The Intern Affair (12 page)

“You know, Samir, you’re absolutely right.
And I say this because that’s exactly what Talya told me when I proposed to her in
Dakar
.”
Alhassan
had been reclining in the chair until that moment.
Now he was intent and alert.
He remembered Talya’s every word she uttered on that occasion.

“She said—if I recall exactly: “
For me to accept marriage would be like accepting to sign our divorce papers at the same time,
” and from that point on she wouldn’t budge from her position.
Nothing I would say or do would move her.”

“Now can you see why it’s so important for you to pay attention to her words?
From your devoted proposal of marriage,
she engendered truth
.
That being the fact, that you can’t marry her until she’s free to love you.” Samir then lay back in the lounge chair and closed his eyes.

That happening was always a very uncomfortable moment for
Alhassan
.
He didn’t know how to handle it.
Was he supposed to interrupt his friend’s meditation, or was he to let him be, or maybe he should go and leave him in peace.
Alhassan
ultimately chose to do the same and leaned back to the back of his seat once again.
He was looking straight at the Grand Hotel, where it all began….

14

Talya
and
Ghali
stayed in
Victoria
a couple more days than originally planned.
Ghali
called his services and asked them to refer all calls to a friend of his at the Vancouver Hospital, and to call his nurse to defer several of his appointment to the following Tuesday.
Talya had been elated
to
spending time away with
Ghali
.
The little incident in the lobby of the hotel on the first night had been forgotten.
Ghali
didn’t pressure her into giving him any explanation, which she appreciated. By the last day of their vacation, Talya even thought of going back to
Africa
with some pleasure.
The shadow of
Kareef
had dissipated, or had been less obvious, perhaps.
Ghali
’s loving care had been a cure in itself.
Talya knew however, that she would have to face the music—as
Charles
had put it—sooner than later.

They got back on Tuesday, and
Ghali
left early that evening saying that he wanted to catch up with his friend who had
taken
care of the calls. Talya understood and she was glad to be left alone for a while.
She planned to go to the office the next morning and yet she had a hundred things left undone—like washing, ironing, a bit of cleaning, dusting—all of those things a woman has to do from time to time.
So, she got busy. It was about seven o’clock when the phone rang.

“Talya speaking.”

“Is that my friend, Talya?” She was so surprised at hearing his voice that she had to sit down.
She had a dust cloth in one hand and she almost put it to her mouth to prevent her from exploding in laughter or screeching.
Samir was on the line.

“Samir?
Is that really you?”

“Yes, it’s only me.”

“And what did I do to deserve a call from you?”

“You deserve a hundred more.”

“It is so good to hear your voice.
I have been missing you so—”

“I understand. You will have to thank
Dr. Defray
, for this call, and I wanted to find out from your lips what was happening and why you are ill.”

“I’m not
ill,
Samir.
I’m just not coping with what happened in
Dakar
. I couldn’t get rid of those images and the shadow of
Kareef
following me.”

“What images?
Was
Kareef
with you all the time or just in your dreams?”

“It seems
Kareef
put fear into my mind. I was fearful of every little thing that reminded me of what happened.
I couldn’t stop reliving the nightmare.”

“And now?”

“I feel better. I went away for four days and I think the shadow has gone.”

“Have you spent time into the loving arms of a friend since you came home?”
Was Samir looking into a crystal ball or what?
In two sentences, he had Talya cornered—and she couldn’t lie.

“Yes, I have.”

“Your voice told me so.
I knew the moment you pronounced my name that you had found a friend to care for you.
I’m not, however, going to ask you who the friend was, but, I also know that you will tell me in your own good time, even perhaps very soon.”

“What do you mean
very soon
?
I am not going back for another month or so.”

“Well, the plans that you had made have changed somewhat—for the better I might add.”

“You puzzle me, Samir; I have not been made aware of any changes.”

“My Lady, will you let me explain?”

“Of course, I’m listening.”

“
Charles
called me a few minutes ago.
He told me to get one aircraft ready as soon as possible.
That means I have to fly to
Paris
tomorrow and get the turbo jet in for a major maintenance work.
That will take about two weeks.
During that time,
Charles
told me that I was to come to
Vancouver
and visit with you until we would be ready to pick up my aircraft back in
Paris
, which means that I am taking you back where you belong.”

“Samir, I don’t … I can’t tell—” Talya was crying her heart out with joy.

“Will you leave the cries of joy for the moment I land in your city?”

“Yes, Samir…, I will.
But you can’t understand what a relief it will be to seeing you again.”

“Don’t you ever underestimate the powers of
God
, my dear lady. Why do you think He has intervened in such a way?
Because He understands your dilemma.”

“When will you arrive?”

“On Thursday evening…
God willing
.”

“I’ll be at the airport—alone.”

“Now I see that my teachings have not been in vain—you have once again engendered truth.”

When she hung up, her dust cloth was wet with tears and she was disgusted at the sight of it.
Her face was a mess once again.
“Oh Talya!”
she said
, looking at her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom; she looked like a chimneysweeper!

15

Talya
was smiling when she crossed the double doors of
Tristan
’s office the next morning.
Cecilia
looked at her with incredulity written across her face.

“Good Morning,
Cecilia
!”

“How on earth did you throw away the old face for this one?
You look absolutely radiant! I’m sorry—good morning—but this is unbelievable.”

“It’s just the result of a bit of TLC from a friend.”

“You mean, Doctor
Defray
?”

“Yes, in part.”

“And what’s the other part? Hold on, I’ve got to get these calls,”
Cecilia
said, concentrating once again on directing the ever-increasing number of phone calls.

Talya left her to her demanding duties and walked down the corridor toward her office.
As she passed
Jim
’s room, he saw her and rushed to the door.

“Talya? Am I glad you’ve come back. We’ve got to sit down and go over these agreements with
Ousmane
. The man is driving me around the twist. He’s on the phone every single morning.
I can’t even put the pen down, that he wants some word changed.
Please tell me that you can spare an hour or two with me?”

“Sure, may I take off my coat first?”

“I don’t know if I can let you
.
”

“Well, you’re going to have to let me get to my office, otherwise we might as well call it a day.”

He laughed at the rejoinder and went back to his desk.

After no more interruption from the gallery, Talya went into her office, and noticed at once that someone had
taken
good care of her flowers. She thought that she must remember to thank
Cecilia
.

She looked at the files that were starting to form a heap on the right hand side of the desk and immediately regretted to have been away for so long—the catching up seemed to be on the overwhelming side at that moment.

A gentle knock at the door interrupted her work. The door was opened. She
swivelled
the chair to face the timid guest.

“
Charles
!
You wonderful man! Thank you.” She got up from her seat and threw her arms around his neck.
This man is too tall for me
.
She was on her tiptoes.
This time she was sure she saw him blush.
He smiled.

“No familiarities around the office, please, Talya. I thought that it would be one way of curing those crocodile tears of yours.”

Talya released him from her impulsive hug. “And you were right. That did it. But
Ghali
’s care accounts for a good part of my recovery as well.”

“I would have to agree with you…. You look positively radiant.”
That must be the word of the day.
“Anyway enough of that,”
Charles
said
,
taking a seat across from her.
“We have some very good news and some problems, which do you want first?”

“I’d like the
very
good news first.
That will help me keep up with the problems.”

“All right then.
First of all let me tell you who’s come back onto the scene.”

“Who?”

“
Sir Reginald Carson
.”

“That’s an event, not
very good news
.
Why would our Canadian Ambassador get involved now?
Is he planning to assign some other guarding patrol on my person again?”

“No, no nothing like that, not for now anyway.
He’s called me to announce that the government has received notification, as he put it, that two World Organizations have sanctioned funding and manpower to rebuilt Sabodala on the
third hill
.”

“Wow!
That’s what I call
extremely
good
news.
Has he said which organizations?”

“No, not yet.
But that’s where our problems seem to start.”

“Why?
Or what problems, I should ask.”

“For one thing, we have one wet-behind-the-ears engineer who will not be able to handle both the rebuilding of the village and the dismantling of Sabodala at once.”

“You mean Doug?”

“Yes, him.
I’m starting to regret hiring him. I didn’t know at the time at which speed these projects were going to take off.
So, I need you to put on your thinking cap regarding Doug.”

“What about the engineering team you’ve engaged in
Toronto
, can’t they give us a hand?”

“No, not at the outset.
They’ll only start working once we’ve cleaned up the place. And that’s where we’ve got another problem—”

“You mean handling
Ousmane
has become a problem?”

“Yes, how did you hear about that?”

“
Jim
stopped me in the corridor this morning as I was trying to get to my office.”

“In a way I’m glad he did because, if Doug
is
a manpower problem,
Jim
has
a manpower problem.
He
can’t possibly handle the three sets of situations by himself.
He won’t make it.
He’s already spending all of his evenings at the office.
We’ll have to install a shower and a bedroom for him soon if I don’t get some relief for him.”

“What about
Carl
?
He’s a lawyer; can’t he give him a hand?”