"Don't you forget, honey," Susie said. "I'll remind you." That would have been enough to make me dash right back to the room to get the jewelry just to make her stop, but Catherine was made of sterner stuff than I.
Most of the others arrived in one big bunch. Aziza was absolutely spectacular in a royal blue silk sheath, and Curtis looked rather fetching, too, in a white suit that showed off his admirable tan to perfection. Marlene and Chastity arrived in similar little black dresses, with Emile in tow, casually elegant in a dark suit and white turtleneck. Betty wore an attractive yellow pantsuit, her husband rather flashy slacks and a blazer. Ben came in looking fairly casual, in slacks and sweater over a shirt and tie, Edmund, the fashion plate, wore a white T-shirt and black slacks, and a heavy silver bracelet. It was all rather festive.
Nora arrived with her arm linked through that of a rather debonair older man, about sixty, I judged, with a smashing red cravat, blue blazer, and gray trousers. While he looked very distinguished, she was dressed in white shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt with a very low scooped neck and large dangly earrings in the shape of a parrot. I made a mental note to tell her that when we were out visiting the sites, particularly the mosques, she would have to cover up.
"Hey, how ya doin'?" I heard, and realized that the last of our group had arrived: Rick, in a spanking new leisure outfit, who proceeded to bore everybody with how many calls he'd had to make to his office since we'd arrived. "Market's open back home, now," he said. "Gotta stay on top of it." Rick, I had already decided, was going to redefine the word shallow on this trip. Even Clive at his worst had more interesting things to say than he did, and was less self-centered. I left Rick to it, and moved on.
It was my first opportunity to meet Cliff Fielding, but I had barely introduced myself, when Susie was on the case. "Where are you two from?" she asked him and Nora.
"Dallas," Cliff said pleasantly. Up close, I decided Fielding was older than I'd originally thought, closer to seventy than sixty, but in remarkably good shape for his age.
"Dallas!" Susie exclaimed. "Didn't you say your name is Winslow, Nora? I have a cousin in Dallas by the name of Fred Winslow. Small world, eh? Do you know him? Maybe we're related."
Nora looked startled at the notion of being a relative of Susie's. "No," she said. "I don't." Making conversation with Nora was hard work, even for Susie.
"I should send him a postcard," Susie went on. "Maybe the two of you could get together when you get back." Nora looked less than thrilled with the idea.
"What do you do, Cliff?" Susie went on, oblivious to the fact that Cliff and Nora were trying to move away.
"I'm a dentist, but I'm retired now," he replied. "I have a little company, only five employees."
"My husband, Arthur, had a small business, too. He was an engineer. What does your company do?
"It manages my investments," he said. For once, Susie was speechless.
Group tycoon, was what I was thinking. "You'll have to meet Rick," was what I said aloud, however. "He's in a similar business, I believe." Cliff was about to allow himself to be led over to meet Rick, when Nora grasped his arm and steered him in another direction. It seemed that Nora was the one to decide who Cliff was to meet, and when, and although so far as I knew, she hadn't as yet had any opportunity to be bored to tears by Rick, she had other plans for Cliff.
Shortly after eight, Sylvie clapped her hands for attention and announced that dinner was served. We went into the candlelit courtyard, and sat at the tables around the palm tree. The setting was magnificent, with brass cutlery and gold-trimmed glassware gleaming against rich red napery. In the background, the music of the Malouf could be heard, exotic and soulful. At each place there was a small round or oval metal container, some engraved with flowers or swirls, others with brightly colored enamel work, against which the place cards were set. I'd dashed out in the afternoon to buy them. They were not expensive, but they were very attractive, and I thought they would make nice, and portable, mementos. As Clive had said a hundred times, if he'd said it once: Make sure everyone has a good time. It seemed to work. Everyone admired the workmanship, and wanted to know what they were. "Small powder cases," I explained, "as in gunpowder. Now you can use them for whatever you wish--tie tacks, rings, pills, whatever." Everyone seemed delighted with their keepsakes.
There was a fair amount of confusion at first about the seating arrangements, with Nora insisting that she had to sit with Cliff. "He's not as strong as he could be," she whispered to me. "I want to sit with him in case he needs my help." He didn't look as if he needed much help to me, but I decided not to argue, and we rearranged the seating to accommodate them. Cliff sat with Nora to his right, and Catherine Anderson to his left.
The meal started with a traditional Tunisian soup, chorba el khodra, a nice thick vegetable soup thickened with tiny pasta. Then, with a flourish, the waiters strode from the kitchen with platter after platter of various delectables. There was couscous, at least two or three kinds, one with lamb meatballs, one with vegetables, another with chicken; mechouia, a dish made of grilled tomatoes and peppers, spiced up with harissa, the Tunisian hot sauce, and the spice blend called tabil; heaping bowls of carrots, glistening with olive oil, redolent with caraway and sprinkled with parsley; and plates of grilled meat of various kinds. The air was filled with the scent of cumin and coriander, fennel and cinnamon. A collective sigh of contentment went up as the group tucked into their meal. "This is just divine," Betty said, and several others murmured their agreement. It occurred to me that what Betty really liked best was sitting at a different table from her husband. She immediately engaged Ed Langdon in conversation and was soon giggling away happily.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, except for one or two people. "What's this?" Chastity said, poking at the food on her plate.
"I don't know, dear," her mother said. "And we do have to be very careful what we eat in these primitive countries."
"Chicken," Jimmy said. "I should know. But they've put something strange on it." I assume he meant the cumin. Chastity looked at her plate rather dubiously.
"I'm sure there must be a McDonald's or something around here somewhere, dear," Marlene went on. "We'll find it tomorrow."
"Actually, there isn't," I said, with some satisfaction. "I don't believe there are any burger joints in this country."
Marlene looked horrified. Her daughter looked as if she was about to cry. "Tragic," Chastity said.
Ben just smiled. He was a man who enjoyed his food. He'd sampled all the appetizers and gone back for his favorites more than once, and had heaped his plate at dinner. He took a large bite of the suspect food, poured himself a generous glass of wine from the decanter on the table, and raised his glass. "Delicious," he proclaimed. "Whatever it is."
Nora ate silently, sharing only a word or two with Cliff and hardly anything with Marlene, who sat on her other side. Cliff, though, seemed to be enjoying himself, engaging in animated conversation with Catherine, on his left. From time to time, both of them would erupt in laughter. When that happened, Nora would insinuate herself into the conversation for a moment or two before drawing back into her shell.
Curtis did not appear to be having as good a time as the rest of us, but for a different reason. He kept looking over at the other table where his wife, the beautiful Aziza, was talking animatedly in French to the handsome and flirtatious, although in a relatively harmless way, Emile St. Laurent. He's jealous, I thought, not surprisingly. She was lovely, but more than that, she was his meal ticket. Golf wasn't going to make Curtis's fortune, his relationship with Aziza was, and he wasn't about to give her up any time soon. Betty tried manfully to engage him in conversation, but soon gave up, and turned her attention back to Ed.