The Time Remaining

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264 42 Raya has changed into a white blouse and navy-blue skirt. “Did he come with good or bad news, the detective?” “Both. If I decide to write about this whole business, he said he would be willing to help me.” He pauses. “I don’t think he realizes what he is getting into. It’s brave of him to volunteer, but I’m not going to put him in that position. He has too much to lose.” The sunlight inches into the apartment like a slowly encroaching tide on a beach. Gilchrist is studying the sunlight’s patterns on the floor and does not hear the telephone ring. Raya answers the phone. “Hello,” she says and then is silent for several minutes, listening. “Who is it, Raya?” She continues to listen. Her expression changes from one of attention to one of apprehension and then one of fear. Slowly, she puts down the receiver. “Who was it, Raya?” “I don’t know.” “What’s wrong?” “It was a man, Dodge. He spoke to me in Arabic.” “What did he say?” “He said it was you who betrayed Braheem last night. He said it was you who made it possible for him to be shot. He said you would pay for it.” Gilchrist takes in every word but says nothing. “Dodge,” Raya pleads, “you have to find some way to prove that Gelb lied about you. You have to. You have enemies pretending to be your friends, and you have friends turning against you. It’s not right.” Gilchrist remembers how Braheem’s brother Nadeem laughed a single staccato laugh when they returned from their visit to Tabry’s village. The Time Remaining | 265 It was a laugh that said that nothing was right but simply so, and there was no way to reverse that. That laugh now seems a perfect match for Gilchrist’s mood, and he laughs as Nadeem laughed. Raya watches him but says nothing. “You know, Raya,” says Gilchrist, “it’s like a spectacular joke. The people I want to defend think I’ve sacrificed one of their own, and the government I oppose makes me out as their defender and ally. What am I left with?” “The truth.” He looks at her and smiles, but it is a cynical smile. “You know the truth, Dodge,” Raya continues. “You know it, and there are people who will believe you.” “It won’t be easy.” “But there is no other way.” “I wish I could promise you a rose garden, Raya.” “A rose garden?” “It’s a saying here. It has a good meaning.” He wants to tell her something reassuring, but nothing comes to him. Instead, he walks to her, embraces her, and kisses her. After they separate he has the feeling that he is standing at his full height, as if the floor of the apartment is the earth itself, as if the spirit of the ultimate justice that he has taken for granted all his life is alive within him like an Alamo of no further retreat. “The only thing I’m afraid of, Raya, is that all this puts you in danger.” “As long as we’re together, I don’t care. I’m not afraid of whatever might happen.” “Every day will be a risk.” “Dodge,” she says, “in my country there are men who go to work every day or go out on the sea in small boats to fish, and they don’t know if they will be shot or beaten by settlers or if their boats will be taken from them, but they do what they must because it is their life. And their wives wait for them. I’ve watched them wait. And I know that it takes as much courage for those women to wait as it takes for the men to go out. If you have the courage to go out like that, then I’ll find the courage to wait. But if I need to help, I’m ready. We can work together the way we did.” 266 | The Time Remaining “I don’t know if I can be as good as you make me out to be, Raya. It’s been getting harder and harder for me to write. The words don’t come so easily now. But the words that do come are better now. It’s as if my whole...