First up for a little therapy was Cliff Fielding.
"Lara, I wonder if I might trouble you for a favor," he said, his voice barely rising above a whisper. "I'd appreciate your advice in finding a gift for my daughter. I don't like to ask Nora, you know, and of course, you're so knowledgable about what to buy here."
"I'd be glad to help," I said, setting aside the paperwork I was doing at a poolside table. "Are you thinking of something in particular?"
"No, but something special. Different. Something you couldn't get at home. It doesn't matter how much it costs."
"Okay, tell me about your daughter."
"Gerry's on her own now, divorced. No children. She's a dentist. Takes after her old man," he said proudly.
"Does she have hobbies?" I wasn't sure I could think of gifts with a dentist theme right off the top of my head.
"Oh, yes," Cliff said. "She loves the arts. She's very active in an amateur theater company. They do wonderful productions for kids. She helps paint the scenery, does the makeup, and even ushers in the kids for the performances."
"What does her home look like?"
"What do you mean?"
"Does she have traditional furniture or modern? Does she collect anything special?"
"I don't know what you'd call her furniture," he said. "Kind of a mixture. She has a leather-and-wood dining room set she got on a trip to Mexico. I know she loves that. She has some African carvings, and she likes those done by the Inuit in the Arctic, too. I'm not being very helpful, am I?"
"Sure you are. I have a couple of suggestions. First of all, most women like the silver jewelry here, particularly the kind with the Berber beads. If your daughter likes African and Inuit art, she'd probably like that. Chastity has a necklace. I don't know if you've seen it."
"Oh, yes, I could hardly miss it. She's been showing it off to everybody. She's rather, er, sophisticated, for her age, isn't she?"
I tried not to smile. Then I had the most wonderful idea, the one I'd been waiting for ever since I'd arrived. "My other suggestion, if you're serious about getting something really different, is a puppet. I don't mean the soldier puppets you see hanging in all the gift shops around here. Do you know the ones I mean? They're made of wood, faces painted, often with handlebar mustaches, and they have metal swords and boots, and shields. The ones displayed in the tourist shops are often rather crudely made. But if we could find one of the old puppets, the ones that were used in the French marionette theater here sixty, eighty years ago, that would be quite wonderful. They display beautifully, and they're really unusual. Not inexpensive, though." They would also be absolutely perfect, in my film star client's Rosedale home, exactly the kind of objet d'art that would really make the difference. Why hadn't I thought of it before? I could hardly wait to set off looking for them.
"Price doesn't matter," he said. "That sounds just perfect. It fits in with her love of theater perfectly. Do you think you could find one for me?"
"I'll try. I know a couple of dealers around here now, and I'll ask them. I think I might also get at least one or two for my shop. I'll find what I can, and you can have a look. If you see one you like, it's yours. And if not, I've already purchased some very attractive jewelry that can be our fallback."
"Would it be very big?" he said hesitantly.
"Heavy, you mean? Not very."
"No, big. A large parcel."
Good grief, I thought. Not only does he not want Nora to buy this gift for his daughter, he doesn't even want her to know he bought one. "Tell you what," I said, "if I can find a puppet you like, why don't I get it packed up and shipped with the others going to my shop. It should arrive there about a week after I get back. You can go and buy a nice card and write a note to your daughter, give me the note and her address, and when I get back, I'll courier it to her. I'll also gift wrap it if you'd like."
"You wouldn't mind?" he said, looking relieved.
"It would be my pleasure," I told him. He positively beamed, and had his wallet out in a flash, pressing money on me.
"It's okay, Cliff," I said. "Let's see what I can find, and if you like it, we'll settle up then."
"I'll pay for the courier, too, but can this be our little secret?" he asked.
"Certainly," I assured him. "Now you go and get a card. They have lovely ones with either photographs or sketches of Taberda. That might be nice. Give Gerry an idea where the gift came from."
"Thank you," he said. "I don't want you to think I'm sneaking about here, though. Nora is a wonderful woman. I don't know if you've heard this, but she looked after my wife, Annie, when she was dying of cancer. I don't know what we would have done without her. And then, when I had a heart attack after Annie died, she looked after me, too. I don't want to appear ungrateful. This trip, actually, is a little thank-you for everything she's done. She's always wanted to go to Tunisia. I figured that out from things she said, and arranged the trip as a little surprise for her. She's been wonderful. It's just that Nora and Gerry don't get along at all. They had words, you know, after Annie died. I'm not sure what it was all about, but they don't speak. I haven't seen Gerry in months, and don't get to talk to her as much as I'd like to. I'd like to send her something really special. I just don't want Nora to know about it, that's the plain truth. She has very definite ideas of what's good for me and what's not, and I'm sure she's right. I think she feels Gerry gets me upset, which sometimes she does."
"Don't worry, Cliff," I said. "This is between the two of us. We'll get something really nice for your daughter."
"It's just that sometimes I feel as if I'd like to be on my own," he went on. "Oh dear, there I go sounding ungrateful again. Thank you," he said again. "This is really wonderful."
"What's wonderful?" Nora Winslow said, unexpectedly coming upon us. Cliff stood for a moment, his mouth opening and closing.
"The view," I said, gesturing across the gardens to the town and the coast below it. "It seems particularly clear today, doesn't it? I was telling Cliff I thought I'd found the best place of all to enjoy it."
"I suppose so," Nora said, looking where I was pointing.
"Cliff was telling me you've always wanted to come to Tunisia," I said. "I hope you're seeing everything you would like to."
Nora looked at Cliff and then at me, with a rather startled expression, as if dismayed by the idea we'd been talking about her. "Yes, thank you," she said. "Now, Cliff, you should be resting. Come along."
"Yes, Nora," he said. "You're right as usual." I watched the two of them walk slowly away, Nora with her arm protectively on his. Cliff didn't look back, but Nora turned back to me, pausing for a moment to let Cliff move on ahead.
"It is very beautiful here, more than I thought," she said. "I wish I could enjoy it." I watched them walk away, wondering what sort of warped sense of duty made her stay by his side every moment, and what perverse sense of loyalty kept him with her. It was one of the saddest comments I'd heard so far.