‘Disappointment is around every corner,’ he said. ‘The way forward is a circle. The other side is different only because it faces the opposite direction. If everyone could see the end of Time, their hair would turn white in fright.’
‘Where do you live?’ she asked him.
‘In a garden.’
‘Why can’t Salma and Moni see you?’
‘They did see me. But they would not gain anything now from hearing my voice. Not yet.’
‘I didn’t tell them about you. They will tell me I am dreaming. Besides, I want to have a secret all to myself. Something that I don’t share or explain. Tell me a story.’
‘Once upon a time in the snowy part of the earth there was a beautiful girl called Iman. She had blue eyes and blonde hair . . .’
‘No, she didn’t.’
‘Yes, she did. This is not a story about you. It is about another girl, who just happens to share your name. Iman had a jewel, which she had inherited from her mother. The jewel was in a box and Iman kept that box under her bed.’
‘I know what will happen next. Someone will steal the jewel. I just know it . . .’
‘Iman was a light sleeper and she was confident that if anyone tried to steal the jewel from under her bed, she would wake up immediately. One day, Iman received a letter. The letter was full of medical advice. It said that recent scientific research has proved that prolonged proximity to jewellery could lead to a serious, debilitating disease. Women were warned to take off their rings and necklaces before they went to bed. And even then, they should store them away in a separate room. On the following day there was a news item about how the shop attendants in the top three jewellery shops in the city had all fallen ill. As a result, the shops were forced to close. Iman became alarmed. She was attached to her mother’s jewel. It was a shimmering green diamond as large as an ostrich egg. It had belonged to her mother’s family for generations. The lights flickered and danced on the diamond in such a way that one could sit and watch them for hours without getting bored.’
‘I would get bored.’
‘No, you would not. You think you would. But you too would be transfixed. You too wouldn’t be bored. The following day, there were more reports of illnesses from people who owned jewels. Three of the shop attendants died. The authorities decided to call in all the jewels in the city. People were asked to deliver their jewels to the nearest police station and they were paid compensation for that. Iman didn’t take her green diamond to the police. She kept quiet. She was not the only one. There were others too who were suspicious of the reports. Or they were not confident that they would be compensated fairly. One of them was a childminder who sentimentally held on to her engagement ring. When the youngest child she was minding fell ill and died, there was widespread alarm. Everyone was convinced that the new law must be more vigilantly enforced. That was when the police raids started. Police bursting into people’s homes and taking their hidden jewellery.’
‘Did they raid Iman’s house?’
‘Before they raided her house, she escaped. She wrapped the green diamond in rags and ran away from the city. She ran far away until she was safe.’
‘But this doesn’t make sense,’ said Iman. ‘How come she didn’t fall ill like the others? Or even die?’
‘Because it wasn’t true,’ said the Hoopoe. ‘The scientific research was a hoax. The illness and death of the jewellery-shop attendants was a coincidence. The death of the child was caused by a gas leak and not the childminder’s engagement ring.’
‘But how did Iman know this? How was she sure that the diamond would not harm her?’
‘She wasn’t sure,’ said the Hoopoe. ‘She reasoned that the diamond had been in her family for generations, bringing good and not harm, so why should it be harmful now. She reasoned that a thing of beauty must not be destroyed. And she was right in the end. Tell me, do you have a diamond too, just like her, handed to you from birth? I think you do.’
‘Oh no! My family are too poor for diamonds or jewels.’
‘You value your faith too little, you take it for granted, the sacred words you were taught, the path you were born into.’
He was right. She did not think her faith was a diamond; she thought it was lines on her palms. She asked him, ‘Did Iman have a happy life in the new place she ran to?’
‘She felt safe and she felt happy. Especially at the beginning, when she first arrived. Like the camel in the story.’
‘What camel?’
‘A young camel who lost his way because he straggled behind. The trading caravan, a long line of heavily laden camels, including his mother and brothers, went off without him. You see, the day before, as they were resting and refreshing themselves in the oasis, he had gorged himself on wild berries. They will make you sick, his mother warned, and she was right. The following day he was too weak to carry the load he usually carried and so the owner of the caravan placed him at the very rear of the procession. On the road, the camel became violently sick. He vomited and collapsed and when he woke up, he discovered that he was all alone. The caravan and all that was familiar had moved on to the farthest horizon.
‘Off the road he went, groggy and dehydrated. Unless he found vegetation, he would surely die. He stumbled here and there and eventually found himself in a valley where there was a running stream and lush vegetation. It felt like a miracle. Soon he was refreshed and started to gain back
