Beloved Gomorrah
Page 25
“What’s this?” Joanna asked, taking hold of a tip of the duct tape on the bottom of Kaia’s tank.
“Just a marker, miss, to show the tank is full,” Jibril said, avoiding her glance. He peeled it off and dropped it into the bottom of the dinghy.
Joanna made a brief check of mask fit and flow of air. “We ready?”
Kaia nodded agreement, and when it was clear that no divers were underneath them, they toppled backward into the water.
After the pleasant shock of submersion Joanna surfaced again for a moment, in time to see Kiele and Mei splash into the water with their snorkels.
They sank slowly, allowing ears and sinuses to adjust to the doubling of atmospheric pressure, and in a few moments they hovered in front of the railroad station near the locomotive. Joanna confirmed that the two girls were floating spread-eagle directly overhead and peering down at them. Kiele waved and Joanna waved back but noticed with amusement that one of the other divers near the locomotive was waving as well.
It was apparently one of Gil’s sons, since Gil was close by, his gray hair floating in a halo around his head. He was posing by the locomotive while the other of the two boys took pictures with a large underwater camera. Joanna palmed over next to him and snapped a few photos with her own little Canon 100. Then she and Kaia began the counterclockwise circle of the city.
She led Kaia first toward the long gallery, and as they swam under the arcade she saw Charlie kneeling on the floor next to his fiberglass skeleton, posing for pictures under his Shakespearean quotation. Two other divers, whom she didn’t recognize, were studying the text with their lamps.
Rather than disturb Charlie’s star-turn, she drew Kaia along to the other statues under the arcade, Rami’s acrobats, and the daring set by Japhet. Labeled “Band of Brothers,” it depicted four men in a sort of chain embrace. One stood loosely embraced from the rear by a second man, who leaned back cheek-to-cheek with the third man, who in turn was held by the arm of a fourth.
She snapped another picture, laughing inwardly. The naïve might imagine it was a family of particularly affectionate brothers, but a more jaded eye could recognize it as an homage to queer love. Japhet, that sly dog, had smuggled in a work of gay art, in much the same way Michelangelo had smuggled it into the Sistine Chapel, with the full approval of the authorities.
They passed through the center of the city and Khadija’s semicircle of Palestinians, one of them headless. A curve to the right brought them to Yoshi’s dragon goddess, hunched over itself with gaping jaws and outstretched wings. Joanna took her next photo.
Kaia was already ahead of her at an archway that led to a walled enclosure and Eliezar’s group of musicians. A violinist, cellist, and flutist silently performed some piece of chamber music. She imagined it to be Vivaldi.
Emerging from the court, they swung again to the right to a field of animal sculptures, Sanjit’s smuggled-in Hindu gods: Ganesh, Vishnu, Hanuman. They did an about-face to confront two splendid Arabian horses sculpted in bronze by Faisal. Other divers were drifting down to straddle their backs to be photographed riding under water.
Kaia was already paddling toward the next exhibit that stood between two pylons—the iconic “Great Balance” weighing the heart in the underworld that Marion had created. The Balance was half again the height of a man, and the two dishes, one holding a heart and the other a feather, swung slightly in the current. Attending the balance was a rather ferocious jackal-headed Anubis and a slightly comic ibis-headed Thoth. Off to one side, as a detached observer, sat the blue-tinted figure of Osiris.
As Joanna took her photos, Charlie swam up behind them and, after waving recognition, he tugged on one of the dishes. To Joanna’s amusement—and apparently that of half a dozen other divers—the dish dropped down half a meter and the other dish rose, revealing that it was a functioning balance. Coral growth, if not careless tourists, would soon bring an end to that, though the frozen-faced blue Osiris didn’t seem to care.
They swung around, completing the circle, and Joanna glanced back at Kaia, who seemed to be fatiguing. As a precaution, she swam close and made a quick check of her pressure gauge, but her tank was still at half.
They had arrived at the fountain now, where other divers were already gathered around the seated girls. Joanna moved up the slope to the figures of Lot and Atiyah. Sunlight still penetrated at the shallow depth and seemed to dance around the two statues. Ironic, she thought. It suggested a benediction, but the scene was one of murder.
More people were arriving, some of them with cameras in hand, and it seemed like a good time to spring the surprise. Joanna turned in a circle, searching for Kaia, but didn’t see her among the divers. Then she glanced downward toward the sea floor.
To her horror, Kaia was on hands and knees with her head lowered, and she swayed sideways, thrashing, as if losing consciousness. For a brief second, Joanna was rocked by horror and disbelief. How long had Kaia been without air?
Then training kicked in.
With a flick of her fins, she was at Kaia’s side. Pulling free her auxiliary mouthpiece with one hand, she seized Kaia by the shoulder with the other and spun her around. But Kaia’s mouthpiece was still in place, and bubbles rose normally through the outlet valve. Only her mask had come off and her eyes were pressed tightly shut against the bite of the super-salted water. It was clear now why she was thrashing. She had been groping blindly in the water in front of her searching for the mask. And there it was, lying on the sea bed beside her.
Other divers were arriving, ready to help, but it appeared the problem was only the displaced mask. Joanna stroked Kaia’s cheek to reassure her, then took up the mask and stretched it over her head again, brushing loose hair from under the soft plastic. Once it was in place, Kaia nodded and blew air from her nose to empty it of water. She opened her eyes and, though her chest still heaved, signaled that she was fine.
At that moment, a diver, by the size of him a young teenager, arrived with one fin on his foot and the other in his hand. He mimed striking Kaia on the head, and it was clear then that in the crush of people, he had inadvertently knocked her mask off with a clumsy fin-stroke. He slid his foot back into the fin, then paddled over in front of Kaia, making prayer hands in an apparent apology. Kaia seemed to have regained composure by then, and her outstretched hands gestured conciliation. When Joanna pointed toward the surface, Kaia signaled no.
As the cluster of alarmed divers began to dissipate Charlie suddenly appeared, looking puzzled. There was no way to explain what had happened, but also no need, for the three of them hovering together seemed to re-establish normalcy and calm. Joanna decided to carry on with her surprise.
Leaving Kaia at Charlie’s side she paddled back to the fountain and, after a brief search at the base, located the hidden hose. She pressed her auxiliary mouthpiece against the opening and filled the reservoir with some ten bars of compressed air, the maximum the hidden cylinder could hold. A moment later, a string of little bubbles rose from the center of the fountain. The hovering divers watched the ascending stream of air, apparently amused. A few of them waved others over to witness the trick.
But there was more.
Joanna tucked the hose back into its place and beckoned Kaia to follow her up the slope. Charlie came up behind them, followed by several others, and she brought them all to a halt before the figure of Atiyah.
The effect was all she could have hoped for.
Atiyah lived again. Though she stood just before her execution, she too gave forth bubbles of air from between her parted lips. Cameras flashed and video cameras scanned across the scene, and Joanna was elated. Though her own hands had added the hidden conduit from the fountain reservoir, she could almost imagine that the troubled spirit of Atiyah had come to rest and breathed again through the lovely mouth of Kaia Kapulani.
Charlie squeezed Joanna’s shoulder in congratulations. Kaia clasped her hands in front of her face and was clearly stirred.
But Joanna ha
d still to end the tale.
Leaving her companions on the slope, she descended again to the fountain and located the tip of the duct tape she had attached in the workshop. The fountain was bolted to the sea floor now, and it was safe to reveal its message. So, before the eyes of half a dozen divers and photographers, she drew back the tape, exposing the deeply carved inscription that ran along the base.
BELOVED GOMORRAH.
Winding the tape into a little ball, she allowed herself to drift away, letting the others move in to examine the enigmatic words. Few would make the connection with the story of Lot. It would remain a puzzle until knowledge of the tablets filtered back to Egypt. Even then, if the declaration stirred religious anger, there was little anyone could do about it. An inscription was not like a statue’s head and could not be smashed so easily with a hammer. Only nature would cover it with coral, in its own good time.
But Charlie understood and brought his palms together in silent applause. Seeing him, Kaia water-clapped as well, though she knew only part of the story. Then, oddly, a half dozen others joined in the gesture. Joanna spotted Marion among them and realized that at least some of the crowd were her fellow artists who remembered the conversations in the Sun Bar and got the joke.
Joanna returned to Kaia’s side and crossed her forearms in front of her, signaling, Let’s go up. It had been a good day.
*
When she broke the surface, Joanna felt a twinge of guilt for dwelling on her own success and not checking on Kaia’s welfare. As soon as Kaia appeared next to her in the water, she removed her mouthpiece. “Are you okay?” she called out. “Seeing you on your knees that way gave me a real fright.”
“Me too, but you did everything right. Actually, I think I did too, staying calm and all that. But I can tell you I was pretty relieved when you arrived and found my mask.”
“Well, you were a trouper yourself, clearing the mask and carrying on without a whimper. I was proud of you.”
“Hey, Ma! Joanna! Over here!” Joanna followed the sound and spotted Mei waving from their dinghy among the half dozen other inflatables close by. Jibril sat next to her, upright and tense, as if waiting for his next order.
Kaia waved back and they paddled together to the boat.
Following protocol, Joanna handed up her weight belt first, then removed her vest and air tank for Jibril to lift aboard. With a heave from the water, she clambered over the side of the dinghy and turned to help Kaia climb in behind her.
Mei gave her mother a hug. “That was really cool, Ma. I had a great time and I could see you both when you came back to the fountain. But it looked like you had some trouble there toward the end.”
Jibril was suddenly attentive. “You had problems with the air, missus?”
“Nothing like that. There was a crowd around the fountain. Then some kid struck me in the face with a fin and knocked my mask off. But it was nothing, really, and Joanna came to the rescue. Forget about that.”
She relaxed against the gunwale and pried off her fins. “I want us all to remember how wonderful today is. Could you make out Joanna’s fountain scene? Could you see the air bubbles coming from my statue?”
Mei shook her head. “Not really. From this angle, it was like looking down into a huge aquarium. You guys were like big humpback black fish swimming around toy castles. I really have to learn scuba now, Kiele too. Snorkeling just doesn’t do it.”
“Where is Kiele?” Kaia glanced around.
Joanna pointed over Kaia’s shoulder to where, less then ten meters away, Kiele was in animated conversation with a diver. She kept afloat by lying on her back and hanging onto his inflated vest. Her snorkel was tucked up near her forehead, and it was clear that the conversation held her interest more than the underwater spectacle.
“Looks like someone found other entertainment,” Joanna remarked.
“For God’s sake, don’t tease her, either of you,” Kaia commanded. Whoever it is, the more friends she makes the better.”
“It’s Peter Collins, and he is nice,” Mei said. “He works in an animal shelter and he’s studying to be a veterinarian. He’s really shy though, and says he likes animals better than people.”
“You found out all of that while we were under water?”
“Yeah, well, you guys were down there for a long time, and he popped up a couple of times to talk to us. Well, mostly to Kiele. They seem to have hit it off.”
“Sounds like a perfect match.” Kaia beamed maternally.
“Well, don’t get any ideas, Ma. She’d hate it if she thought you were watching her.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be discreet. We’ll all be discreet, won’t we, Joanna?”
Joanna puckered her lips and turned an imaginary key in front of her mouth. Minutes later, when Kiele arrived back at the dinghy and Mei pulled her in, Joanna took pains to be looking elsewhere.
“Ah, there you are,” Kaia said, as if she had just noticed there was another person in the boat. “Could you see Joanna’s fountain?”
“Only the tops of everyone’s heads. But I spotted the statue that was supposed to be you. The one about to be bonked by her husband.”
“Not bonked, dear. Murdered.”
Was it Joanna’s imagination, or did Jibril flinch at the word murder? She couldn’t tell.
“Yeah, what’s up with that, Joanna?” Mei lolled next to her mother, one hand trailing in the water as they motored back to the yacht.
“It’s a portrayal of Lot, killing his wife. A Bible story, but it’s not the one you’re probably familiar with. Anyhow, I just used your mother’s face because it’s beautiful and I wanted to immortalize it.”
“Until it’s covered with algae.” Kiele snickered.
Joanna smiled. “Ah, someone’s been doing their research. Yes, you’re right. After a year or so, it will be. Thus passes glory.”
“Don’t remind me of passing glory.” Kaia kicked her playfully. “I’m fifty years old today, remember?”
They arrived at the stern of the Hina and stepped up one by one while Jibril handed up the equipment. When he finally hoisted himself onto the deck, Kaia faced him.
“Thank you, Jibril, for all your help preparing the dives, and for the birthday party too. I need you to work this evening if you can, but of course I’ll pay you for the extra time. You’ve been very good to us and I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
Jibril looked away. “Yes, missus,” he mumbled, and hauled both of the steel air tanks up the stairs to the higher deck.
Joanna watched him, more puzzled than ever. What bleak thoughts were simmering in the man’s mind?
Chapter Twenty-five
On the upper deck of the Hina, Joanna and Kaia leaned against the railing and watched the sun fall below the horizon. The searing yellow ball suddenly flickered out and left a salmon-colored sky, while in the east, a scattering of stars was already visible.
Kaia stroked Joanna’s forearm then reached down to her hand and let their fingers entwine. “I’m so proud of you. Your talent, your courage. That’s a wonderful thing you’ve made down there. Several wonderful things, in fact.” She pointed with her chin toward the exhibition site. “I wonder what people will think about the inscription.”
“I suppose a few will run and check their Bibles to see what they might have missed. Later, when people learn about the tablets and get the reference, who knows? In any case, I’m done with it for now. I’m here with you and that’s all I care about tonight.” Joanna lifted Kaia’s hand and brought it to her lips, tasting a faint saltiness on her skin.
“I love being with you and my girls. I wish we could stay like this forever.” Kaia exhaled wearily. “And I dread the next few weeks. Divorce proceedings, fighting Bernard, looking for an agent, avoiding the press.”
“Just take one day at a time. I hate clichés, but that one is true. I’ll help you get through it. The girls will help you too. You’ve got them back again now and they both seem very resilient.”
“In the galley helping Abdullah make dinner. She’s learning how to cook, Egyptian style.”
“Oh, dear. Abdullah’s galley is his private domain. I hope she isn’t hurt if he throws her out. He throws me out all the time.”
“Apparently he hasn’t,” Mei said. “When I left them, they were getting on like a house afire. Although I think the last thing she needs is to learn how to make food taste better.” She perused the darkening sky. “Nice night. No light pollution, tons of stars.”
Kaia gazed upward. “The last time we sat out here looking at stars, Joanna pointed out the Hunter. I thought I could spot him, but I don’t see him now.”
“Orion, you mean,” Mei said. “No, by now Orion has set.”
“You know the constellations? Since when?”
“Since I studied science at the university. I mean, duh! Cosmology, after all, is the study of the stars, along with particle physics, of course.”
“Of course.” Kaia mocked her gently. “So, Miss Cosmology-pants, name the constellations that are up there.”
“Hmm. I’m more used to the sky over California, but let’s see. Over there to the north are the easy ones, Ursa Major and Minor or, as you normal mortals say, the Big and Little Dipper. Toward the west is Leo, that little cluster in the southwest is Sagittarius, and right in front of it, more or less trailing behind Orion, is Scorpio.”
“Isn’t there a myth about the scorpion killing Orion?”
“I don’t keep track of all the myths that go with the names, and astrology is a joke. We only learn the constellations to identify the neighborhood of a given star. Everyone knows that star clusters are not on one plane, so the zodiac images are simply patterns projected by superstitious primitives.”