The Caves at Wadi Rum

Maritza looked through the pictures from the archaeological site, marveling at the Thamudic wall art. She’d always dreamed of exploring something like this. Her best friend Daniel had found them while rock climbing in Jordan outside Wadi Rum. Daniel was an adrenaline junkie, he had been since they were kids, and he used his skills as a stuntman to get hired for movies that took him to places he wanted to go. This time it had been a trip to Wadi Rum for the filming of part of Rogue One so he could climb the mountains. To her surprise, when shooting wrapped, he had stayed there instead of coming home.

That’s how she knew that when he sent her an email, it had to be important for him to have interrupted his climbing time in Khaz’ali Canyon. When she opened it, she saw Daniel had gotten straight to the point.

Maritza,

You’re going to love these. I’m only sorry you aren’t already here to see this place yourself. I cut my climbing short to come back to Aquaba to send you this, but I’m headed back out. My guide, Mohammed, borrowed a satellite phone so when you get here call us and we’ll come get you.

Daniel

When the pictures downloaded, she printed them out and just kept staring at them, marveling at the people and animals and the daily scenes where women were working over fires and men were hunting with bows and arrows. Maritza immediately arranged an emergency sabbatical, bought a ticket, and scheduled transport for herself at the airport. Then she dialed the number Daniel had left for her. When nobody picked up, she assumed he was still climbing somewhere and decided to call again when she arrived. When she finally touched down, she was exhausted but excited to finally be in Jordan. She dialed Mohammad’s number again and again got no answer. Maritza decided to go ahead with her plans, taking the arranged transport to Wadi Rum, deciding the village was small enough that someone would know the caves near where Daniel was climbing.

Maritza arrived in Wadi Rum and checked in at the Visitor’s Center to get help to reach Mohammed’s family. When they met, they agreed to escort her there to see if they could find the two men. Twilight found them on the edge of Jabal Umm ad Dami, looking for signs of the base camp. They found the 4x4 they had driven and several packs but no sign of either man. They searched and called out but couldn’t find any sign of them. When Maritza went through Daniel’s pack, she got a chill. She had found the satellite phone in his bag. He wouldn’t have left it here when he knew she was going to call. Mohamed’s brother, Qasim, was concerned too. His brother had left his water bottle and prayer beads in his bags, and neither were things he would willingly leave behind. The only conclusion they could draw was that something had happened to Daniel and Mohammed.

Maritza realized in her rush to find Daniel she hadn’t tried to find the cave he had emailed her about. She needed to find it to see if she could determine where the men had gone from there. Qasim took her to the spot his brother had shown Daniel and, sure enough, there was the cave. Filled from floor to ceiling with petroglyphs. She wandered around in awe. The complexity of design was incredible. She saw trees rendered so carefully she could tell they were date palms, birds so delicate she felt they might break if she touched them, and the men’s spears and arrows were etched sharp and hard. It was breathtaking.

As she squinted at the designs furthest away, she realized she could see an opening in the very back of the cave. Curious, she turned on her flashlight and ventured in deeper. Suddenly she stopped. She could have sworn she heard voices. That wasn’t possible, was it? After moving ahead a few yards down what seemed like a natural corridor, she realized the cave was actually a series of caves. She walked into the next cave and saw there was a light up ahead.

Something was definitely wrong. Maritza knew that. She just didn’t know what. As she stood there trying to figure out what to do next, she listened harder and heard men talking about buyers and realized that she had to have stumbled onto antiquities smugglers. She froze. She knew they were likely dangerous and realized if they had stumbled on Daniel taking pictures they may have decided he was dangerous and done something to him. Slowly and carefully, Maritza worked her way around the outer edge of the cave, trying desperately to stay in the darkest parts. When she reached the next space, she could see the lanterns and smell the dust from the chisels splitting the rock to pull off the petroglyphs so they could be sold piecemeal. Her blood boiled at the thought of the destruction these men were causing. When she leaned out a little, she caught her breath. It was Daniel! He was curled up against a rock, a bloody gash on the back of his head, and Mohammed lay at his feet. She gulped, hoping he was still alive.

She had to do something, but what? She backed out of the cave and went back to find Qasim. When she explained, he took out a pistol and a rifle. Since Maritza was smaller, he gave her the pistol. She ejected the magazine and checked the weapon before racking the slide so it was ready to fire. Daniel had taken her shooting for years and she was glad she’d learned because today she’d need all the lessons he’d taught her to save his life. They talked quickly and decided to try to hold the smugglers at bay long enough to get Daniel and Mohammed out.

Maritza led the way and when they got there she let Qasim go first since he had the rifle and could cover more of the room. She held her breath and stepped out, pistol at the ready. As she sized up the men she realized she and Qasim had the advantage because the smuggler’s weapons were on the other side of the cave so they were unarmed. She cleared her throat, and the smugglers whipped around, almost in unison, and scrambled to reach their weapons. Qasim discharged his rifle at the cave roof over the men’s heads and a shower of debris came rattling down. The smugglers froze, realizing the big man wouldn’t hesitate to shoot them. As they argued and yelled out, Maritza edged towards Daniel while making sure not to cross in front of Qasim or turn her back to the smugglers. Qasim fired another brief burst at the ceiling and said something in Arabic. She didn’t understand the words, but the tone was clear and it sounded like ‘don’t even think about it’. When she reached Daniel, she nudged him in the thigh with the toe of her boot and realized he was unconscious. Maritza swore in her head and moved on to Mohammed. She saw he had rolled over and was squinting at his brother. He croaked out “hal hdha ‘ant qasim”, Is that you Qasim?, and tried to prop himself up on his knees and elbows. Maritza was relieved he was awake and moving. Now she just needed to figure out what was wrong with Daniel.

Maritza was no medic, but she had taken basic First Aid classes and knew she needed to check Daniel’s heartbeat, blood pressure and pupil response. She needed to know if he was in shock, had a concussion, or had some other issue with his head wound. She helped Mohammed up, so he was sitting against the wall so he could get his bearings. Hopefully, he could walk out under his own steam because it seemed like she might need to carry Daniel, and Qasim needed to keep his focus on the smugglers. Once Mohammed was clear-eyed, she gave him the pistol and went to kneel next to Daniel. She probed the wound and found it had stopped bleeding and while there was a bump it didn’t seem excessively swollen or tight with built up pressure. Maritza spoke to him through the entire process, asking him to wake up, asking if he could hear her, asking if he could blink or move his fingers or toes, anything to try to get a response out of him. She opened his eyelids and his pupils reacted to the light, so that was a good sign, but that was not enough to help her get him out of the cave.

She crossed back over to Qasim and turned her back to the smugglers. Under her breath, she told him not to say much because they didn’t know if the smugglers spoke English. Then she asked if he could cover their retreat through the caves. He nodded a yes in reply, so she crossed back to Mohammed and faced him so the smugglers could hear as little as possible. She asked him if he could walk and if he felt like he could accurately fire the pistol if need be. He nodded and let her help him up so he could stand against the wall. She kneeled down next to Daniel and tried to figure out how to carry him. The only way she could think of was a fireman’s carry. Thank goodness she went to the gym regularly and Daniel was wiry. She laughed to herself for a split second, she’d called him that once and he’d been so offended. She suddenly wanted to cry. Daniel looked so pale and so still and she wanted him to jump up and threaten to eat the last piece of cake at her next birthday celebration, or something equally ludicrous, if she called him wiry. He had always been the yin to her yang, and the thought of losing him overwhelmed her. But now was not the time to indulge in tears. First, she had to get him safely out of here and then she had to get him medical care.

She gestured to Mohammed to go to the door with her as she carried Daniel so she wouldn’t have to walk in front of either weapon. She didn’t trust the smugglers at all. In the ten minutes they’d been here, she’d seen them eying her ragtag crew as if they’d like nothing better than to slit their throats and leave them here to disappear from the world forever. Maritza got Daniel pushed up against the rock and then finally on it so he was in the perfect position for her to stand up with him on her shoulders. She sat on the rock in front of Daniel, hoping the squats she’d hated doing when she went to the gym would pay off today. As she hefted him up against the cave wall so one arm and one leg were over her shoulder, she grunted. Then she rocked forward and pulled with everything she had in her. She wanted to scream in frustration when she had to sit back down because she had almost lost her balance. Maritza had felt herself sway and knew if she fell it would be the distraction the smugglers were likely waiting for, so she sat again. This time would be easier because she had Daniel’s stomach centered just below her neck so she could pull him up as her momentum was carrying her up. She took some deep breaths and got her feet firmly under her and then pulled him and herself up with more force than she thought she had. An agonized “Uunghh” ripped out of her belly and exploded out of her mouth as she strained to lift Daniel. But this time she leaned back against the wall and used it to hold him steady as she positioned herself under him so he was solidly on her shoulders. Maritza looked up to see several of the smugglers looking at her slack jawed. She glanced over at Qasim and Mohamed and found them staring intently at the smugglers. Thank goodness, she couldn’t imagine what she had looked and sounded like, but she could imagine how hard it must have been not to look at what she was doing. She was doubly thankful she and Daniel had found these brothers to work with. They just might make it out of here yet.

As she barely waddled towards the exit from this cave, she could see Mohammed’s feet shuffling along, following her. She would feel so much safer once they were outside and away from here. As they passed out of the cave and into the corridor, Maritza had to lean against the wall to take Daniel’s weight off her shoulders for a few seconds, and Mohammed passed in front of her to have a clear shot if someone came towards them. When she continued walking, trying desperately to keep a decent pace so she could get them out of there as quickly as possible, she looked over at Mohammed and saw him looking ahead, focused on the end of the corridor in case the smugglers had friends outside while holding onto the wall to keep himself upright. The two of them looked like the last drunks to get thrown out of the bar at closing time, weaving all over the place and leaning up against the wall every few steps. She was doubly thankful Qasim was behind them covering their escape because she had little faith that Mohammed could hit the side of a barn if he had to fire the weapon right now. Maritza would have felt better if she had been the one with the pistol, but Mohammed could barely hold himself up and she didn’t want him to drop Daniel.

As Qasim came up behind them, he tapped her shoulder to let her know where he was and she sighed with relief. She was glad they were all out of the cave and heading outside. Qasim offered to take Daniel, she was clearly struggling under his weight, but since she was unfamiliar with rifles, she didn’t want to take the risk that she wouldn’t be accurate enough if the smugglers came up behind them. Muhammed reached the last cave and poked his head out the entrance to see if there was anyone out there. He couldn’t see or hear anyone, so he motioned the other two to come ahead. He stepped out and took a deep breath of cool night air, looking better than he had inside. Maritza motioned to him to open the door to the 4x4. Qasim was guarding the mouth of the cave so she could use Muhammed to help her get Daniel in the car. She went down on one knee and sat Daniel on the door frame. From the other side, Muhammed reached across the seat and hooked his hands under Daniel’s arms and pulled as Maritza pushed. Daniel’s still limp form slid into the back of the vehicle and Muhammed sat in the back so he could rest and hold Daniel in place during what was likely to become a very bumpy and very fast ride. Maritza held out her hand for the pistol, and Mohammed obliged with a nod. Focused on putting on his seatbelt and fashioning some kind of cushioning for Daniel from blankets in the back while Maritza grabbed their bags and shoved them in on the floorboards.

Maritza looked around and didn’t see anyone and almost relaxed until she heard Qasim shout something in Arabic that sounded like he was giving a warning. Then she heard him unload what sounded like an entire magazine into the cave. She cringed, thinking of the precious artwork on those walls and wondering if any of it would remain by the time this was over. Qasim flew down the slight incline from the cave, raced around the hood and threw himself into the front seat, turned the key, and gunned the engine. Maritza kept her pistol trained on the mouth of the cave until Qasim was ready to go and then she jumped in and they went tearing off into the night.

Maritza cursed herself for forgetting about the satellite phone. They could have called the Desert Patrol Corps in Wadi Rum for reinforcements before they even went in the cave. Now they were on their own, and she didn’t much like their odds if the smugglers came after them. Qasim was a skilful driver, and he knew where they were going, but she was sure the smugglers were going to be right behind them any minute now. She reached back and found the phone in Daniel’s bag and gave it to Mohammed, asking him to please call the Desert Patrol or his family if he didn’t know the number so they could go over the alert the officers. Maritza and the group needed help, and they needed it fast.

She kept looking behind them as Mohammed called his wife; she understood enough basic Arabic to get the gist of the conversation. He was telling her to get one of their sons to run over to Corps Headquarters and give them his location, explain the situation, and tell them he needed help. Maritza hoped that child had wings on his feet because she had an awful feeling of foreboding.

As they drove towards Wadi Rum, Qasim picked up speed, leaving his high beams on to see as far ahead of them as possible to avoid any unexpected debris. He knew, they all knew, that in the clear night air of the desert even the dimmest parking lights would have been discernible from miles away, so it made more sense to leave the lights on and attempt to outrun any pursuers rather than try to sneak away. They had all settled in to a nervous stillness, mostly to keep from distracting Qasim from his laser like focus on where he was going. In the uneasy quiet, Maritza almost yelped in surprise when the phone rang unexpectedly. Mohammed answered, and after listening for a minute, he frowned. Maritza’s heart sank. Something must have kept the Desert Patrol from coming to them, if the smugglers were after them they would never make it all the way back to Wadi Rum in the beat up 4x4 they were driving.

Mohammed had a rapid conversation in Arabic with Qasim and then turned to Maritza to explain part of the Desert Patrol was, in fact, on patrol and they could meet them sooner if they went to a well-known oasis nearby. As Mohammed was explaining, Qasim took a left, and they were off across the desert. Maritza trusted the two men to know the territory, and she trusted the reputation of the Desert Patrol, so she decided there wasn’t much she could offer and she should be thankful she was with resourceful men like these two. They raced across the barren landscape, sometimes barely avoiding drifts and rocks. Qasim drove like a man possessed. He knew Mohammed and Daniel needed medical care, and Maritza could feel him frantically trying to get more speed out of the little 4x4. When they came around an outcropping and saw a camp, they all took a deep breath and felt some hope.

That’s when they heard the plink of bullets impacting against the metal of their 4x4. She shrank down, Mohammed leaned over Daniel to protect his head and get his own head out of view and poor Qasim tried to maneuver the vehicle on the soft sand so he could get behind the outcropping as fast as possible. Happily, it was the right camp and the Desert Patrol had clearly been informed that they were on their way and likely being pursued because they had set up sand bags behind which they could hide and fire at will. Which Maritza and her party could hear happening. After a minute, someone in the khaki uniform of the Desert Patrol came over and they all relaxed even more. He waved at them to come with him, and this time Qasim told Maritza he would carry Daniel. She wasn’t going to argue, Daniel may be wiry, but he was also damn heavy. Qasim hefted Daniel out of the back seat and followed the man. Mohammed and Maritza followed Qasim.

As they made their way through camp, they heard the sound of gunfire escalate and then drop off and then escalate again several times as the smugglers tested the gunmen they were up against to figure out who they were fighting since they couldn’t see anyone. Maritza couldn’t imagine what the four of them would have done if they had been alone. As they came to the last row of tents, she saw an immense circle outlined with lights in the sand. Maritza finally felt like they were going to make it when she realized it was a makeshift helicopter landing pad. She actually smiled when she heard the voice of the pilot over the radio on the table near the landing pad, asking if it was safe to land. She wanted scream ‘Yes!’ But the man at the table on the microphone who was replying was unemotional, asking if they had enough fuel to wait a few minutes until the gunshots died down and a lucky potshot would not hit them. Maritza felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She needed Daniel to get to a hospital and be ok and she needed that to be happening now. She clenched her fists to keep from swearing or crying or just screaming unintelligible sounds from sheer frustration. In her head she counted from 20 down to zero in an attempt to calm herself. Qasim looked at her and suggested she have a seat next to Daniel, who had been placed on a table nearby and covered with blankets. Maritza wasn’t sure if it was because someone thought he might be in shock or because it was cold in the desert at night, but either way, she appreciated their care with Daniel.

After listening to the helicopter report that their night vision scope showed the smugglers leaving, Maritza thought she might lose her mind. Just when she couldn’t take another minute of waiting, the man on the radio gave permission for the helicopter to land and Maritza jumped up out of her chair. Mohammed and Qasim were talking and Qasim looked resigned but nodded his head and came to talk to Maritza. Mohammed had decided he wanted to go home and go to the clinic in the morning. He insisted he was fine, and a night at home in his own bed was what he needed in order to feel better. Qasim said he could have the Desert Patrol bring him home and make sure he was safe and go with her if she wanted him to. She felt bad for Qasim. He hadn’t signed on for this kind of night, and he had to be exhausted and concerned for his brother. Maritza told him she would be fine and he should go home with Mohammed. She would go in the helicopter with Daniel and go to the hospital in Aquaba.

Two of the Desert Patrol carefully helped get Daniel on a stretcher and put him onto the Jordan Air Ambulance helicopter while Maritza gave Qasim and Mohammed a deep bow with her hand on her heart, letting them know she appreciated their help more than she could express. They did the same in return and asked her to call when she had information about Daniel’s condition. She thanked them and then turned to go. Mohammed yelped and shouted at her to wait and rummaged around in the bags he had brought with him from the 4x4. He came up with Daniel’s camera in his hand and gave it to her. Maritza slipped the strap around her neck and thanked the brothers again before climbing up into the passenger compartment. She waved while the co-pilot helped her buckle in and then braced herself for takeoff. In a matter of minutes, they had run amended flight checks and were ready to take off again. As the blades spooled up, Maritza watched the sand kick up and then felt the jolt as the wheels left the ground. Hang on Daniel, she thought to herself, we’re going to get you to the hospital and they’re going to figure out what’s wrong and fix it. She refused to think about any other possibility.

Thankfully, the flight went quickly, and they were landing at the hospital helipad faster than she had dared hope. The emergency room staff were on hand and had Daniel off the helicopter and into the ER so quickly that Maritza barely had time to thank the helicopter crew before she jumped out to race after Daniel as he disappeared through the automatic glass double doors.

As she ran in, there was a nurse trying to get her to sign papers, but she refused to stop and talk to her. Maritza knew it was just the woman’s job but she couldn’t help that now, she was worried about Daniel and she had to know if he was going to recover. She nearly ran down the hallway, hearing mostly Arabic, and realized she was going to need to find a translator or she was unlikely to get Daniel the help he needed. She started asking everyone he passed if they spoke English. When she got a yes from someone who looked like an intern, she stopped and told him she needed help to find Daniel and figure out what was going on. He walked her back to the lounge and asked her to sit and wait while he figured out where Daniel was and what his condition was. After he left, the nurse found her and started trying to get her to sign papers again. But she didn’t have Daniel’s medical cards or blood type or anything else. She kept trying to explain she had no idea what she was asking and couldn’t read or speak Arabic. She was so frustrated she was about to cry when the intern came back and as she listened to the two of them she vowed never to go someplace where she didn’t speak at least one of the languages spoken there. Finally, she broke in and asked the intern to tell the nurse she wasn’t Daniel’s wife or sister, so she had none of the information she was asking for. The nurse, clearly exasperated, threw up her hands and told the intern to tell her that unless she was family, they needed to call someone else. Maritza panicked and blurted out, “But I am family, we’re cousins and his parents are dead and he has no siblings”. After a while, the intern seemed to have talked the nurse down. She left wagging her finger, and the intern exhaled, looking as if he’d gone six rounds with a prizefighter. What the intern had to report was better news, though. Daniel was concussed but was currently getting a CAT Scan to determine the severity of the damage and be sure there was no swelling in his brain. He appeared to be responsive to touch and sounds and some other external stimuli, like the flashlight they had used to check his pupil dilation and the tests they had done for nerve damage in his extremities. Maritza was so relieved not to hear he was in a coma she burst into tears in front of the uncomfortable intern.

A woman walking by stopped to inquire if she was ok and the intern explained. She waved him off and sat next to Maritza, offered her a tissue and asked her name. Maritza introduced herself and the woman then identified herself as Fatima Saleh, the daughter of the surgeon who had been called in to see Daniel. She was there because she had been out with her father when the call came in and it was easier for her to wait here then for her father to be delayed getting to the surgery. Maritza apologized for their tearful introduction and the need for Fatima to be stuck in a hospital waiting room. Fatima smiled easily and told her not to concern herself. If Allah wished for her to be there, then he must have a reason, and perhaps this was it. She told Maritza to wait there and said she would try to get some more information. Maritza thanked her profusely. After Fatima walked away, she wondered what she looked like to engender such a kindness. She stood up and saw her reflection in a picture of the hospital that was hanging on the wall. Maritza was glad it wasn’t a mirror; she didn’t think she could have dealt with that level of clarity in seeing her reflection. Maritza did what little she could to pull herself together, taking out her ponytail and wrapping her hair up into a bun and using the still tear dampened tissue to wipe her face and putting on the chapstick she found in her pocket. She knew she wasn’t ready to walk the Paris runways, but at least she no longer looked like the dusty, bedraggled waif she must have appeared to be when she came in. No wonder the intern had offered to help her, Maritza almost giggled at what he must have thought, he probably thought she was a madwoman. She started to flip through the images on Daniel’s camera, but just then she saw Fatima across the waiting room, motioning her to come. Maritza picked up Daniel’s camera, looped it over her neck again, and hurried over.

Fatima had talked to her father’s nurse, and the woman had told her that Daniel had woken up and was disoriented and had no memory of the accident that had caused him to pass out, but he was stable for now. She asked Maritza if she would like to see Daniel, and Maritza nearly jumped for joy that he was conscious and that her new friend could get her in to see him. Fatima walked her down the hallway to a room where the open door showed Daniel propped up in bed. Maritza put her hand to her mouth, choking back the tears. When she had herself sufficiently under control, she thanked Fatima and walked in. Daniel looked at her and smiled and said, “Ritz!” A nickname he hadn’t called her since they were young, before she became a professor. She smiled back and said, “Hey Daniel”. He looked at her strangely for a second and then said, “Why so formal? You know I prefer Dan.”

“You prefer Dan…”

“Yes, why are you saying it that way, like you’ve never called me Dan before?”

“It’s just been a while, that’s all. Dan it is.”

He smiled again. Maritza smiled back and then realized how many bags he had draining fluids into him. She suddenly figured it out. He was on painkillers, that was why he wasn’t acting like himself. She’d go along with the whole ‘Dan’ thing and when he was rested and off the drugs, they’d talk about what had happened. She was just so relieved to have him alive and safe and relatively well. Fatima poked her head back in and told Maritza that her father was coming to check on Daniel and have a brief conference with her about what she needed to do when he was discharged later.

When Dr. Saleh came into the room Fatima came with him to ask after Daniel and to let Maritza know she was happy to help if they needed a place to stay or transportation to where they were staying. Maritza could have hugged her. She hadn’t considered the difficulty of trying to get Daniel back to the hotel. Dr. Saleh interrupted and said it was going to be awhile before Daniel was ready to be discharged but that when he was, he could have an ambulance take him to the hotel if he needed one or, if not, then he would have access to a private car that he and his daughter would set up before they left. Maritza put her hand over her heart and bowed slightly in respectful thanks, making Fatima smile and her father return the gesture. He then asked her to come outside with him while Fatima stayed with Daniel. Maritza’s heart sank. She didn’t want to hear the bad news she was sure was coming. They talked about simple things for a minute, but then Dr. Saleh mentioned the issues she might have to deal with. It was likely, given his head wound, that he would have some permanent short-term memory loss. How far back it would go and how much he would recover were entirely unpredictable. He suggested she contact someone in his family that had known him for the better part of his life so they could help him talk through any confusion he had about things. Maritza said she had known him since there were teenagers, so she could help him with that. The doctor nodded and seemed to think that was fine, and Maritza relaxed. She had lied about being his cousin, but she hadn’t been lying when she told the nurse that he had no siblings and his parents had both passed away. He called to Fatima and told Maritza to feel free to sit with Daniel. They had no rules about family, he raised an eyebrow at her, spending the night with their loved ones.

After the doctor and his daughter left, Maritza went to the gift shop and bought some candy and almonds, several water bottles, and two apples and then went back into Daniel’s room. He had fallen asleep, and she was so relieved to see him resting comfortably with his breathing so regular. She sat in the chair next to the bed and put her head down for a second to rest her eyes from the overhead lights and fell sound asleep within minutes.

Several hours later she woke up to a deep crunching sound and rubbed her eyes and yawned. She sat up to see Daniel looking at her and eating an apple.

“Hey Ritz, you looked so tired I didn’t mean to wake you, but then I got so hungry. I ate the almonds and water but I was still hungry so I grabbed an apple.” He smiled, and she took a deep, peaceful breath. He had always been like that. Daniel ate more for breakfast than she did for breakfast and lunch. She didn’t know what to expect after the doctor had talked to her, so she was glad to see that some things about him would never change.

“No worries”, then she remembered and quickly added, “Dan”.

“I really want to get out of this place Ritz, because as adorable as you are when you sleep, I need proper food and a shower.”

She was taken aback for a second until she remembered they had had a passing flirtation in their late 20s and he used to say things like that to her all the time.

“Uh, yeah, let me go get the nurse and see what it will take to get you discharged, ”

“Ritz? Is everything ok? You don’t seem like yourself.”

Maritza almost laughed out loud at that. She was essentially having a five-year-old conversation, but for him it was apparently like he was 29 again and they were still flirting. Maritza closed her eyes for a second and decided it was worth the effort to help him ease back into things so she said, “You try losing your best friend because of a caving trip and see how you feel” and smiled at him and went to see about getting him out of there. She thought in a more comfortable environment it was more likely his memory would return. She thought she had seen that on some medical channel on tv at least.

“Is that how I got here?”, Daniel asked. “Nobody would tell me.”

“It was part of it, I’ll tell you the entire story once we get back to the hotel. You see if you can finish that other apple and I’ll get the paperwork started.”

Daniel happily munched on the second apple as she walked out the door and then immediately felt her face fall from trying to seem like everything was normal. Maritza shook herself mentally. She could do this. She could absolutely do this. Right?

After a few hours, and Daniel eating all the candy she had bought, they were finally ready to go. She had signed all the forms, Daniel had paid the bill, and the Saleh’s had arranged a car so they had a way to get to the hotel. When they were finally in the car Daniel took her hand and, looking into her eyes, said “Thank you” in that raspy voice he always got when he was tired. She’d always thought that was when he sounded… Maritza caught herself falling back into the ease with which they had treated their relationship when they were younger and stopped herself. She’d experienced the sting of the flirtation ending once already when Daniel had found some leggy blonde whose name Maritza couldn’t even remember.

“What is going on Ritz, you know I’m just going to bug you until you tell me.”

“I’m just tired,”

“No, you’re not just tired, but you are tired so for now I’ll let it go but I’m going to figure it out.” Then he reached over and swung his arm over her shoulder, pulled her in close, and then leaned back and closed his eyes. She decided to fight the urge later and snuggled into him and closed her eyes too.

The driver cleared his throat and, startled; she woke up. She elbowed Daniel in the ribs and opened the car door just as the doorman was coming to do it for her. Daniel was attempting to pay the driver who informed him he had already been paid and tipped and he should enjoy his day. When they went in to get the key to her room, she understood the implications of sharing a room, and a bed, but right now she was too tired and filthy to care so she introduced her ‘cousin’ Daniel to the front desk staff, asked them to arrange for two tickets out of the country as soon as possible, and a car to the airport. She just wanted a hot shower and some sleep. Daniel took the second key and told her he was going to arrange for breakfast and then he’d be up. When she entered the air-conditioned room with its soft sheets and fluffy pillows, it was almost too much for her. She wanted to sink into bed so badly. But then she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and decided she couldn’t possibly go to bed without showering. She groaned at the thought of having to pass on the bed, but grabbed her robe and went into the bathroom to turn on the shower and let it warm up. She shucked off her shoes and socks, laughing at the ring around her legs where the socks stopped and she could see how dirty she was. That’s when Daniel shouted in and asked if she was going to be all day because breakfast was coming and he wanted to shower too. In haste, she threw her clothes on the floor and jumped in the shower. Shampooing and conditioning her hair until it was soft and clean again. Rinsing off a day in the desert, a helicopter flight and a hospital stay made her feel lighter and inexpressibly more tired than she had ever been in her life. She wrapped a towel around her head and wrapped herself up in her robe and poked her head out the door. Daniel was sitting at the desk but jumped up and went to go into the bathroom for his turn as soon as she was out of the doorway.

Maritza picked up the phone when it rang, it was the front desk telling her they had arranged the flight as had the car service and they had been up on the card she had given the front desk when she checked in. She thanked them and hung up, trying to remember if she had a non-refundable ticket. Then she decided she was too tired to care. While she was waiting for breakfast to arrive, she put away the things on the desk and tidied up. She had left in such a rush to get out to Wadi Rum that she had left her work in a great enormous pile. She thought the maids must have just avoided the desk and then realized it had only been 24 hours since she had checked in and dropped off her things to head out to meet Daniel. Almost on cue, she heard the water shut off in the shower and there was a knock at the door. She looked out through the peephole and laughed out loud before opening the door to the most overloaded table she had ever seen. Daniel must have ordered two of everything. She signed the slip, and the man left just as Daniel came out of the bathroom. He looked a little sheepish wrapped in a big bath towel, but she realized his clothes were back in Wadi Rum where he’d been staying. Maritza thought quickly and picked up the phone and asked the front desk if the hotel had any men’s pajamas or sweatpants they could send up. Maritza could only imagine what they were thinking, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t imagine sleeping in the same bed as Daniel while he thought they were doing some kind of romantic prelude if he wasn’t wearing anything more than a towel. She had to draw the line somewhere, and that seemed like a good place to start.

After she hung up, she and Daniel dug into breakfast like they hadn’t eaten for a week. Daniel had coffee, she drank tea, and they shared a plate of hummus and pita, falafel, vegetables, olives, dates, cheese, and, for their western sensibilities, omelettes. Daniel was still going when she decided she was finally full, so she went to the door when there was a knock and someone announced they were from housekeeping. It was someone with the pajamas she had requested. They were incredibly fancy silk pajamas, but they would serve the purpose. Daniel stuffed the rest of a section of pita in his mouth and took them into the bathroom. When he came out, she was afraid she’d just made things worse. The bottoms were slung low across his hips and he held the top in his hand. He threw it on the bed and said he’d wear it if she really wanted him to, but they were too big and he felt silly wearing silk pajamas, anyway. Because he actually looked uncomfortable, she took pity on him and told him it was fine. He smiled and jumped back into his chair to pop several more olives and another falafel in his mouth. She laughed and yawned simultaneously and declared she was heading to bed for at least a few hours.

“I second the motion”, Daniel said, laughing out loud and pulling the curtains shut.

As Maritza sank into the bed, she sighed with pure exhaustion. Suddenly she heard Daniels voice in her ear, “I wish I could make you sigh like that.”

“Oh Dan, come on, it’s not a good time for this. We’re both tired.”

“Why won’t you take me seriously, Ritz? I know I’ve made some questionable choices in my life but never about you.”

She hated to admit it, but he was right, he’d never done anything to hurt her or cause her any pain.

“I just want to see what it would be like to kiss you one time. Please Ritz, I’m dying over here.” Daniel laughed, but she could hear the pain he felt from her rejection. She always had, but the idea of giving in to this and seeing what it could become scared her. If she were being honest with herself, he went off with that leggy blonde after she had let her fear push him away too many times to count.

Maritza didn’t know if it was the maturity that came from the last five years, or the awareness of what would happen if she pushed him away again, or even just pure curiosity but she decided that for once in her life she would not say no to him simply on principle. She didn’t want to. She rolled over towards him and saw the look of loss in his eyes as he steeled himself for another ‘no’. Instead, she reached out and touched his face and leaned in and kissed him lightly. His face was almost comical as she had reached for him, but when she pulled away after her kiss he stayed there, eyes closed, breathing softly. Then he smiled and opened his eyes.

“That was nice.”, he said.

“Thank you? I think?”, she replied and found herself laughing.

Daniel leaned towards her and said “my turn” and her stomach dropped for a second before he kissed her on her forehead and told her to sleep well. “I can see you’re not ready Ritz, I didn’t mean to push, sorry, I guess I’m still feeling the effects of this whole thing.”

Maritza took a deep breath and started to say something when Daniel cut her off and said, “It’s ok, I can wait”.

The sad thing, which Maritza knew from experience, was that he couldn’t. But for now she needed sleep more than she needed to have that conversation, so she tucked herself in and was sound asleep in less than five minutes.

Several hours later, she woke up to the phone ringing. She reached for the receiver and mumbled, “What?” and then heard someone identify themselves as part of the Public Security Force and ask if they could come up to get their statements. Maritza asked for five minutes and they agreed. She scrambled out of bed only to realize Daniel was staring at her. “Oh my gosh Daniel, we only have a couple of minutes!”, she chided him.

“To do what?”, he asked.

“Get dressed!”

He sat up against the headboard and rested his arms on his knees and said, “In what?”

“Valid point. Since you have no clothes, Can you help straighten up the room and wheel the table out into the hallway so we can all fit in here while I go get dressed?”

Daniel chuckled and bowed, saying, “Your wish is my command.” as she rolled her eyes at him.

Five minutes later the bed was made, Daniel was in both halves of his pajamas and Maritza was in a dress, feeling much more herself than she had last night, and had time to pull her hair back and put on some lipstick as well. The knock on the door was perfunctory. When they opened it they were greeted by a server bearing a pot of Mint Tea and a plate of Hareeseh followed by three officers. One of whom handed Daniel his traveling bag and passed along a message from Mohammed that he hoped Daniel was well. Maritza realized then that she had neglected to call the brothers, and asked if the officers knew how to reach them Happily, they had a number she could call and she mentally made it a top priority to call as soon as possible.

Daniel went into the bathroom to change and the officers sat at the desk and the little table with the tea and dessert and took out their notebooks. They had asked Maritza several questions by the time Daniel had come out of the bathroom, but since she knew nothing that Qasim didn’t, it was more about confirming details than getting any additional facts. They immediately switched over to asking Daniel what had happened. Daniel shook his head and said the doctor had told him he might never get back his missing memories. The revelation startled Maritza, and she almost spilled her tea. Daniel brought her a napkin and sat next to her on the bed. One of the officers mentioned that Mohammed said he had been taking pictures the whole time in order to send them to someone. He lifted an eyebrow at Maritza and she nodded that, yes; she had been the one he was sending them to. That was when she remembered the camera. It had a phenomenal amount of memory because Daniel wasn’t always in a place with internet for his photos to upload, there would probably be pictures in there right up to the last minute.

When handed his camera, he was overjoyed to see it in such excellent condition. He immediately plugged it in to Maritza’s computer and started flipping through the most recent shots as the rest downloaded. Daniel aimed the screen to the officers could see and clicked through several shots of the terrain, then the location and then the wall art inside the cave. He froze when he saw the next shot. It was a picture of himself and a woman, and she was wrapped around him in a way that made it clear they were on intimate terms. He said nothing, but he knew he had to figure out what had happened that he couldn’t remember this woman. He realized now that he hadn’t just drawn a blank on how he had been injured, but that he was missing other memories as well. Had he forgotten something about Ritz that would explain her reluctance to curl up with him last night like she normally would? Was there a ‘normally’ now? Because that woman in the picture meant nothing to him but she must have at some point and their relationship, whatever it was, had to have been recent because her picture was right before the ones of this trip. What the hell was going on?

In his confusion, Daniel decided he needed to walk and think, so he walked the officers out and told Maritza he’d be back. The look in her eyes, the confusion he was sure was mirrored in his own, was too much for him to stay and try to sort out while he was trying to figure out how much of his memory he was actually missing. Daniel got directions from the concierge and walked from the hotel to the Souk by the Sea and wandered around. He smelled the spices, watched Jordanian’s haggle over pricing, and saw tourists trying to figure out the best souvenirs. He listened to the Arabic, English and French, and heard little snippets of Spanish and German as well. It was easy to get lost in the sound. But Daniel had to think, not get lost in the souk, so he started to walk back to the hotel. On his way he realized that if he had been in a relationship, she had to have known about it. He stopped and decided he should get a coffee and think some more because suddenly he was inexplicably angered by the idea that if he was with someone else, she might be too. Not that she was with someone else, it was her life and her choice to make. It was the idea that he had missed his opportunity somehow. Could he actually have been that caught up in anything else that somehow something had taken the place that Ritz had held in his heart since they were teenagers? “Not possible” he said out loud to himself and decided he needed to talk to her about what she knew. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hear that he had blown any chance he had of her seeing him as more than a friend. He felt like the fact that she had kissed him the night before might mean the odds were in his favor, but he needed to hear from her what had happened and how much of his life he was missing.

When he got back to the hotel, the strategic conversation he had been trying to plan was the polar opposite of what happened. Maritza was out of her mind with worry and she let Daniel know in no uncertain terms that if he ever went off like that again without telling her where he was going after a major head injury she was going to brain him with the first thing that came to hand. She promptly burst into tears, looked for a private place to cry, realize the bathroom was the only place, and slammed the door after she was in there. After a few minutes, Daniel tapped on the door. “Ritz? I’m so sorry. I needed to think, and I didn’t realize how long I had been gone.”

“Think? You needed to think?!” She threw open the bathroom door and stormed out. “I flew halfway around the world, only to find you missing and had to accept that you might be injured or dead, and had to figure out how to find you in a country where I don’t speak the language, and you needed time to think?!”

He had to say something, but he was afraid it would make it worse, and that was the last thing he wanted. So he said the only thing he could, “I’m sorry Ritz, I wasn’t thinking about how hard this has been for you too.”

The apology took the wind out of her sails and she dropped onto the bed and put her head in her hands. “Oh Dan, I don’t mean to yell at you, I know you’re not feeling well.”

Daniel sat beside her, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and hugged her. “You haven’t exactly been having an easy time of it either, Ritz. I really am sorry I went off without thinking about how you would feel. It’s just…I mean…I saw a picture that confused me and it made me upset and I had to wrap my head around it.”

“What picture?”

He decided he might as well just own it and said, “The one of me with the woman from right before I got here.”

Maritza sighed, “You were dating her for a little while, but you broke up before you left to work on the movie.”

“The movie? What movie?”

“Oh Dan, there were a lot of things that happened between where your memory is and where you were when you left to come to Jordan.”

“I see.”, Daniel replied. “There is really just one thing I need to know right now. Did I stop trying to prove to you we would be great together, or did you find someone else?”

Maritza hated this whole conversation, but she might as well own her choices now that it was happening. “No, Dan, I didn’t find someone else and yes, you did stop trying. But you stopped trying because I kept pushing you away. I was sure we would never work out and didn’t want to lose you as a friend and thought if we tried dating and it didn’t work I might lose you all together.”

Daniel shook his head, “Ritz, why do you always think the worst? I swear I won’t stop being your friend, but I think we have more waiting for us.”

“Really, Dan? You’ve just found out you lost years of your memories and the only thing you want to talk about is this?”

“No, the first thing I want to talk about is this. Once we’re squared away, then you can fill me in on everything that’s happened. Please Ritz, I know it seems out of the blue to you because you have memories I don’t but I swear on my life I’m a better person when I’m with you and that’s the only thing that matters to me right now…being with you.”

“I don’t know Dan, a lot has happened since the last time we had this conversation.”

Dammit, he thought, they had already had this conversation, and she had somehow convinced him to give up.? What had been wrong with him? “I know it will be a change, but I think we both know from that kiss last night that you aren’t completely sure that only being friends is the right choice. You kissed me.”

She struggled internally. She wanted to say yes and feel what it would be like to be with this amazing man, this best friend who always made her laugh. But she remembered how it had torn at her when he had taken her ‘no’ that last time and gone off with the first woman that came along. Well, maybe she was exaggerating that last bit. After all, she had refused him dozens of times. Did she really think he would just stand there forever and beg for her to consider dating him? She looked into his eyes and saw the look he used to get when he was afraid she was about to tell him no again. Suddenly, she decided she didn’t want to say no. She wanted to give it a chance. So she simply nodded and said, “Yes”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Ritz, you have no idea how happy that makes me.” and then he kissed her. He kissed her the way he had wanted to last night. Long and slow and deep. With everything, he had felt about her for so long pouring out of him.

And then the phone rang.

“Just my luck”, he laughed as Maritza reached for the phone.

“Oh my goodness, I had no idea what time it was. Thank you for calling.” “We have to go!”, she nearly shouted at Daniel. “Our flight leaves in less than three hours and the car is downstairs waiting for us!”

Daniel grabbed his clothes out of the bathroom and threw them into a plastic bag full of dirty clothes he had in his travel bag. Then he went back and got Maritza’s dirty clothes from their desert sojourn and added those and sealed the bag and shoved it into his travel bag. “I’m ready” he said. “What can I do to help?”

You can call Mohammed, the number is on the table by the phone. The poor man has been waiting to hear that you’re ok. Daniel dialed the number, had a quick conversation and then hung up. “Done”, he said. And then added, “Mohammed was glad for the call, thanks for reminding me.”

Maritza was too busy hunting for her shoes and the packing cube she had put her boots in on the way over to answer him with more than a distracted ‘Good, glad to hear it”. She was doing this while simultaneously trying to figure out what to wear, so Daniel took the boots and shooed her into the bathroom to change. He found the cube and packed the boots and carefully put her books and notes into her carry on. Daniel was finishing folding her clothes carefully when she came out of the bathroom, long hair in a ponytail and wearing a swirly maxi dress. He couldn’t believe his luck. He was almost glad he had been attacked and kidnapped and ended up in the hospital because in the end it had gotten him a chance with the woman of his dreams.

As they rushed downstairs to catch their car and head home, they smiled at each other, each feeling lighter than they had for a long time and both wanting the make their new relationship work.