Lazy Days (43 page)

"You’re going to stand right there?"

"How else do you suggest I maintain your
privacy without standing here and holding the blanket? Rainey, my back is
toward you; just take care of business. I assure you I won’t peek. Here, take
this." He handed her some tissues; something she had completely forgotten
about in her misery.

Only because she was about to wet her pants did
she walk behind the blanket, lift her dress, pull down her panties, and squat.
Although the act had to be in the top ten of her most humiliating moments, the
relief was also in her top ten of most satisfying.

* * *

The night turned frigid. Roth felt movement
behind him. Rainey nestled against his back, obviously trying to absorb his
warmth. He felt her shiver. She wasn’t used to the cold. He turned to face her
and she snuggled against his chest, placing her head under his chin. He moved
one of his arms under his head and the other around her, pulling her close. She
sighed and mumbled in her sleep. Her blanket became a meager barrier between
his muscular chest and her generous one. Roth raised his hand and brushed
strands of hair from her temple. He lowered his hand to her cheek. It felt soft
and silky. Moving his fingers, he outlined her mouth. She breathed against his
fingers and moaned, rubbing her lips against his palm. His groin responded and
he lifted her chin. Again, he felt her mouth with his fingertips and then
lowered his lips to hers. She felt like heaven. She opened her mouth to his and
he touched his tongue to her teeth.

Roth jumped up! Pale light from a cresting sun
barely illuminated the interior of the tent. Wrapped like a mummy in her
blanket, Rainey lay as far away from him as possible.

The dream had been so real! He quickly donned
his robes and darted from the tent. He didn’t want to dream about Rainey, and
he especially didn’t want erotic dreams about her.

* * *

Rainey felt warm and comfortable. Someone was
calling her name, but she ignored the persistent voice. A gentle shake made her
open her eyes.

"Leave me alone."

"It's time to wake up, Rainey. I need to
dismantle our tent. We still have a long ways to travel."

"No."

A deep chuckle sounded and she cracked her eyes
to see Roth squatting beside her. She gave him a look of disgust even though
his smile sent shivers down her body. He lifted her top blanket. Sometime during
the night he must have placed the extra covering over her. Slowly, she
unwrapped from her other blanket and stretched. Surprisingly, her legs didn’t
chaff as bad as the previous night. Roth handed her a bag of toiletries and her
water canteen, and then left her in privacy. Doing her best under less than
ideal circumstances, she prepared herself for a day of unknown events.

She groaned when she felt nature's call.
Might
as well get it over with.
When she exited her tent, she saw Roth helping
the Bedouins. He pointed, and she looked in the direction he indicated. She saw
a makeshift blanket barrier.

"For your privacy," he said, and
returned to loading the camels. Rainey felt a lump lodge in her throat because
he'd cared enough to save her further embarrassment.

After she'd relieved herself and returned to
camp, she watched the Bedouins and Roth dismantle the tents. His words from the
day before echoed. "Look on this as an adventure." She glanced at the
surrounding terrain.

The morning sun reflecting off black sand
created sparkling diamonds of light and lumps of basalt punctuated the
landscape like shiny monsters. Chaotically placed black volcano-looking hills
increased the mystique of a land few people would have the opportunity to
experience.

Rainey shook her head and returned her attention
to camp life. Roth approached and handed her a bag of dried fruit and another
of jerky. He held out a steaming cup of black brew that smelled suspiciously
like coffee.

"Is that coffee?"

"Sure is."

"Thank God. I don't think I could face this
day without it."

He laughed. "Be sure and put your burqa
back on when we leave to protect your complexion."

She picked it up and fingered the red
cross-stitches.

"The burqas with red stitches are only worn
by married women."

She gave him a startled look.

"It wouldn't have been appropriate for us
to travel together without that belief. Tahnoon is the only one who knows we're
not married."

 Roth returned to the men. In short order, the
camp was packed and ready. He held the reins of their camel and guided it
toward Rainey. Rather than shy away, she stood firm while the animal knelt. Of
her own volition, she grabbed the pummel and started to mount the beast. Roth
assisted.

"How do your legs feel," he asked.

"They're better."

"Good."

"Where did you get that salve? It works
extremely well."

"You being a scientist, I thought you'd be
curious. It's a Bedouin remedy; used for all kinds of abrasions. It's even used
on the animals."

The caravan of camels started forward and Roth
urged theirs onward. By noon, the terrain of the Black Desert lay behind them.

"There's Crystal Mountain." Roth
pointed and twisted in the saddled to look at her.

She followed the direction of his finger with
her eyes. At first, the outcroppings looked quite normal; however, a sudden
flash of sunlight shot rainbows into the air. Rainey caught her breath at the
spectacular prismatic display. Again, Roth's words raced through her mind,
Look
on this as an adventure.
Although she would never admit it to him, maybe he
was right. She had longed for the freedom to explore a world unfettered by
guards, and although she was still stuck with him, it certainly was an
adventure.

When they reached the rocks called Crystal
Mountain, their caravan stopped and everyone dismounted. Rainey walked around
the base of the rocks, amazed by their covering of clustered crystals. Broken
shards lay scattered across the sand. A particularly beautiful one caught her
attention and she bent to retrieve it. Still intact, except where it had broken
off, she slipped it into the pocket of her long dress.
A souvenir from my
adventure,
she thought, and almost laughed aloud.

The group mounted their camels again and
traveled a couple hours before stopping to erect their small shelters and eat.
Again, Roth handed Rainey a bowl of cheese soup and flat bread. Having only
picked at the strange food the night before of dried fish, goat cheese, rice,
and dates, hunger gnawed at her, and she didn't even balk at drinking the soup
and stuffing the bread in her mouth.

Eating under her shelter, she watched Roth chat
with Tahnoon and the others. The elderly leader slapped him on the back and all
the men laughed. Rainey envied the ease with which he conversed and made
friends. He looked up and met her eyes. She wanted to look away, but she
couldn't. There was something familiar in their azure depths. He said a word to
the men and then stood and walked towards her. She glanced away and her heart
fluttered.

He squatted in front of her. "You should
try to nap."

"Okay."

"What were you thinking, Rainey?"

"I don't know what you mean?"

"Yes, you do? What was the look you just
gave me?"

Rainey drew a doodle in the sand.
"Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Have it your way."

About two hours later, Rainey gazed at her surroundings
in wonderment. The White Desert truly was white. Incredible shapes burst forth
from the sand, some amazingly large and others incredibly small. Her
imagination soared. One shape reminded her of a rabbit, another of a dolphin.
Others looked like aliens from distant planets, or fairies from a wonderland.

For once, she appreciated the burqa. The
brilliant sun reflecting off the white sand would be murder on an unguarded
complexion, especially one as fair as hers.

Shortly after entering the White Desert, their
caravan of camels stopped and three of the Bedouins dismounted.

"Why aren't they coming with us?" she
asked, when they started forward without the men.

"They're staying to watch for Nomads
traveling this route. Our destination is sacred and known only to Tahnoon and
those accompanying him.

"You never explained exactly why we're
traveling to this god-forsaken-place."

"And I'm not going to until later."

Rainey wanted to lash a retort, but decided to
keep a calm exterior. She would not allow Roth to see how easily he got under
her skin. She'd made that mistake before.

After traveling for an extended period, she
again felt herself drifting and lay her head against his wide back. She dreamed
of her eagle. In her dream, it transformed into a man. Although she couldn't
see his features, he excited her senses. The mysterious man lifted her into his
arms and morphed into a hybrid of man and eagle. He flew above the earth still
carrying her, but she couldn't discern his face because of the black night.
Suddenly, a breeze shifted the clouds and freed the moon. Just when a moonbeam
shifted to the creature's face, she jerked awake.
Damn!

Their camel swayed precariously while kneeling
and Rainey clung to Roth's robe. The White Desert, cast into myriad shades of
pink by a dying sun, captured Rainey's newly awakened sense of adventure with
its mystical chalk figures dotting the landscape.

"Oh, it's beautiful," she breathed.

Roth helped her off their beast of burden.

"Are we stopping to rest?" she asked.

"No, there's someone behind us."

Tahnoon called Roth's name and pointed into the
distance.

"Really? You can actually
see
someone?"

"Yes, and I can hear him too; and so can
they." Roth nodded toward Tahnoon and his two men.

Everything became deathly quiet and she strained
to listen. Although she couldn't hear what the others heard, she eventually saw
dust in the distance. Tahnoon spoke to one of his men and the man mounted his
camel, traveling toward whoever was approaching.

Roth said, "The rider coming toward us is
one of the three left behind to watch for nomads."

"How do you know?"

"We heard his bird call."

"Huh?"

"He made a bird call letting us know of his
approach."

"Is something wrong?"

"We'll have to wait and see."

Roth led Rainey and their camel to the backside
of a chalk sculpture resembling a giant egg. Tahnoon and his man also drew
their camels there. Rainey's heart thumped wildly, and her mind envisioned all
kinds of scenarios: being taken captive by a sultan and forced into his harem,
being killed by marauders, being left in the desert to die without beast or
water.
Stop it!

The men stood in front of the giant egg waiting
for the riders while Rainey peeked around it. The approaching Bedouin and the
one sent to meet him, arrived on running camels and spoke to their leader,
gesturing with their hands. Rainey shivered. The temperature had dropped
dramatically. Tahnoon issued an order and the men nodded. They turned their
camels and returned in the direction they had come. Rainey's group was now left
with Roth, Tahnoon, and the Bedouin named Zayed. Her shivers increased.

Roth communed with Tahnoon and then walked back
toward Rainey. Only a shimmer of daylight remained. He veered toward their
camel and opened a saddle pouch. Withdrawing a blanket, he brought it to her
and wrapped her quaking body, pulling her into the circle of his arms.

"I'm sorry, Rainey. I should have given you
the blanket sooner."

"Wh-what's happening?" She asked
through chattering teeth.

Roth chaffed her arms to warm her. "Some
nomads were spotted. Our plans have changed. Tahnoon's men are returning to the
others to waylay the nomads until after we've left our destination. Instead of
going there in the morning, we're going tonight. Afterward, we'll return to
Bawiti by a different route. Tahnoon and Zayed will accompany us."

"What's our destination?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Rainey was too cold to argue. "Th-then will
we return to the U.S?"

"No."

Tahnoon and Zayed interrupted them. Tahnoon put
a hand on Roth's shoulder and said something. Roth nodded and looked at Rainey.
"We'll leave at dark." He pulled the blanket tightly around her
shoulders.

Under cover of night, they continued their
travels. Sandwiched between Tahnoon's and Zayed's camels, their own camel
plodded with the others. Rainey trembled as much from terror as cold. She felt
Roth's hands cover hers and she laid her cheek against his back.

Shifting clouds kept the white landscape dancing
with eerie shadows. Eventually, the White Desert gave way to darker terrain and
looming rocks. The wind picked up and sand swirled as the weather turned
terrifying. Rainey watched visions of her life pass across her mind and
wondered if she'd come to the end of it. The camel knelt and sand pelted her.