Of Sea and Sand. Denyse Woods

      Let us weep, recalling a love and a lodging

      by the rim of the twisted sands

      —Imru’ al-Qays, al-Mu‘allaqat

      In the dark of night I believe

      And sometimes in the day;

      Maybe they’re not there at all

      But still I believe.

      —“The Good People” by Vincent Woods

      I

      Dear Prudence

      In theory, Gabriel had come for a month; in practice, he knew he would never go back. Glancing out, and seeing jagged black mountains appear on the right of the aircraft, he gasped. He had thought he was beyond any such reaction, believing himself to be numb and numbed, too detached for wonder of any sort. Awe, he thought, was a luxury enjoyed by the emotionally alert, by those of enhanced perception, whereas he was dulled, blunted, now and forever, amen. And yet he had gasped when he had looked through the aircraft window and seen those magnificent angry edges scraping the blue-blue sky. It looked to be an inhospitable environment down there, but it could hardly be worse than the environment from which he had come.

      He had been dispatched to stay with his sister in order to recover—not from a breakdown or a bout of serious illness (although he felt as if he’d had both) but from guilt. Shame, too. Pointless, he thought. What cure for shame? A change of scenery could hardly be expected to wipe it out. No, the only thing that could repair the damage was for time to go into reverse, to undo his steps and allow him another direction. Unfortunately, air travel could not offer the same facilities as time travel but, still, he had come away; although he could not undo the remorse, he could at least escape his parents’ wordless agony.

      His heart burned. This was the beginning of an odyssey, one that had already failed, because it could not do otherwise, but he would nonetheless trudge along its way, going wherever it took him, never, ever, turning back. He would not even look over his shoulder. He would not return to Ireland, or see again her lumpen skies, her slate headlands or creamy beaches. It was a heavy price, yet no price at all.

      His brother-in-law met him at the airport with a cursory handshake—scarcely a welcome; more an acknowledgment of his arrival. Gabriel, it seemed, had traveled three thousand miles to receive the same chilling treatment he’d been enduring at home. The airport building was small, dusty. Men wearing long white dishdashas and skullcaps stood around chatting, but offered a nod and a greeting, “Welcome to Muscat. Ahlan,” as Rolf led the way out into the sunshine and across to the parking lot.

      As they drove into town, Gabriel noticed, along the shoreline, bundles of white boxy houses, like a crowd that had rushed to the coast and been brought to a halt by the sea. Muscat looked like an outpost, a place on the edge. The edge of the sea, of the land, of Arabia. An ideal place to cower.

      “This is Muttrah, actually,” Rolf said. “The town is spread out, and old Muscat is farther along, beyond those hills.” He pulled in behind some buildings. “We have to walk the last bit of the way.”

      The March heat was manageable. Gabriel welcomed the sun on his shoulders—some warmth at last—as he followed Rolf along narrow, scrappy streets, where small shops were opening their shutters to the day and shopkeepers nodded as they passed. Space nudged itself between the compacted thoughts in Gabriel’s head, spreading their density, making elbow room. For weeks he had felt compressed, as if the air were tightening around him and would go on doing so until he was unable to think at all; a kind of mental suffocation.

      They turned up to the right and followed a curved lane, with houses pulled tight on either side, until they came to a corner house. “This is it,” said Rolf. “We won’t be here much longer. Our new place will be ready soon, but for now . . .” He pushed open the low wooden door and stood back.

      Gabriel dipped his head and stepped straight into a white living room. Immediately he saw Annie, and felt relief. She came through a doorway at the back, wiping her hands on a tea towel. They embraced. “How are you?” she asked.

      “Wrecked.”

      They were close, Annie and Gabriel. No better person, he thought. No other person. If there was any hope for him at all, it lay in the understanding and soothing ministrations of his sister. At least he could bear to be with her.

      “Come, come,” Rolf said, trying to get past them.

      “Nice,” Gabriel said, looking around. The whitewashed room was sparsely furnished, with bench seating, draped in fabrics the colors of sunsets, along two sides, and a narrow window allowed one beam of sunlight to target the floor. A breakfast table and chairs stood near an entrance that led into a small kitchen, beside which another opening led to the rest of the house. They had impeccable taste. Annie was a stylish bird, he used to tell his friends—and Rolf was Swiss, a perfectionist in all things esthetic; and they had money, which helped. Rolf had been working for an oil company for years and had accrued his wealth on a fat expat, tax-free salary, which he generally referred to as “grocery money.” His only real interest was painting.

      Annie stood, watching her brother.

      Gabriel smiled. There was something in her he adored. Simplicity, perhaps; the way she got things right. He liked Rolf too, a pragmatic artist twelve years her senior.

      She did not return his smile. She said, “Funny, you look like the same person you were two months ago.”

      It cut right through. So this was how it was going to be.

      She went into the kitchen. “Tea?”

      “Great, thanks. Mam gave me some for you. Tea, I mean. Bags and . . . well, leaves.”

      “Rolf, would you show Gabriel his room?”

      Gabriel followed his brother-in-law up a narrow whitewashed stairwell to a room that stood alone on the top floor. “A little tight,” said Rolf, “but cooler in the hot weather. It gets the sea breeze.”

      “It’s perfect. Thanks.”

      Rolf seemed on the point of saying something. Gabriel