A Proposal
By Shakir Hussain
Rakibelcadillac is an old song about a man who drives a Cadillac and is in love with a local girl. In the afternoons he haunts her neighborhood driving his Cadillac. The girl returns his love and waits for him. The man in this story is the same, but he drives a 4×4 white Toyota and the girl is yet to fall in love with him.
A 4×4 Toyota is not a distinguished car in this city. The girl however noticed it because it passed her villa every afternoon. She sent out Vanessa, the Filipino maid to investigate.
Vanessa came back excited.
“He’s a handsome man,” she said. “And he intends to marry you.”
The girl felt a wave of conflicting emotions. She tried to contain them.
“How much did he pay you?” she said.
Vanessa denied receiving any money.
“But what’s your answer to him?” Vanessa said.
“I will give him an answer after we come back,” the girl said.
They had planned to go camping in Wadi Hatta the next day. The girl’s wish was to drink tea in the desert before summer comes.
Next day was busy, especially for Vanessa who woke up early to prepare the food for the trip. She never had much chance to talk to the girl about the man.
The drive to Wadi Hatta was long because the girl’s brother was afraid of speed. It terrified him to be in a fast moving car. The girl had instructed the driver not to exceed 60 kph. The boy suffered from Down Syndrome and the girl felt it was her duty to look after him. She felt if she were ever to marry, then it must be to someone who was willing to give her freedom and the time to look after her brother. During the slow drive she was looking out of the car window in deep thought. Along the road sand dunes rose and fell, but the girl did not seem to take in anything at all.
It was lunchtime when they reached their destination and the girl was already hungry. But she helped her brother to eat his food first. He seemed more interested in drawing figures in the sand than eating.
It was his habit to fall asleep after lunch and the driver erected a tent for him to sleep in. Tired by the trip he went to sleep as soon as he hit the pillow. The girl looked at him as he slept. It brought her a sense of sadness that he seemed to prefer sleep more than wakefulness.
After eating her lunch she grabbed a flask of tea and a cup and set off on her own. When she was far off from the camp and the tent where her brother slept looked like a nesting small white dove she sat on a high spot overlooking the wadi. She poured herself a cup of tea. A twig of mint came out of the flask as she poured the tea. She took the twig in her mouth and bit into it . The taste of the sugary tea and mint was something that she wanted to linger in her mouth. She wondered if there was a way to describe the taste. Her moment of enjoyment was short. She spat the mint out. She had seen something in the valley that disturbed her. It was the white 4×4 Toyota.
She returned to the camp in an agitated state. She was angry with Vanessa but she needed her to take a message to the driver. The answer to him was no.