Mrs Lafayette's Visit
Version 1
Shortly after Rachel's graduation from university, her father had the opportunity to take up a job in the United Arab Emirates, and so the family moved. Her first sight of the country came as a complete surprise to her. Whereas she had been expecting a certain measure of deprivation, she was instead greeted by an exported American Dream, a city in which if you worked in the right company with the right connections, you could live in a three-storey house too. While she was there, she worked as a secretary in a Japanese firm. She had nothing but praise for the professionalism and friendliness of the Arabs in the corporate context. Yet one incident afforded her a glimpse of the unspoken lines that could all too easily be crossed by an unwitting outsider. Some friends of hers were visiting and she had booked them on a desert tour. In the middle of the tour, the van they were travelling in broke down and they had to resort to digging the van out of the sand because the tour guide refused to call anyone for help. Presumably, it would have been a loss of face. The next day, when she called the tour company about getting a refund, it marked the beginning of several weeks of being handed from one employee to another, until she finally had the chance to speak to the manager. He promised her a refund the following day, but when she called back then, his secretary informed her that he was away on business. When she expressed her disbelief at the way the manager was handling the situation, his secretary told her off for being rude and unceremoniously hung up on her. For in speaking against the manager, as a non-Arab woman, she had insulted him, however unwittingly.
Version 2
She had promised them a walk through the woods, nuts and berries, squirrels and spiders. But all they had received for their pains thus far were gnarled roots and itchy bites, squelching mud and spoilt shoes. This would not do. The guide, for whom she had forked out a princely sum (as she judged by his standards), was obviously lost. He had been so for the past three hours. When they had passed another group of hikers about an hour ago, she had held some hope that they might offer some help. And so they had, pointing the way to the waterfall. The guide had smiled and nodded, and then chattering away in his incomprehensible, but undeniably musical, native tongue, led them in that direction. But only until the next junction, where he calmly led them off the main path into what was little more than a trail trodden through the vegetation. And like the children of Hamelin, they had followed.
Version 3
The gate creaked noisily, as the man twisted the key in the lock and pushed it open. As he stepped silently into the room, each wall painted a slightly different shade of blue, an old lady followed behind, her shoes clicking against the linoleum. Her features were delicate, her makeup immaculate, but just beneath the layers of foundation and blusher, one could faintly discern the subtle etching of worry lines, intermingling with the laugh lines in the corners of her eyes. She glanced around the room, taking in the interplay of light and shadow as the curtains billowed. It was very pleasant, she thought, quite relaxing. She would rather be elsewhere, of course, but some things simply could not be helped.
'Didn't your husband come with you today, Mrs Lafayette?' the man asked.
'No, he had some friends visiting from Dubai this weekend and he wanted to show them around the city. The place makes him uncomfortable anyway,' the second sentence murmured almost as an afterthought.
'Perhaps some other time then.'
'Yes, perhaps.' Her shoes continued to click on the floor, as he left the room. She stopped in front of the window and stood there, looking out at the flowerbeds, only turning around when she heard the shuffling of feet and mumbled voices behind her.
'Do you remember when Dad and Mum took us to Dubai?'
'Yes! Our house was so big, and we didn't think it would have been. It was just like in America, but better. Daddy said we were lucky to be able to live in such a big house!'
'And how Mum laughed when she heard about our job at that Japanese firm.'
'Well, Mummy said it was so silly, studying French for all those years and ending up not using it.'
'Mr Nakamura was a good man, always punctual, always polite. So were the Arabs that we met every day. Though there was that one time, when Mum got really upset with them.'
'I remember! I remember! Our friends were here and we were driving together through the desert. It was fun! Then the van broke down, and then the guide was a bad man, and then he wouldn’t call for help, and then we had to dig and dig and dig.'
'Yes, I rather think he thought it would be a loss of face. Do you remember what happened next?'
'I know! I know! We called someone to get our money back, but he wouldn't give it to us. He made us talk to someone else, and she made us talk to someone else, and he made us talk to someone else, and it was so confusing, and we were so sad because nobody wanted to give us our money.'
'That's right. We were handed from one employee to another, until we finally spoke to the manager. He promised us a refund the following day, but when we called back then, his secretary informed us that he was away on business.'
'That made us very, very sad. Then we yelled at her and she hung up. That mean lady was rude!'
'She certainly was. Not the most pleasant of experiences, we should think.'
All the time that this conversation had been going on, Mrs Lafayette had stood in front of the window, watching. Like so many times before this, it was all she could do. Stand there, with tears in her eyes, as her daughter talked to herself, locked up in her own mind, divided into two. The doctors assured her each time she saw them that her daughter was getting better, but it only took one look at her daughter to know that they were, if not lying, at least offering her only a partial truth. Mrs Lafayette slowly walked away, while her daughter continued muttering to herself. The guard gave a sympathetic nod as she passed him, and led Helen out after her, sliding the gate back into place and locking it after him.
Shortly after Rachel's graduation from university, her father had the opportunity to take up a job in the United Arab Emirates, and so the family moved. Her first sight of the country came as a complete surprise to her. Whereas she had been expecting a certain measure of deprivation, she was instead greeted by an exported American Dream, a city in which if you worked in the right company with the right connections, you could live in a three-storey house too. While she was there, she worked as a secretary in a Japanese firm. She had nothing but praise for the professionalism and friendliness of the Arabs in the corporate context. Yet one incident afforded her a glimpse of the unspoken lines that could all too easily be crossed by an unwitting outsider. Some friends of hers were visiting and she had booked them on a desert tour. In the middle of the tour, the van they were travelling in broke down and they had to resort to digging the van out of the sand because the tour guide refused to call anyone for help. Presumably, it would have been a loss of face. The next day, when she called the tour company about getting a refund, it marked the beginning of several weeks of being handed from one employee to another, until she finally had the chance to speak to the manager. He promised her a refund the following day, but when she called back then, his secretary informed her that he was away on business. When she expressed her disbelief at the way the manager was handling the situation, his secretary told her off for being rude and unceremoniously hung up on her. For in speaking against the manager, as a non-Arab woman, she had insulted him, however unwittingly.
Version 2
She had promised them a walk through the woods, nuts and berries, squirrels and spiders. But all they had received for their pains thus far were gnarled roots and itchy bites, squelching mud and spoilt shoes. This would not do. The guide, for whom she had forked out a princely sum (as she judged by his standards), was obviously lost. He had been so for the past three hours. When they had passed another group of hikers about an hour ago, she had held some hope that they might offer some help. And so they had, pointing the way to the waterfall. The guide had smiled and nodded, and then chattering away in his incomprehensible, but undeniably musical, native tongue, led them in that direction. But only until the next junction, where he calmly led them off the main path into what was little more than a trail trodden through the vegetation. And like the children of Hamelin, they had followed.
Version 3
The gate creaked noisily, as the man twisted the key in the lock and pushed it open. As he stepped silently into the room, each wall painted a slightly different shade of blue, an old lady followed behind, her shoes clicking against the linoleum. Her features were delicate, her makeup immaculate, but just beneath the layers of foundation and blusher, one could faintly discern the subtle etching of worry lines, intermingling with the laugh lines in the corners of her eyes. She glanced around the room, taking in the interplay of light and shadow as the curtains billowed. It was very pleasant, she thought, quite relaxing. She would rather be elsewhere, of course, but some things simply could not be helped.
'Didn't your husband come with you today, Mrs Lafayette?' the man asked.
'No, he had some friends visiting from Dubai this weekend and he wanted to show them around the city. The place makes him uncomfortable anyway,' the second sentence murmured almost as an afterthought.
'Perhaps some other time then.'
'Yes, perhaps.' Her shoes continued to click on the floor, as he left the room. She stopped in front of the window and stood there, looking out at the flowerbeds, only turning around when she heard the shuffling of feet and mumbled voices behind her.
'Do you remember when Dad and Mum took us to Dubai?'
'Yes! Our house was so big, and we didn't think it would have been. It was just like in America, but better. Daddy said we were lucky to be able to live in such a big house!'
'And how Mum laughed when she heard about our job at that Japanese firm.'
'Well, Mummy said it was so silly, studying French for all those years and ending up not using it.'
'Mr Nakamura was a good man, always punctual, always polite. So were the Arabs that we met every day. Though there was that one time, when Mum got really upset with them.'
'I remember! I remember! Our friends were here and we were driving together through the desert. It was fun! Then the van broke down, and then the guide was a bad man, and then he wouldn’t call for help, and then we had to dig and dig and dig.'
'Yes, I rather think he thought it would be a loss of face. Do you remember what happened next?'
'I know! I know! We called someone to get our money back, but he wouldn't give it to us. He made us talk to someone else, and she made us talk to someone else, and he made us talk to someone else, and it was so confusing, and we were so sad because nobody wanted to give us our money.'
'That's right. We were handed from one employee to another, until we finally spoke to the manager. He promised us a refund the following day, but when we called back then, his secretary informed us that he was away on business.'
'That made us very, very sad. Then we yelled at her and she hung up. That mean lady was rude!'
'She certainly was. Not the most pleasant of experiences, we should think.'
All the time that this conversation had been going on, Mrs Lafayette had stood in front of the window, watching. Like so many times before this, it was all she could do. Stand there, with tears in her eyes, as her daughter talked to herself, locked up in her own mind, divided into two. The doctors assured her each time she saw them that her daughter was getting better, but it only took one look at her daughter to know that they were, if not lying, at least offering her only a partial truth. Mrs Lafayette slowly walked away, while her daughter continued muttering to herself. The guard gave a sympathetic nod as she passed him, and led Helen out after her, sliding the gate back into place and locking it after him.