want us out,” Yousif told him.
“Out where?” Amin inquired.
“I don’t know. Just out.”
Amin looked at Isaac, grinning. “Now you tell me who’s crazy. Me or them. Well, if they’re that cuckoo, let’s follow them for sure.”
Yousif kept his eyes on the strangers, who were stopping now to look at the variety of sweets and pastries. He restrained Amin and Isaac from walking any closer lest anyone become aware that they were being followed. The tall dark man with the sinewy arms who was accompanying the blonde with the bluest eyes bought two portions of red-colored cheese-filled kinafeh wrapped in waxed paper. Three others, including the statuesque brunette in her thirties who reminded Yousif of Salwa, bought dark roasted peanuts from a tall, thin, Ethiopian woman selling from a portable stand that emanated smoke.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Amin inquired.
“I have a feeling they’re headed for the woods, but not for what you’re thinking,” Yousif said, stepping off the curb and holding back his friends to let a car make a right turn.
“They’re heading west,” Yousif explained. “There’s nothing in that direction except the olive and fig orchards. There must be more comfortable places to make love than a rocky field. Besides, I just don’t believe they’d screw in broad daylight with everyone watching.”
“Well I hope you’re wrong and I’m right,” Amin said, again rubbing his hands. “If I catch them in the act, I think I’ll go crazy.”
“Don’t worry, you’re not about to,” Yousif told him, leaning against a wall to count the strangers ahead of him. “Look, there are nine of them. Who’s going to make love to the odd number? I tell you they’re not lovers.”
The new suspicion seemed to destroy Amin’s confidence in his own theory.
“What a bore,” he said, “but I still would like to know for sure.”
The strangers were half a block away from the entrance to Rowda Hotel’s garden. Maybe, Yousif thought, they would turn to go in and bask in the shade of the ancient trees. But the strangers passed the entrance without even turning their heads and proceeded to descend the hill, going west. The three boys looked at each other again, then began to follow them in earnest. They maintained a respectable distance from the strangers and, to avoid suspicion, chose to walk on the other side of the street.
On the outskirts of town, the group paused at a main fork in the road. One of them looked back and saw Yousif and his friends. Then all of them turned around and looked in the direction of the three boys. Yousif quickly bent down to tie his shoelaces, and Isaac and Amin stopped and waited for him to finish.
“They saw us,” Yousif muttered as he tightened the lace through every hole.
When he looked again the group had split up and gone in two different directions. Yousif rose and the three boys resumed their walking. They agreed to stay together, but didn’t know which group to follow. By the time they reached the fork they decided to follow the group of five that had turned right and taken the dirt road.
The group ahead of Yousif and his friends moved briskly, doubling the hundred meters between the two groups. They had to walk much faster to keep up with them.
As the straight road ended and dipped into the valley Yousif could see the Roman arch, a landmark two-thirds of a mile away. Beyond it was a steep hill, a narrow road, and vast fields of olive and fig trees which stretched over several mountains. Yousif was alarmed.
“If they get to that arch before us,” he told his two friends, “they could disappear very easily and we’d never find them.”
Isaac frowned. “I’ll be damned,” he said, kicking a stone.
“I know a short cut,” Amin suggested. “But we’ll have to run. Are you willing?”
“Yes,” Yousif and Isaac said together.
“Let’s go then,” Amin said, starting to run across the field to his left.
Yousif and Isaac ran behind him, leaping over small stone walls and ducking under tree branches. A bush tore a small hole in Isaac’s trousers and a pebble caused Yousif’s ankle to twist under him as they tried to catch up with Amin, who had struck out ahead of them and was now racing down the hill like a gazelle chased by two foxes. Five minutes later, they reached the Roman arch, confident that they had beaten the strangers. They hid behind the thick columns and waited, wiping sweat from their faces and around their necks.
Yousif could soon hear thudding footsteps. He had to take a chance and look. He raised himself up and checked the road. He saw a farmer walking behind a burdened mule and heading toward town, singing.
They have erected mountains between you and me.
But what could stop the souls from reaching out across the mountains.
The three friends had to suppress a giggle. Did the sight of the handsome couples put the farmer in such a romantic mood? Then Yousif was distracted. He focused on the “lovers.” One of the men raised the binoculars to his eyes and inspected the mountain. Another took out a map which he and the striking blonde at his side hunched over.
“I tell you they’re up to no good,” Yousif said, turning toward Amin and Isaac.
Suddenly, Yousif’s eyes fell on a shiny round object lying on the ground. The sun hit it at the right angle and made the silver gleam. He was sure it was a watch. He picked it up and rolled it in his hand, disappointed. “It’s a compass,” he said.
“A compass!” Isaac exclaimed. “Let me see it.”
Yousif handed it to Isaac, knowing that it had fallen from the strangers they were following. His earlier suspicions deepened; he was now convinced that they were surveying the hills. He turned around to tell Amin. To his surprise Amin was standing on the edge of a large rock. In his white shirt, Yousif thought, Amin might as well have waved a flag.
“Get off that rock,” Yousif told him, his voice hushed.
In answer, Amin stepped closer to the edge and craned his neck to see where the couples went.
“Get down,” Isaac warned, his hands cupping his mouth.
Amin did not seem to pay attention, but stood looking for a better spot. He stepped down on an adjacent wall, and it gave under him. The stones toppled, creating a roaring sound that could have been heard from a distance. Yousif and Isaac leaped to catch Amin, but it was too late. He rolled down the hill with large and small boulders crashing around him. His friends gasped and then ran after him. When the avalanche stopped, Amin lay sprawled at the bottom of a field, one huge rock on top of his left arm.
“Jesus!” Yousif said, frightened.
Yousif looked at Amin, then at the strangers. His loyalty was divided. He didn’t want to see Amin hurt but he also didn’t want to lose the strangers. Had they been regular tourists, he thought, they would have come back to help. Surely they must have heard the sound of the stone wall collapsing. He watched in frustration as they hurried around a bend in the valley and disappeared.
