Double Danger (7 page)

Jessica gave a big sigh.

‘I know you’re right, of course. It’s just … It’s such a big decision to make – not just moving to another town or even to another country, but to such a strange place, and from what I can gather, a dangerous one too.’

‘Oh, I’m sure Brian wouldn’t put you or the children in any danger. Every time I’ve met him, Jessica, he couldn’t take his eyes off you. He obviously adores you and the twins.’

Jessica smiled weakly. ‘I know. I’m just being stupid.’

‘No, you’re not. As I said, I can understand how you feel. Apart from being brought up here, it’s a very different and quite fascinating place. Not so much nowadays, though. You must admit, Jessica, there isn’t the same hilarious patter, for instance, as there used to be.’

‘No, but it’s still fascinating and full of life and noise and bustle. I like that. I seem to thrive on it, in fact.’

‘I thought you loved Brian and found him fascinating.’

‘Oh, I do. I do.’

‘Well, you won’t want to lose him then, will you?’

‘Oh no.’

‘Decision time then, Jessica.’

‘I know. It’s just not easy, that’s all.’

‘It might be a good idea to take the children and go and stay with Mrs Mellors for a week or two and break yourself away from here in a more gradual way.’

‘I might just do that. Mrs Mellors is so good about everything. She’s going to help me with the sale of the flat, if that’s what has to be done eventually. Oh, it’s such a thought for me – such a final step to take – to sell that lovely, lovely flat.’

‘Oh stop it, Jessica. Brian’s got a gorgeous house for you in Saudi Arabia. I’ve seen the photos of his villa there, remember.’

‘I’m sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut about the flat, the Barras and the Calton in future, I promise.’

‘All right. I’ll keep you to that. Now, it’s time I was making my way back to work and you’ve got the children to collect from school. Get a bag packed and get out to Vale of Lennox right away, do you hear?’

Jessica nodded and arm-in-arm they left the St Enoch Centre and made their way back to the Calton.

Once back in the flat with the children, Jessica did as Evie had told her. She also phoned Mrs Mellors, of course, just to confirm that her visit would be all right. Mrs Mellors was delighted and insisted on driving in to the Calton to collect her and the twins.

‘You stay in Vale of Lennox with me for as long as you like,’ Mrs Mellors told Jessica. Laughing, she added, ‘Stay forever if you want. That’s how welcome you and the wee ones are, and always will be.’

It was Jessica’s turn to laugh.

‘Don’t you complicate my life any further. Brian wants me and the twins to go over to Saudi and live with him there until he retires from that job of his in the compound. It’s difficult enough for me to think of leaving the Calton. You know only too well what it means to me.’

‘Yes, love, but your place is with your good man. I’ve told you that already.’

‘I know. It’s just not so easy to uproot myself.’

‘I found that out, didn’t I, when I tried to get you to come here even for one night, at first.You wouldn’t budge from that precious flat of yours. Now you’re quite happy to come here and you’ll be happy in Brian’s place in Saudi Arabia once you get there, I bet.’

‘I’m sure you’re right.’

‘And another thing, Jessie. It’s selfish of you to hang on to that flat when so many big families working in the Barras need a decent-sized place. Or any place to stay in the area.’

‘OK. OK. Let’s give the subject a rest for the moment. Where are the twins?’

‘Out in the garden. It’ll do them good. They’ve been looking so pale and strained lately.’

‘Yes, I can’t go on as we are when I know they’re being bullied at school. They’re definitely not happy.’

‘There you are then.’

Yes, there she was, having to leave the flat, the Calton, Glasgow and Scotland, and travel far away to a strange land.

As they passed through King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, Jessica was astonished. There was a call to prayer and the Saudis converged on a huge carpet in the airport concourse where they all stood in a line, as though they were in a mosque, in full view of all the other passengers. All the non-Muslim travellers just continued going about their business.

Brian smiled and nudged her. ‘That’s a sure sign you’re in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By the way, the Kingdom is sometimes called “The Land of the Two Holy Mosques” – that’s referring to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest places in Islam. It’s just in English it’s most commonly referred to as Saudi Arabia.’

The children were trotting along in silence between them, obviously overawed by the strangeness of the place.

‘Did you know,’ Brian went on enthusiastically, ‘that Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest petroleum exporter? Oil accounts for more than ninety per cent of exports and nearly seventy-five per cent of government revenues, which has made them able to create a welfare state.’

‘A welfare state?’ Jessica echoed incredulously.

‘Oh yes, it’s a marvellous place to live, darling. You’ll love it once you get to know it.You and the children will be happy here. I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I hadn’t been sure of that.’

Suddenly Tommy spoke up. ‘The men are wearing dresses.’

Brian laughed. ‘It’s called a dishdasha or a thoub. It’s nice and loose and allows the air to circulate and cool their bodies in the hot summer days. It’s white too because white reflects sunlight. That scarf-like thing covering their heads is called a shumagg. There’s another thing they wear underneath it to hold their hair in place and the black band around the top of the head holds all the head gear in place. The head cover is always white in summer and heavy red and white checked in winter.’

Fiona asked, ‘Do ladies wear the same?’

‘No, they wear black coverings called abayas.’

‘Oh right.’ Jessica raised a sarcastic eyebrow. ‘So it doesn’t matter about them being cool and having sunlight deflected.’

‘It’s just the custom in public.’ Brian’s voice acquired a slight edge. ‘It’s to do with modesty. But they can wear smart clothes underneath and at home in private. Look at some of them over there with their designer handbags and gold bracelets. They’re all right, believe me.’

He used to laugh at her, Jessica thought, and say she wouldn’t hear a word against Scotland, especially Glasgow and the Calton. Now it was obvious that he didn’t like one hint of criticism of Saudi Arabia and any of its customs.

‘And by the way,’ Brian went on, ‘women have a great deal under Islam compared with what they had before. Nobody wanted a daughter because for one thing she could be an economic burden, so they used to kill them. In some places, they buried them alive.’

‘Oh!’ Fiona squealed in distress, and Jessica protested angrily, ‘Brian, for pity’s sake!’

‘Sorry, sorry.’ He bent down and kissed Fiona. ‘I shouldn’t have mentioned that, darling. I’m sorry. It was long, long ago and would never, never happen now. I just mentioned it to show what a marvellous difference and happy change the Muslim religion and the Arab rule have made to this country.’

They found their connecting flight and eventually arrived in Tabuk Airport. It was quite small – probably something like the size of Inverness Airport, Jessica guessed.

It was decided that they should have a look around the town of Tabuk before making their way by car to the compound. Brian had left his car in the airport car park.

This was where, Brian told her, she would have to do most of her shopping. She soon realised the reason why Brian sometimes felt compelled to visit somewhere else to pick up some non-Arab food. In fact, most non-Arab people brought enough supplies from their own country to last until their next holiday.

‘I’ve never felt the need to go that far,’ Brian said. ‘Actually, I enjoy most of the Arab food. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with any of it. It’s just I sometimes miss daft things like Marmite.’

So it was his fault – not anything remotely wrong with anything Arab. Of course, maybe he was right, Jessica thought. Maybe she would grow to love the place and be as happy there as he was. It must have something wonderful about it to engender such love and loyalty as Brian obviously had for it.

She determined to give it a go and try her best to settle down in the compound and be content with life there. She must try not to be sarcastic and critical. After all, she tried to tell herself, not everything about Scotland was perfect. There was a growing crime problem, especially with knives. She had no personal knowledge of this but she had read about it in the papers. There was a drink problem and not only around Evie’s drop-in centre. Lots of young people with good jobs and from good homes were apparently binge drinking (again she’d only read about it in the papers). She’d seen pictures of young girls lying helpless on pavements in the city centre. Innumerable drunken young men and women were spilling out of nightclubs at three in the morning.

It wasn’t the Glasgow she knew personally but it must be true when it was reported so often in the newspapers and on television.

She didn’t want to remember or to think of those things at all, but she was struggling now to be fair and to understand how Brian felt. And as he had said, he wouldn’t have brought them over if he hadn’t been sure she and the children would love the place and be happy there.

And her love for him hadn’t changed. She only had to look at his deeply tanned face and dark eyes to feel a thrill of love for him. Tenderness too. There was something lovable about his loyalty to the country in which he now lived and worked. Loyalty was a good characteristic and she had to admire him for it.

They decided to pick up Brian’s car and drive to Aqaba for some rest and recuperation. ‘It’s on the Red Sea,’ Brian said, ‘and has great hotels and restaurants.’ Smiling, he added, ‘And you can get alcohol. No alcohol is allowed in the compound and most other places, but who needs it?’

It turned out that Aqaba was a three-hour drive from Tabuk and the children fell sound asleep in the back of the car. But Brian assured Jessica that the journey would be well worth it. Aqaba was a place of great historical significance. ‘You can view three continents and four countries from one place. Aqaba is the geographical focal point of where Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all converge.’

Jessica wondered if she had sounded like this when she had been showing Brian around Glasgow. She couldn’t resist saying, ‘Are you trying to outdo me by being a first-class tourist guide?’

He laughed. ‘You were wonderful, darling.’

Once they had booked into a luxurious hotel and were enjoying a good meal, she felt more relaxed. Then, after they had put the children to bed and got into bed themselves, Brian made love to her. It was then all her physical passion for him was reawakened. He brought her to vibrant life. He was her life. She couldn’t live without him and wouldn’t live without him. Where he went, she would always go. Where he stayed, she would stay.

She even began to look forward to her new life in the compound in Saudi Arabia.

The compound was to some degree as Brian had previously described it. Yet she had not been prepared for the shock of the high walls topped with barbed wire. Heavily armed Saudi guards surrounded the walls to protect against terrorist attacks. The dry baking heat caused the walls to appear to shimmer and wobble as if seen from under water. The searing heat seemed to dry up the insides of Jessica’s nose as she breathed in.

Jessica was, however, pleasantly surprised by the inside of the compound. The accommodation, she discovered, and the landscaping were maintained to a very high standard. As far as the eye could see, there were pretty flower-lined streets and attractive buildings. Servants continually sprayed water to prevent the plants shrivelling up in the glaring sunshine. She soon forgot about the intimidating walls and guards. She was now in what looked like a small country town with well-kept gardens and pretty villas. Some were three-bedroomed houses for families and that’s what Brian had now been allocated. There was also bachelor accommodation and shared bachelor accommodation. Out on verandas, people sat happily chatting and drinking tea or coffee – no alcohol was allowed.

‘There’s the primary school,’ Brian told her as he showed her around.

Inside one of several teachers working there welcomed them and the children.

‘We take children from four to eleven years,’ she said, ‘and we aim at not only the three Rs, but emotional well-being and physical health. I’ll show you the exercise room we have. The children love it. We try to make everything fun.’

Certainly Tommy and Fiona took to the place immediately and began running around all the brightly coloured furniture and inspecting all the games laid out on tables and the computers and other teaching equipment.

Jessica laughed. ‘They obviously love it already.’

‘You can leave them here just now if you like while your husband shows you the rest of the compound.’

‘OK. I’ll see what they say first.’

She went over to talk to the twins, who were delighted to stay for a while until she and Brian returned to collect them.

Jessica remarked to Brian as soon as they returned outside, ‘It’s great that the school and our house are air-conditioned. Are all the buildings like that?’

‘Oh yes. Otherwise, in this heat, nobody would be fit for anything. I often wonder how the locals manage to survive without it.’

Near the school there was the Sunbeam Centre for younger children. Then around the corner and down another street was Brian’s office. He was one of the managers responsible for the running of the compound. He was also an adviser to men who came on business to Saudi.

A swimming pool in another street sparkled in the day-long sunshine.

‘There’s the golf course and the club house.’ They stopped in the club house and enjoyed a long drink of lemonade with plenty of ice chinking in it.

Jessica very quickly came to the conclusion that life in the compound could indeed be absolutely wonderful. Of course, there were restrictions, especially for women. They were never introduced to Arab men, for instance, to Brian’s Arab friends. Outside of the compound, woman had to wear the abaya, the national dress for women. Jessica thought it must be similar to what she’d heard of as the burka. One of the Eastern stall holders in the Barras had spoken of woman in his home country having to be all covered up in what he called the burka.