Two Old Fools on a Camel

Nobody appeared to be looking for us. Never mind, I said, we've got the address, we'll just take a taxi. Secretly I was quite relieved. I needed a shower and change of clothes before meeting anybody. We approached the line of taxis, and I couldn't resist searching for tethered camels. Sadly I didn't see a single one. A white-robed Arab, with white headdress, detached himself from a group and ushered us into his taxi. The car was modern, clean and air-conditioned. Gratefully we sank into the comfortable seats. Look, I whispered, he's even got a feather duster to keep his cap clean. I didn't know then that the feather duster on the dashboard served another purpose. The journey to our hotel took nearly an hour, which surprised me. Previously I had located both hotel and airport on a map, and they hadn't seemed so far apart. Our driver never spoke as we drove along wide, well-maintained avenues lined with palm trees and crossed modern bridges. Joe and I occasionally nudged each other, pointing out sites of interest. As we approached the city of Manama, the buildings became skyscrapers, stretching up to the empty blue sky. Vast white stone sculptures adorned the highway, including one that looked familiar from my internet research. This one had massive curved legs and supported a huge stone ball. Beneath it a water fountain played. It stood in the centre of a large roundabout, the intersection of many motorways. Joe, look, that's quite a famous statue, the Pearl Monument. The ball on the top represents a pearl and reminds people of what Bahrain used to trade. Yes, I see it. Vicki, are you sure you gave the driver the right address? We seem to have been in this taxi for hours. Quite sure. Darina had already told me that the teachers would be accommodated in a hotel before being moved into brand new apartments that the school was building for us. Darina told me the new apartments will be ready in a week or so. This hotel is just a temporary measure. Signposts were written in English and Arabic. Traffic was heavy, and every car seemed to be more expensive, larger and cleaner than the last. How do they keep their cars so clean in this dust? I wondered. And what are those round doughnut shapes burnt into the road? We passed shops and restaurants, all closed. We passed many shopping malls, advertising familiar brands, Marks and Spencer, Virgin, Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken. I wondered what time they opened. At last the taxi stopped in front of a tall building with dark tinted windows. The driver helped Joe pile up the luggage on the roadside. There was no pavement, and sweat poured from Joe's brow, dripping down his nose and into the soft desert sand. How much is that? Joe asked, opening his wallet. That'll be seventeen piddy, said the driver, avoiding eye contact. That sounds very reasonable, said Joe. Sending the driver one of our crisp new 20BD Bahraini Dinar notes, decorated with a smiling King Hamad on one side and a splendid mosque on the other. Keep the change. While Joe and the driver had been manhandling the luggage, I'd been reading the stickers inside the cab. One said something like, by law all taxi fares depend on the meter reading. If the driver does not use the meter, you should not pay. I looked for the meter and discovered it obscured by the feather duster on the dashboard. That taxi was a bargain, wasn't it? said Joe as the taxi roared away, throwing up clouds of sand. I only paid him 20BD. I wasn't so sure. I said nothing then, but checked later. My suspicions were correct. At the very most the trip should have lasted twenty minutes, and 20BD translated to about thirty-four pounds or fifty-three dollars. We had been taken for a ride—literally. The fare should have been between three and five BD. The sun beat down without mercy. I stared at my feet as I stood in the sand, my shoes already covered in a layer of dust. Perhaps it was the long journey—and tiredness—but I was transfixed by my footprints in the sand. Just impressions. I blame Joe, of course. It was August 2010, and our lives had just been spun upside down.