Rendezvous at the Opera House

        Many a person achieves success. Some by striving hard after their own ambition, some by help from other people and some by mere luck. However, Ali Sadiq was one who achieved his own success by being a coward. Fear made of him a man with precautions to take ahead of every step… great many precautions indeed that prompt him into following the safest and most secure path… the surest way to prosperity and success.

         Samia, his wife, knew that of him. Though annoyed by the conviction that the man she sleeps next to is a coward, she knew well that he will certainly make a prosperous family. That’s why when one day, he came home, telling her of his plan to immigrate to Australia, she wasn’t much alarmed… rather curious. “That’s a major step. Don’t you think it’s a bit uncertain?” She meant “uncertain” as “vague and unsafe”. But she should have known better. Ali, a Pediatrician in a public hospital, was facing already a “vague and unsafe” future. After achieving a Masters degree in his specialty, things hadn’t been going quite better. Not the prospective he was hoping for. No promotion in the near future and his newly opened private clinic hadn’t seen many children in the past few months. A colleague from his hospital suddenly left for Australia. He sent his friends letters assuring “living quality life and working in splendid conditions”. It didn’t look plausible, but after checking the internet and later contacting this colleague directly, he found that this opportunity was as true as could be. Just an English proficiency test and an examination on the basics of medicine were all what’s needed to start with a hopeful future.

And soon, he was over both, and through a job agency, was offered a job in a hospital in a town in Eastern Australia.

         Samia was anxious herself. She started her preparations for the new Australian habitat. She was already thinking of some of the first dozen of things she was going to do in Australia, when she boarded the elevator with Tarek, a neighbor in their apartment building, and an old buddy of her husband. He greeted her casually and asked how things were faring with her and Ali. “Fine… we are getting things packed for our departure.” “Departure?! To where?” “Australia… we’re immigrating there. Didn’t Ali tell you?” And from the startled look on his face, she knew he didn’t. And from the red hue that colored it, she knew he didn’t like hearing it either. She was right, as Tarek came knocking their door that evening. Ali received him with a pale face, rather coldly.

-          Welcome Tarek

-          Your wife told me that you were immigrating to Australia

-          She did… ok, she is right

-          Why Australia? And why now? Ali, we promised each other to keep ourselves away from her. It was a deal we made.

-          Lower your voice, my wife is in home. And then, I don’t think of her the least. I am just hunting a job opportunity. Looking for a better life. Australia is now a new America to prospectors. May be you, yourself, think of going there.

-          You’re bluffing me.

-          I am not… I am a married man… remember that.

-          I remember that you’re a fool and a deceit… that I perfectly remember.

And that was almost all. They departed, and never will they ever see each other again. A life long friendship ended without farther notice.

         A week later, Ali and Samia were boarding a plane on a 27 hours voyage, reaching finally to Brisbane, on the eastern coast of the Australian continent. From there, they drove to Bowen, where he was to spend his one year mandatory job as an area of need physician. Bowen, being a peninsula, had a marvelous sea view. But that didn’t count much in the eyes of Ali. At the end of the year, he was more than happy to transfer to Brisbane, a pompous big city, a place with a greater potential. There, life got better, and Samia grew happier, especially with the swelling of her belly. And Adam was born an Australian.

         Two years later, on one morning of those dry hot Brisbane January mornings, Ali got up early as usual. He was as hesitant as ever, but Samia could notice that something was really different about him. She asked him if he was alright and on receiving a satisfactory answer kissed him a goodbye… not knowing that it could actually be her last kiss for that man who took her the whole way across the world.

         He had filled his car with gas the previous night, withdrawn all his money from his bank account, deposited half of it in his wife’s account and the remaining was in a suitcase that contained two outfits for an upcoming journey. Instead of heading to work as usual, he took the Pacific highway heading south, heading Sydney. He was hoping he’d find a job as worthy as the one he had left behind.

         After a long twelve hour drive, he finally entered Sydney. Wrecked from the tiring journey, he dozed over his steering wheel under a tree in a quiet street. When he woke up, it was pretty late. He got up and asked for the whereabouts of the Sydney Opera House. He was told to head for the harbor. And there, at Bennelong Point was the most magnificent building on earth… the most frequent visitor of his dreams for the past fifteen years. But never was it that awesome. He picked something to eat, and then looked for a motel to retire. First thing in the morning he set off to the Opera House.

-          Dina Saleh… I am looking for a Dina Saleh?

-          And who is she? A musician in the Sydney Symphony, a dancer in the Australian Ballet… an artist or an employee?

-          I don’t know that… all I know is that she must definitely be here.

-          And how do you know that?

And he couldn’t speak out the words. It was embarrassing to say it. He, a thirty-two year old doctor, has waited for over fifteen years to travel across the globe to come to Australia, and then wait for full two years till he had collected enough money, before traveling over a thousand kilometers again, leaving behind a wife and a baby and a five year old matrimony. All that based on the promise of a sixteen year old teenager to a couple of drooling kids… he was one of them.

         The employee was at her desk looking uninterested. He implored her to check the names of all the people who work or ever worked in the Sydney Opera House. She was going to kick his ass, when his gleaming eyes touched a soft spot in her heart. And after a minute search in her computer database, she gave him a shocking big “No”. He asked her to look again, check papers or consult a senior. But that was it. He had to go.

         In the evening he got a ticket to a symphony performance of Beethoven’s No. 9. He looked at the faces of the musicians, the attendees, even personnel of the catering. Not one face was familiar. He got out wandering aimlessly. He felt so lost and so home sick. He wished he’d close his eyes and open them and find himself in the arms of his loving forgiving mother… his late mother. He cursed himself for his recklessness, for his stupidity and for his out of usual following of this impulse. Tears were pushing for release. He closed his eyelids forcefully to prevent them from flowing. He was turning around to leave, wiping his watery eyes… when he saw her right in front of him. There, she was at a distance, looking at a paper advertisement promoting some show. With difficulty, she was taking out her wallet, looking into it. Disappointment was apparent on her face.

-          Dina…

Startled she was… so startled that she almost fell off her crutches!!! Two crutches holding the miserable creature. Upon looking for the source of the call, she exposed a scar traversing her face!!! His feet were frozen… Step by step, on the four limbs, she approached him

-          Excuse me… did you call for me?

And in Arabic was the reply

-          It’s me Dina… I am Ali

She stared at him and on recognizing him, happiness spread over her face.

-          I knew one of you would come.

One of you. Not YOU.

-          … and I knew I’d find you at the Opera House

She smiled coyly

-          I promised I will… not exactly inside as I wished, but Destiny has a way of fulfilling one’s promises

He was still in a state of shock. Was this the marvel of beauty, he and his friend, Tarek, fell for, fifteen years ago? Was this the same Dina, the same blue eyed blonde, the daughter of the Australian widow that took her back to Australia after the death of her father?

-          What happened to you?

-          A doomed marriage at an early age. The bastard didn’t agree on a divorce at first. But then agreed to it, after making sure I am not fit for another marriage. He is in jail now.

A tear ran off her right eye.

-          Why did you come?

All he had to say was “Because I loved you”. And that was the truth… the truth before seeing the wreck she has turned into. The truthful statement he was dreaming to tell her… the one sentence that will precede their life long happiness. However, that ever lasting happiness is now a great doubt.

-          I am now a doctor… a Pediatrician… I am visiting Sydney in a conference meeting. Just suddenly came to my mind this morning the memories of childhood and youth. I remembered our blonde school mate, the one with the Australian mother. So I thought I might pass by to see the marvel she used to tell us about.

And pointed to the grand building they stood beside. She lowered her eyes, and then her head followed. He shook hands with her, and then left. He said he was in a hurry to catch an adjourning airplane. And indeed, in no time, he was hurrying to his car. And without a moment’s delay he took the Pacific Highway the whole night back to Brisbane. He was thankful the catastrophe didn’t take much longer. He’ll tell his wife he had a bad accident, that his cell phone was ruined in the accident… Better say, he was kidnapped by gangsters that have just released him that very morning. The hell, he’ll tell her anything she’d believe. At least she’d be thankful, he returned to her.

                                       *********************

         About a month later, he was surfing the internet. On his Facebook account, he found a message from Tarek, his old friend, the one he fought with over that Australian cripple. There was a request of adding him as a friend on that social network. He added him. Surprisingly, he was online. Tarek automatically started a chat with him

-          Ali… how are you? How is Australia?

He wondered if he should be talking with him

-          Hello, Tarek…

That’s it. He’ll close the browser now and then remove him from his friends list and…

-          Ali… did you find Dina?

That was pretty fast… How would he reply? Would he say “I found her a cripple and I dumped her”? What a villain!! No, perhaps “I didn’t even look for her?” He wouldn’t believe it.

-          Yes, I found her… we’re living together in Sydney.

Sure, that would devastate his old friend completely.

                                       ***********************