"Have you ever been to Maine?" she asked.
"Actually, in the United States, I have never been outside Boston."
"Good. It is time we spent a weekend away together. I know just the place" giggled Geraldine.
They both finished lectures early the following Friday. Geraldine pulled up outside the Brotherhood building in her old car. Kamal was already waiting for her.
"Hi Kamal, would you like to drive?" asked Geraldine with a beaming smile.
"I am sorry, but I cannot drive a stick-shift" said Kamal who was quite embarrassed.
"Don’t worry I will give you some lessons when we get to Maine. There are lots of quiet roads up there."
Kamal threw his small bag into the back seat and they slowly drove north in Geraldine’s battered old yellow Volkswagen. Kamal couldn’t help thinking that the car sounded a lot like his mother’s sewing machine! He cast his mind back to some old newsreel footage he had seen on television of Hitler riding in a Volkswagen.
Geraldine knew the eastern states quite well having been born in Vermont, and set course for Maine. This part of the coast was beautiful and had the added benefit of perhaps being the lobster capital of the world. This worked well since this was Geraldine’s favorite food.
"You will just love Maine. I guarantee you will get the best lobster you have ever tasted in a little town called Wells" bragged Geraldine.
Unfortunately, Geraldine had neglected to ask Kamal if he even ate lobster. In fact, Geraldine had no idea at all about Islam and the religious practices observed by its devout followers.
After a couple of hours cooped up in the small car, they pulled into a little place just off the road through Wells. It was a timber shack right on the ocean. She hurried inside.
Geraldine pointed to the lobsters in the tanks with their claws securely clamped with a stout rubber band. Each tank had different sized lobsters. They started at one pound and went up from there.
"How big a lobster can you eat?" she asked excitedly.
"Geraldine, I don’t eat lobster" explained Kamal.
"Nonsense, I will order you the pound and a half serving."
Kamal was not happy, but decided that sex with Geraldine held a much higher priority than his religion at this particular point in time. Priorities were important to Kamal.
They sat down at a long wooden table. Overhead there were rolls of paper towels strung on a wire to assist in cleaning up lobster juice from the fingers.
It did not take long for the steaming lobsters to arrive. They were served on large plates with a little coleslaw, some fries, and a beer.
Kamal just looked at the big red thing on his plate.
"Don’t be embarrassed, I know there are no lobsters in Riyadh! Here, let me show you how to eat it!"
"First you hold it like this, then twist the tail section" the tail came off in Geraldine’s hand.
"Next, you put a fork into the tail bit and pull out the flesh like this." It looked simple the way Geraldine did it. Kamal was surprised with her dexterity.
When all the meat was stripped from the now bare carcass he could no longer delay the inevitable. He cut off a bit and dipped it into the butter sauce as instructed. Then he bit off a small piece.
At first he chewed the crustacean gently, unsure how horrible the taste would be. But, he was astounded. The firm white flesh was sweet, quite unlike anything he had ever eaten before.
It was undoubtedly the most exquisite taste sensation he had ever experienced.
He had also seldom tasted alcohol and certainly never beer. But, Kamal decided that this was probably not the time to mention that both lobster and alcohol were forbidden to his strict religious upbringing.
After lunch, they used lots of the paper towels to clean themselves up before retiring to the bathroom to complete the job. Eating lobster was messy work, but well worth the effort!
Chapter 12
"What did you think of lunch?" asked Geraldine while they strolled back to the Volkswagen hand in hand.
"It was not what I expected!"
"What did you expect?" asked Geraldine
"I am not sure, but I guess I expected it to taste terrible!"
The drive to the small motel was only a couple of miles.
Geraldine checked into the small room paying cash in advance. She signed in using a false name since she was still nervous of what her girlfriends would say if they knew about Kamal.
Kamal grabbed the suitcases from the car.
She looked so beautiful with those flowing red locks. They made love immediately.
As they lay in each others arms afterwards, Kamal decided that now was the time to explain a little more about Islam. It was his duty to at least try and explain his religion to unbelievers, and to maybe convert the occasional infidel.
Kamal broached the subject gently, but it did not take long for Geraldine to become agitated.
"That is ridiculous who could ever live with all those rules?" asked Geraldine as she began to laugh.
"You must not laugh at my beliefs!" said Kamal sternly.
This brought even stronger laughs from her.
"If you believe all that shit, you are weird."
"Silence woman, you will not disrespect Allah."
"Who do you think you are talking to, your dog? Spat Geraldine.
"Shut up woman!"
"I don’t believe this. I don’t know you at all. We are done" said Geraldine with finality, "I am out of here".
She rose and started to pack her bag.
"Sit down, I am not finished!" commanded Kamal.
"I don’t give a flying fuck if you are finished or not. I am leaving! Find your own way back home."
Kamal grabbed her by the left arm, but Geraldine countered with a stinging slap across Kamal’s face with her right hand.
The red rage swept across Kamal’s face and Geraldine realized that this situation was getting out of hand. She was scared. She went to run across the room but Kamal grabbed her and threw her on the bed. To stop her from screaming, he held a pillow over face. Time seemed to stand still for Kamal. What seemed like just a few seconds was in reality much longer. He had never had to deal with an uncooperative woman before, but his teachings were quite specific on how to handle this eventuality. It was the man’s duty to train the woman and he could rule with an iron hand.
When her screaming and thrashing stopped, Kamal decided he would continue their conversation. However, when he removed the pillow and he saw the wide unseeing eyes, he realized he had made the biggest mistake of his young life. He had never learned to do CPR, but he made a vain attempt anyway. He neglected to tilt the head back to hyper-extend the neck and open up the airway. There was no reaction and it quickly became evident that Geraldine would argue no more.
Kamal had no remorse. In fact he was furious with her. It was her fault entirely. She should not have mocked his faith.
Not sure what to do, he slipped from the room and made a call on a nearby pay phone to Roy, his terrorist contact in the U.S.
"Roy, I have a problem" began Kamal, who quietly explained the whole mess.
"You did the right thing. Women must be shown their place. They have no right to question their man. Lock the door and wait for me. I will be there as soon as I can."
Kamal was sobbing. He could not believe what he had done to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She still looked beautiful lying peacefully on the bed with her red hair shining. He was strangely excited and he made love to Geraldine one last time.
Not quite sure why, Kamal removed a small pair of scissors from his bag, and cut off all Geraldine’s hair. He put this in a plastic bag and hid it in his jacket pocket.