“What! Did I hear you right?”
Anna jumped up so abruptly that she spilled orange juice all over herself. Alina grabbed a napkin and began to mop her up, but Anna brushed away her friend’s hands impatiently.
“Never mind that! Did you say Egypt? What are you thinking, for goodness’ sake? How would we do such a thing? And why on earth would we go there at such a time?”
Anna was alarmed at the very thought of travelling to a country in such turmoil since the uprisings that had brought down the Mubarak government in the previous winter. The newspapers had been full of the unprecedented events in Cairo. Lately it had been announced that both the government ministers and Mubarak and his sons were to be tried for crimes against the people. It seemed like every week there was more trouble in Egypt.
Alina had an idea about what was concerning Anna. “Listen! It’s not impossible. After all, Philip travels back and forth without difficulty and his company would hardly be investing their expertise in a country where there were no possibilities of a return on their money.”
Anna stripped off the sodden shirt she was wearing and shook the drops of juice onto the grass.
She pulled down her sleeveless cotton vest to cover her damp waistline and continued the discussion in a slightly calmer tone.
“Well, Philip did say the hotel project was important to the Egyptians. The tourist industry has taken a hard hit with all the violence reported in the news. He said a brand new hotel with the finest facilities is just the thing to encourage visitors to return there.”
“Exactly! We would be helping out the economy.”
“That’s a fine sentiment, Alina, but it doesn’t make such a trip any safer for us. Cairo has been akin to a war zone at times. I am sure the Canadian government would not approve of two elderly women wandering around in a country they have no prior experience with.”
“We could look into visa and travel permissions, of course. Philip’s hotel isn’t in Cairo, is it?”
Anna thought back to a previous conversation with Philip that had taken place in her farm house in Oban the night before the wedding.
“I suppose you are right. The hotel project is in the south of Egypt, I think; somewhere far from Cairo. It’s on the banks of the Nile near other luxury hotels. I don’t remember the name of the nearest town or city.”
“We could always check that out with Philip. He wouldn’t allow us to go somewhere unsafe, I’m sure.” She paused for a moment. “Doesn’t that sound wonderful, Anna? The banks of the Nile.”
For a second or two, both women were lost in a dream of the Nile River floating serenely past the Sphinx and the ageless pyramids on the Giza plateau.
Anna was torn between the desire to fulfill one of Alina’s dreams and the host of problems such a trip would present.
“Look! Before you get too carried away with this fantasy, we need to be more practical.
No Cairo means no pyramids. We could not consider going there in the summer. We could not even start to think of it without Philip’s approval and that might be difficult to get.”
“I agree, Anna. Your objections are realistic. I won’t set my heart on this until we have examined all the possible problems in a sensible way.”
Alina breathed a sigh of relief. She could tell that Anna was coming closer to a positive conclusion. Give it some time and the dream might just become a reality. She smiled a secret smile and stood up to take Anna’s blouse inside to rinse off the juice. She would make them both a cup of tea and give Anna time to think about her proposal.
As she left the sunny patio, she saw that look on Anna’s face that told her she had not given up on the idea. A seed had been planted and a future exotic bloom might be unfolding in the months to come.
As she stepped through the patio windows she could not resist the mental question about which new flowers and birds they might see in Egypt. She told herself that she would cram all the experiences and sights she could into the next few years. There was no guarantee that she would be able to see, and fully appreciate, the world’s wonders after that.
Basking in the sunshine on the patio, Anna was having very similar thoughts.
A Samba summer barbecue was arranged for the July 1st weekend.
Anna warned Alina not to introduce the possibility of a trip to Egypt. It was much too early to talk about it as there were too many uncertainties. She had not yet managed to frame a suitable enquiry for Philip, and that was the starting point.
The group assembled in the afternoon. Alina collected the dishes of salads and breads from Susan, Jake, Maria and Paul as they arrived. They brought two younger family members with them. Bev’s son James was back in Canada for the summer and Lucy was glad to see someone nearer her own age. She had a plan to quiz James about his business studies in England and what was new and exciting on the A plus fashion front. As a teen fashionista, with marketing experience, she had some ideas to share.
The dishes would be arranged on the kitchen table until the meat was cooked. Cool drinks were passed around and everyone chose seats in the shade or the sun as they wished.
Conversation groups formed naturally and re-formed as the topics under discussion attracted different people.
Susan and Alina went off to tour the shady hosta beds that were Alina’s pride and joy. She had two new varieties that she wanted to show off. After Susan had made appropriate comments on the plants, she pulled Alina over to a bench, set under the trees, for a private chat.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about your macular degeneration, Alina. You have been so concerned about Jake’s condition that I want to return the compliment by checking things out with you. I know about the university trial. What I am wondering about is the genetic link.
As you know there’s a strong genetic component to Jake’s MS. Is that the case with you also?”
“Well, Susan, I wouldn’t get into this with anyone else but I know why you are asking and you happen to be on the right track. Although she never mentioned the term to me, I strongly suspect my mother had the problem.”
“What gave you the clues?”
“At the time I never put two and two together but now it is quite clear to me. It started in little ways. We had a backyard swimming pool and my mother would spend summer afternoons out there while Anna and I, and other friends, had fun splashing about. She always wore very dark sunglasses and when she came indoors for something she would stumble and complain that the contrast between the bright light outside and the dim light inside was hard to adjust to. I never gave that a thought but as the years went by other things occurred.”
Alina stopped to remember those far off years, then she continued in a low voice.
“Mother would get very upset when something in the kitchen or in her bedroom was moved out of its place. I thought she was ultra fussy about it at the time, but now I think she could not see well enough to find missing items quickly. She also stopped watching television saying it gave her headaches, and she would hand over letters to my father or me because the print was too small.
The worst part was that I was not sympathetic about any of this. I had no idea what was really happening. Mother never told me her situation. I guess she was afraid to admit what was going on with her. As she got older, I suspect she did not want to burden her only child with the problem.”
Tears formed in Alina’s eyes and she turned her face away from Susan. She had told only doctors and Anna this sad confession and although they said it was good for the soul to unburden yourself of past errors, she found it was more difficult every time she had to face up to the truth. Still, she had started now and she might as well continue.
“After my father died it got worse. One day I was in a store with mother and when the check-out assistant told mother the price of her groceries, I was shocked to see her open up her purse and invite the girl to help herself to the cash inside.
I am ashamed to admit I was very angry with my mother about this incident and I worried that she was developing dementia. I realize now that she could no longer tell which bank notes she carried.”
Susan looked at Alina with sincere compassion. She understood what it was like when someone misinterpreted Jake’s symptoms. She often had to correct ignorant people who assumed he was drunk when they saw him stumble or heard slurred speech.
“That must have been awful for you, Alina, and truly sad for your mother. Did she ever have a diagnosis from an eye specialist?”
“Unfortunately, by the time that happened, mother’s sight was beyond any help.”
“How tragic!”
“Yes and no, Susan.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even after many years there is very little that can be done for the thousands with this problem. There are two types. Mother must have had the more common, slower-developing type and I hope I have that also, although the ‘wet’ type responds to laser cauterization if it is found in time. The good news is that most people with the syndrome will not ever be completely blind.”
Susan looked away to the other side of the garden and watched their friends chatting and joking together. What would it be like to know there would come a time when the details of a scene like this would be only a dim memory?
“Oh, Alina! I feel so upset for you, and for your mother. You must know that this reminds me of Jake’s MS. If I have learned anything through his struggles it’s this one mantra.
Every day begins in hope for us. Every day his symptoms are minor, or absent, is a blessing for us both. My hope for you is the same one I hold for Jake. One day there will be a breakthrough. Perhaps it will be in stem cell research or in microchip technology but there will be improvements. God willing they will come in time to help us.”
“What makes you so sure, Susan?” Alina could not stop the catch in her voice as she asked. No one had understood her emotions as Susan had. The brisk, factual information she had delivered to Susan concealed a deep well of fear and dread that she had concealed from everyone, including Anna.
“I am sure, because it has to be.”
Two hands intertwined and two gazes focused on the garden with tears in their eyes. Neither woman could trust herself to speak.
James had been cornered by Lucy on a two-seater glider that forced them into close quarters and made him feel quite uncomfortable. He knew who Lucy was and had met her at such gatherings of the Sambas on occasion, but he was realizing Lucy had changed. It wasn’t just her forceful manner and sly way of cutting him out from the crowd with the pretext of getting a Coke for him and insisting they sat where there were side tables for their drinks. It was more about her appearance.
Casting his mind back, he could remember she was always a pretty little thing but somewhat in the shadow of her older sister who was quite a beauty. Now Lucy had blossomed into this tall, slender goddess with dark lustrous hair swinging around her perfect face and the most form-fitting strapless dress that definitely raised his temperature by several degrees. He could not help wondering why she was suddenly so interested in talking to him.
“I hear you have completed a business course in England, James,” she began.
“Call me Jay, Lucy. James is my ‘grown-up’ name.”
“Don’t you feel grown up yet?” Lucy’s eyes twinkled as she teased Jay. She expected a blush to colour his cheeks as she knew the effect her teasing had on other males of her acquaintance.
Jay resisted the ploy and kept his cool by reaching for the drink and giving himself the chance to consider how he would react. If his mother could hear Lucy now, she would call her ‘a little minx’ and this thought allowed him to laugh at her attempt to intimidate him.
“What do you want to know, Lucy?”
“Well, first of all I want to know why you went to England to study when there’s a famous business school right here in London, Ontario?”
“That’s simple. A Plus has interests on both sides of the Atlantic and I spend quite a lot of my time following Anna’s orders in Scotland and England, so it seemed sensible to know the rules about exporting and importing materials and, of course, I made many useful contacts over there. Does that answer your question, young lady?”
Lucy bristled at Jay’s responsible tone and decided to drop the act and get right to the point.
“I am really impressed by your career choices, Jay. I understand you got involved with A Plus before you even left school. I am thinking along these lines myself and I need to persuade my mother that it is a valid choice for me.”
“Oh, I see! You want to get me on your side. Don’t count on my support. My mother fought long and hard against the idea. It was the hours spent on the internet that made her mad, but in the end it was that knowledge that let me drag Anna and Alina into the 21st century and gave them the kind of head start with high tech that made all the difference in their business.”
Lucy swung the glider a few times while she considered Jay’s reply.
“Hmmm! I think the online approach is the right one for me too. Most kids our age shop and buy on the internet on a regular basis. I can source materials from many places and I can adapt them to suit current trends. I’m doing this already in a small way in my mother’s store in the mall. You might have seen my display model with the uber-cool clothes in the window?”
Jay could only shrug his shoulders in response. If he ever had time to go to the mall it was to grab something in the first place he saw, and a women’s clothing store was not likely to be his merchant of choice.
“Anyway,” Lucy continued, “I could set up the web site and stuff by myself but I need to know how to produce the outfits in enough quantity to fill orders in a hurry.”
“Not my department, Lucy. You need to talk to Alina for that. She runs the workshop and warehouse and has most of the creative ideas. Talk to Anna about outsourcing workers. She’s the one who found expert knitters in Scotland.”
Jay extricated himself from the swinging seat with some relief and left Lucy with the parting shot. “It sounds like you have a lot to learn. Stay at college and prepare really well before you try it on your own. I was lucky. It doesn’t always work out that way.”
Jay walked across to the BBQ where the meat was just beginning to sizzle and the smells were pervading the patio. He had no sooner lifted a set of tongs to turn the burgers and hotdogs when Anna asked how his mother and her new husband were getting along in Oban.
“You did manage to spend a week or two with them, and with Eric, before you flew here. Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah! Things are going well, I think. They look happy together and Mom’s started to update the older stuff in the cottage.”
“How is Alan adjusting to that?”
“He seems all right with it. I’m not sure he has even noticed. He’s outside on the hills most of the time but he loves Mom’s cooking when he gets home. I found some of the meals a bit different. I think Kirsty must have taught Mom some recipes Alan enjoys.”
“Smart woman, your mother! But I’m sure you knew that already, James!”
James smiled in agreement and began to dish out grilled lamb chops and vegetables to join the burgers on a heated platter.
Alina returned from the kitchen with a tray full of cold salads and warm breads.
“Thanks for stepping in James. I got distracted for a while and these women were too busy chatting to notice the meat beginning to smoulder.”
“It all smells delicious, Alina!” said Maria, soothingly. “Come and sit down. I’ll take over.”
While everyone was busy filling plates and glasses, Susan approached Anna and suggested they take their plates indoors so she could see the enlarged wedding photograph. Anna agreed and led the way to the dining room but when they got there, Susan did not seem interested in the photograph. Instead she put her plate down on the table and whispered urgently, “Anna I have just had a strange conversation with Alina and I need to know if you have noticed any changes in her lately.”
“What exactly do you mean, Susan?” Anna felt she should be defending her friend and for a moment forgot the kind of person Susan was and how long she had been a support to all the Samba group members and their families.
“Now don’t be defensive, Anna. I want to help but I can’t if I don’t know what’s going on.”
Anna sat down heavily at the table. For some months she had wanted to share her concerns with someone and this seemed to be a perfect opportunity.
“I have noticed some changes but I figured it was to do with her fear of the effects of the macular degeneration.”
“I am sure you are right about that. She is not the gentle soul she was before. She is much more anxious and jumpy. She told me about her mother’s experience with eye problems and it was as if she was reading a medical report from a journal or something. It just didn’t sound like Alina.”
Anna glanced out of the patio windows that stretched across the back of the house and gave a view of the garden from each room. Everyone was busy eating. They would not be interrupted.
“I think she is trying to process all the information she has received from doctors and fit it into what she saw latterly, when she understood a little of what was happening to her mother. Basically, she’s scared, Susan, and I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve tried to talk to her but there’s a brick wall between us on this topic.”
“It could be the same brick wall Alina’s mother put up years ago when she was unwilling to admit what was developing with her vision.”
“What do you mean?” Anna’s interest was piqued. Any hint about the source of Alina’s changed behaviour was valuable to her and Susan had the incisive mind that might have spotted a cause.
“Well, Alina let it slip that her mother kept her secret because she did not want to burden her only daughter with the responsibility for her care.”
“How does this apply now?”
Susan spoke gently and reached out for Anna’s hand. “My dear, substitute your name for Alina’s mother’s name and you will see the connection.”