimlessly. ‘Dad’ll be very disappointed,’ he remarked unhappily.

  ‘It would have been nice had he come to visit me in hospital here,’ riposted his mother curtly. ‘I notice that he’s not beating a path to my door.’

  Robbie shrugged his shoulders again. ‘You know what Dad’s like,’ he muttered sagely. ‘His work comes first. It always has.’

  ‘I’m beginning to learn all about him over again,’ complained Diana with disappointment sounding in her voice.

  ‘Your eyes are less bloodshot today,’ intervened Laura changing the subject quickly, ‘but your fingernails are blacker.’

  Diana stared at her hands in despair. Her fingernails were as black as the ace of spades. ‘What do you know?’ she gasped, clenching her fingers so that they were hidden from sight. ‘I’m going to let the treatment run its course as Dr. Mahmoud suggested. It’s the only way I can find out whether or not it will cure me.’

  ‘Seeing that you’re in such good spirits today, sister,’ ventured Laura laughingly. ‘I’m going to take a quick shower and then show my nephew around the town centre and treat him to lunch. We’ll come back to see you later on.’

  She went into the bathroom and emerged ten minutes later.. Then she and Robbie left. The coffee ordered by her son arrived and Diana poured herself a cup sipping it slowly. She mused that her son had travelled all the way to Morocco to see her. A son she had completely forgotten. And there would be more excitement to come when her daughter arrived. She could hardly wait to see what she was like. However there was still no sign of her delinquent alleged husband. Perhaps if Ahmed kept his word and refused to report back to him, he might be able to see sense and visit her. How could he actually allow work to come before his wife? It was inconceivable! She continued to sip her coffee with random thoughts crossing her mind. She would wait and see if anything happened!

  * * *

  Ahmed soon got over his indignation. He was not the kind of person to bear a grudge and he forgave her for leaving his home without warning. He turned up at her room in the hotel during the afternoon accompanied by another Arab who was poorly dressed.

  ‘This is Mohammed,’ he explained. ‘I’ve brought him along because like Joseph in your Bible he can interpret dreams.

  Diana instinctively flinched at the man’s presence. She did not want anyone to interpret her dreams and she considered that the young Arab lawyer was far too presumptuous to have brought the man into her room at the hotel. ‘I don’t need his interpretations,’ she snapped angrily.

  ‘Please,’ pleaded Ahmed. ‘Don’t take umbrage. It may be a means by which you recover your memory....in the same way as a hypnotist works.’

  ‘It’s totally unnecessary,’ she went on miffed at the idea. ‘I can interpret my own dreams. I don’t need someone else to do it for me!’

  ‘Please!’ begged the young lawyer. Try him....just try him!’

  ‘I am an expert at dreams,’ muttered Mohammed in clipped English. ‘I tell you the truth of your mind and imagination.’

  He seemed very confident and she inhaled deeply about the dream she had experienced so recently. ‘Very well,’ she conceded intending to make a fool of the man. ‘I’m in the Arctic wearing a fur coat, hat and leather gloves. It’s snowing and very cold. A man wearing a sun-visor and a bear skin coat skis towards me. We go into a tent together and he undresses me He removes his sun-visor and undresses himself before he starts making love to me. Before anything interesting happens everything gets very misty and I find myself flying through the sky towards the Sahara Desert in Morocco. That’s just about it.’

  ‘Do you recognise the man after he removes his sun-visor?’

  ‘No!’ she countered angry at herself for having to lie but she refused to reveal that it had been Ahmed while he was standing in front of her.

  ‘I think you do,’ declared the visionary adamantly. ‘You know his face well...very well.’

  Diana quickly tired of the game and decided to come clean. ‘Okay...okay!’ she admitted. ‘If you must know....it was Ahmed, the man beside you.’

  Mohammed nodded his head slowly and clenched his hands in front of him at waist level. The room fell silent for a long time. Then his head shot up, he unclenched his hands, and stared directly into Diana’s eyes. ’It is not a difficult dream to unfold,’ he told her point-blank. ‘Everything runs in the proper order and there is no puzzling mystery. I presume you’ve been married for many years.’

  ‘That much is obvious,’ she snarled, beginning to think that she was wasting her time with a fake ‘I’m wearing a wedding ring.’ She turned angrily to Ahmed. ‘Does he think he’s going to be paid for this service?’

  ‘I’ll take care of him,’ stated Ahmed swiftly. ‘You don’t have to worry, Diana. This is on me. I must help you to get better one way or the other.’

  ‘I wish my alleged husband was as enthusiastic about my welfare,’ she uttered with rancour. ‘I haven’t heard or see him since I’ve been here!’

  ‘You do not love your husband,’ pronounced Mohammed staring above her head at the picture of a came
l on the wall. ‘You’ve never loved him in all your years of marriage. He does not show you affection and you often feel alone.’

  ‘Well if I had to rely on him I would be,’ she ranted.

  ‘There has been no sexual relationship between the two of you for a long time and you are extremely frustrated for love.’ he

  continued in his judgement. ‘As such, you have been denied some of the great pleasures of life. Now you have fallen in love with Ahmed even though he is much younger than you in years. In your dreams you want him to ease your frustration and accept his love readily. But...’

  ‘There always has to be a ‘but’, doesn’t there?’ she interrupted rudely.

  ‘...but you do not have the confidence to let your inner feelings go free. You dwell on the vows you gave your husband on your wedding day...and they inhibit the satisfaction you so desire.’

  Diana felt that her life was being unrolled out before her like a carpet in a very indelicate way. ’So you’re saying that I love Ahmed. Well let me tell you that it’s as far from the truth as we are from the moon. If I loved him, I would go for him, but that’s not the situation.’ She turned up her nose in disdain as she gave the visionary some advice. ’Do me a favour, Mohammed, get a life. What you’ve told me I could get from any agony aunt in one of the major newspapers.’

  ’You can fight the truth but I tell you it’s true,’ he insisted disregarding her disinterest. ’I am a teller of tales and I can say that this is the truth.’

  ’You’re a teller of tales all right,’ she told him disrespectfully turning to Ahmed. ’You’ve wasted your money here, my dear. What he’s saying is a load of nonsense. He‘s told me nothing I don‘t know myself. And the only reason you‘re in my dreams is that you the only person I know.’

  Mohammed shrugged his shoulders. ‘What more can I say?’

  ’At least Joseph had a forecast when he spoke to Pharoah,’ she spat harshly. ’He predicted seven good years and seven bad ones. You tell me nothing.’

  ’Not yet,’ replied the visionary, ’but if you’ll hear me out I shall tell you.’ Diana remained silent and waited for his prediction. ’You will eventually overcome your lack of confidence. It may take time but you will make love with Ahmed provided he wants to partake in the exercise. I can see you leaving your husband to live with him.’

  ’Not in that hovel where he lives!’ she reacted sharply resenting the observation. ’No...I don’t think so! In any case, he’s so much younger than me. I’m not interested in a toy-boy! All I can say on that one is ’don’t hold your breath!’’

  ’It will be the happiest time of your life,’ expressed Mohammed ignoring her comments.

  ’Get him out of here, Ahmed,’ she ordered with an edge of anger in her voice. ’He’s getting on my nerves!’’

  ’He’s trying to help you,’ the lawyer told her forcibly. ’Take heed, it may jog your memory somehow.’

  ’I don’t think so,’ prattled Diana. ’He’s just robbing you of your money for something anyone could have told me.’

  ’Have you had any other dreams?’ asked the visionary trying to recover the situation.

  ’Not that you need to know about,’ retorted Diana irately. ’Not unless you can interpret nightmares. But I’m not getting into that one.’ Mohammed continued for a while but Diana was saved by the return of Laura and Robbie.

  ’What’s going on?’ asked her sister when she saw the two men in the room. ’What do they want?’

  ’There’s no problem. They were just leaving,’ stated Diana finally. ’Goodbye and thank you for your thoughts. Believe me they’re appreciated. I wish to thank you for your consideration.’ The two men left without saying another word and Diana turned to her sister shaking her head. ’You don’t want to know about it.’ Nonetheless, the presence of Mohamed disturbed her.

  Later that evening, Laura took Robbie for a night on the town. Diana sat up in bed, fluffing the pillow behind her to make herself more comfortable and she thought about the visionary’s predictions. He said that she had never loved her husband. How true was that? If that was the case, why did she marry him in the first place? She tried to think it through but her memory failed her. She couldn’t even remember what her alleged husband looked like. And what about all that guff concerning Ahmed. How could she fall in love with a man so much younger than herself? It was not impossible of course but very much improbable. No...it was inconceivable! The visionary told her that she would leave her husband to live with Ahmed. Well she knew nothing about the first part but to live with the young Arab in his hovel was the last thing she wanted to do. The recollection of the smell of stale curry, the confrontation with his mother, the three children, the awful furniture, the sleeping arrangements.....the idea sent a shudder through her body. And what did he mean when he said it would be the happiest time of her life? Wasn’t she happy before the attack? Was she yet another of the mass of women living out their lives unhappily with a husband they no longer loved... or one they had never loved before? It was a horrifying thought that began to haunt her and she despised Ahmed for bringing Mohammed to her room in the hotel.

  Chapter Six

  Three days later, the spots had vanished, her bloodshot eyes were normal and her fingernails looked white and bright again. Although her appointment with Dr. Mahmoud was not imminent, she decided to take the bull by the horns and go to see him. Her presence seemed to knock him off his routine and he appeared to be irritated from the start as she sat down in the chair opposite him without an appointment.

  ’Do you realise I have a full list of activities I need to pursue this morning?’ he reproached irately. ’You’ll remember I took you on only because your condition needed little assistance and would not take up my time. Now you break into my routine without notice. It’s not good enough, Mrs. Templeton!’

  She paused to reflect her name. Mrs. Templeton. It sounded rather grand. ‘Do you know you’re the only one who mentions my name.’

  He slammed the cover of the file in front of him and gave her his full attention. ‘What do you want?’ he demanded with a sharp tone to the edge of his voice.

  ‘I came to tell you that all the side-effects have disappeared. I’m over the first hurdle. What do you say to that?’ She appeared very smug at the result but the scientist seemed to be less than happy.

  ‘It’s expected,’ he riposted,’ but now you’re over the first hurdle I want you to double the amount of the ferradil-x tablets.’

  She leaned back in the chair for a moment concerned at the suggestion. ‘Isn’t that a rather forward step to take? I mean you told me that ferrdil-x was relatively unknown to you....only experimental you said. Doubling the dose might mean that I will suffer worse side-effects than before.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ he responded hoping to overcome her resistance. ‘You’ve passed the first hurdle. The side-effects have run their course. In my opinion, they will not manifest themselves again.’

  ‘But it’s all experimental. What if they do?’ It was as though he deliberately intended to turn her world upside down. The

  effects of a double dose of the extract was uncharted in medical history. Her mind went into a spin when she realised that anything could happen.

  He began to show extreme anger at her question and slammed his fist down hard on the desk. ‘Who is the doctor here....you or me?’ he shouted at the top of his voice, causing her to ride back in the chair.

  ‘No offence,’ she apologised lamely. ‘I’m sorry to have taken up your time but it seems that you’re taking me to extremes.’

  ‘That’s exactly what scientists do, Mrs. Templeton,’ he retorted curtly. ‘We take new discoveries to extremes. But I would not do such a thing if I wasn’t sure it was safe. I do not experiment on people and use them as guinea pigs. Everything is tried and tested over a period of years including ferradil-x a
lthough you’re the first human-being to use it.’

  She relaxed a little, breathing a sigh of relief. ‘Well it’s good to know that your patients are important to you, doctor,’ she muttered. ‘It’s good to know.’

  He leaned back in his chair more calmly now that the tension between them had subsided and he moved his hand down to the bottom drawer of the desk to remove a canister of tablets. He passed them over to her and she took them readily. ‘Take two ferradil-x tablets every morning and evening together with on Beotag. Are you clear on that?’

  She nodded briefly and placed the canister in her handbag. Lord knows what the end result would be, she thought to herself. Was Dr. Mahmoud as good as everyone made him out to be or was he simply an experimental scientist hoping for a break through? At that moment, the vision of her house with the tall fountain and the wishing-well in the front garden came to mind.

  ‘My memory’s starting to come back,’ she told the scientist. ‘It’s patchy and doesn’t come often but it’s happening.’

  ‘I’m please to hear it,’ he returned offering a revelation which she didn’t expect. ‘You do realise that neither Beotag nor ferradil-x

  will help restore your memory.’

  Her facial expression indicated the was she felt about his comment. ‘What do you mean?‘ she demanded. ‘That’s the sole reason I came to you!’

  ‘You were too good a subject to lose,’ he explained. ‘The tablets you take are indeed experimental with regard to human-beings but you will benefit tremendously when I tell you of the long-term effect they’ll have on you.’

  ‘Go on.’ she urged. ‘She was becoming extremely angry with the scientist for duping her and her first reaction was to report him to the authorities for malpractice.

  ‘I’ve tested both Beotag and ferradil-x on animals for some years. Together they make a cocktail which had a resounding effect on them.’

  His prevarication was too much for Diana to bear and she interrupted him at the end of the sentence.