Hideous kinky - By Esther Freud Page 0,58

early evening when we arrived in Marrakech and we went straight to Sophie’s house to collect Bea. The house was shuttered and dark and there was no sign of anyone at home. Mum said they had probably all gone out for supper and if they weren’t in the Djemaa El Fna someone would be sure to know where to find them.

They weren’t in the Djemaa El Fna. Even the Fool, who wiped tears from his eyes as he sat at our table, didn’t seem to have ever heard of Sophie. Bea, he was sure he had seen, but he couldn’t remember when. Mum ordered two bowls of bissara, but by the time it came a hard lump had risen up in my throat making it difficult to swallow, and with the first scalding spoonful I stripped the skin from the roof of my mouth. I kept thinking Mum must know where Bea was. Maybe she was keeping it a secret so that it would be a surprise when we found her, but late that night when we arrived at Luna and Umbark’s, it was Luna who was surprised.

‘I was beginning to think you’d emigrated,’ she said. Umbark was not at home.

Mum apologized. ‘It’s just that we’ve tried Sophie’s house three times now and there’s no one at home.’

Luna looked puzzled. ‘They moved,’ she said. ‘Not long after you went away. He decided he needed the countryside to write.’

‘Whereabouts in the countryside?’ There was panic in Mum’s voice.

‘I’m not sure. I expect I could find out.’ Luna was pouring tea. ‘But Bea didn’t go with them. In fact there was a bit of a scene.’ Luna paused to concentrate as she raised the silver pot high like a Moroccan, cooling the tea in an arc before it settled in its cup. ‘No. Bea wouldn’t go,’ she said admiringly. ‘She refused to go. I think she was frightened that if she went away anywhere, you might not be able to find her when you came back.’

‘Well, where is she then?’

‘I would have had her here, but…’ Luna glanced down at her stomach. It had ballooned under her clothes while we’d been gone. She looked around the room as if reminding herself how small it was. ‘There’s a man who lives in a communal house in the Medina… the man’s name I don‘t know, but he has a dog, the dog is Mashipots.’

‘And Bea went there?’

Luna had to restrain Mum from going to find her right then in the middle of the night. She made up a bed for us in the corner of the room and pretended not to notice when Mum took out the plastic sheet and slipped it under me.

We arrived at the communal house so early that we had to hammer on the door before even the dog began to bark. Finally a shutter clattered open and a man looked out.

‘Bea? I’ve come to get Bea?’ Mum shouted up.

The man frowned. ‘Who?’ ‘Sophie? Are you a friend?’

‘What?’ The man rubbed his eyes.

‘Do you have a dog called Mashipots?’ Mum‘s voice was strained.

The man disappeared. We waited. Another shutter opened.

‘What’s Mashipots done now?’ A new man leant out, naked.

‘Is Mashipots your dog?’

‘What if she is?’

‘I’m Bea’s mother.’

The man pulled back into the room and drew the shutters tight together. Eventually the door opened and a square–faced, white-and-tan dog flew out and jumped up to lick my face.

The man stood in the doorway. He was wrapped in a woman‘s dressing–gown. ’Bea‘s old lady, eh?’ he said. ‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, man, but she‘s not here. Me an’ Bea –we didn’t quite see eye to eye.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What I mean is that she ran off. Went out to buy a packet of cigarettes like, and, well, never came back.’

‘Didn’t you look for her?’ Mum was pale. ’Down, Mashipots.‘ She kicked the dog who had its front paws on my shoulders.

‘Easy, lady,’ he said as Mashipots whimpered away. ‘I didn’t look for her because I thought if she wants to stay missionary–style with that old girl at the polio school, it’s all the same to me.’

Mum didn’t wait to hear any more. She tightened her grip on my hand and dragged me away.

There had been a party, and the trestle–tables were covered in half–eaten sandwiches and long pools of spilt lemonade. The room was full of children – boys with cropped hair, some even shaved, and mostly they had sticks to help them walk. Mum and I stood in the