The Old Man and Mr. Smith by Peter Ustinov

Author:Peter Ustinov
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843178057
Publisher: Michael O'Mara
Published: 2011-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

« 12 »

The arrival at Heathrow Airport was efficient and uneventful. Several passengers who had been transported at twice the speed of sound for the first time could not get over their amazement, while those who were in the habit of taking the Concorde across the Atlantic remained distantly disdainful, much as members of an exclusive club might do at a sudden invasion of outsiders. Someone’s guests, no doubt? The Old Man decided to record the same kind of disengagement expressed by the habitués. He felt that he could have walked the distance faster. Only Mr Smith was rather furtive.

‘Don’t forget you’re an Arab,’ he hissed in English.

‘Why talk to me in English then?’ asked the Old Man in Arabic. ‘Aren’t you an Arab, too?’

They left the plane, bending low to squeeze through the tiny door, and soon they were in line to show their passports to immigration. Naturally enough, they joined the wrong line first, until they decided that Saudi Arabia was probably not a member of the European Community.

‘A stupid error on our part. Speed is all important.’

‘All I do is follow you,’ said the Old Man. ‘Amir El Hejjazi is a very old and helpless Arab, relying heavily on his nephew for everything.’

Even Mr Smith had to smile.

The British official took his passport and seemed to photograph it by some mysterious process just out of sight of the passengers.

‘You are Mr Ali Bushiri?’

‘That is correct.’

‘And for what reason are you intending to visit the United Kingdom?’

Mr Smith had not thought this question would be asked, and hesitated momentarily.

‘I am Amir El Hejjazi,’ declared the Old Man. ‘I am going for a complete medical check-up.’

‘Oh yes, sir. And where would that be?’

‘Sir Maurice McKilliwray’s private clinic in Dorking. He already has a huge collection of items I have contributed to his compendium of the human body, invaluable for students. Gallstones, kidney stones – he told me last time that I needed a geologist rather than a surgeon. He has that macabre English humour much appreciated in the remote parts of Saudi Arabia.’

‘Is that so?’ said the immigration official, his lips quivering and pouting with a sense of acute irony, without being able to apply it to anything which made the remotest sense.

‘Ali Bushiri is my nephew, even if he seems at times even older than I. He is the son of my lamented sister, Aïsha, may her soul repose in a celestial oasis, who was nearly twice my age, although admittedly I was catching up with her towards the end. He accompanies me on all my check-ups. In case anything goes wrong, you understand.’

Since there were still a few passengers, who were beginning to grow impatient, the official waved them through, with a final observation, ‘Your nephew looks far more in need of a check-up than you.’

‘Tell him, tell him!’ wailed the Old Man, with a sudden burning intensity which disturbed the official, who already had the next passport in his hand.

‘Consider yourself told,’ he said curtly to Mr Smith, who nodded fatalistically and shrugged.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.