A short story
A desert is a dry area of land with few plants and little rainfall, and that is where our story began.
"It's so hot!" Benny whined, wiping the gathering sweat off his sunburned forehead.
Joseph peered at him and rolled his eyes. "It's the desert, Benny," he explained.
"Ha!" Sarah's voice came from behind them. "We've only been gone for ten minutes, Benny Baby, and you're already complaining?" She sighed. "This is gonna be one long trip."
Eddie quietly observed the group of traveling traders, stopping to pour some sand from his sandals. This will be a piece of cake, he thought to himself and chuckled. Look at those fools with their camels piled high with goods. If I could get even one of their camels, I could make a fortune! He turned his freckled face up to the sun and squinted his bright green eyes, and, still grinning, he stood back up.
"Eddie, hurry up! You'll get lost, and st-starve, and a-and d-d-DIE!" Eddie just stood and waited while Abram stuttered away. When Abram was finished, Eddie turned his head to look at Abram, who was wildly flailing his arms, gesturing for Eddie to hurry up.
"Yea yea, I'm comin'," Eddie mentally kicked himself for slipping into his Irish accent, and corrected himself. "I am coming," this time he switched to Arabic, his undercover accent.
The days following their departure of Constantinople were long and slow, and they walked mostly in silence, but every now and then someone would start a conversation or call for a break. The long silences between breaks and conversations were very long, and each member of the group was caught up in his (or in Sarah's case, her) own personal thoughts. Sarah stuffed her curly black hair back into her white headpiece. Eddie glanced at her, her slim figure swimming in the baggy clothes. She glanced at Joseph, who was picking at the long scar that ran all the way down his left cheek. I wonder how he got it, Sarah thought to herself. Joseph glanced from Sarah to Eddie to Benny, who was panting in the heat.
Benny tilted his head back, violently shaking his guerba above his open mouth. A tiny drop of water fell onto his chapped lips and rolled down his chin. "NO!"
"Benny, stop wasting the water," Joseph joked, a smart grin creeping onto his face.
"But there isn't any water left to waste!" Benny cried out, almost in tears.
"Oh, get over it," Sarah demanded, exchanging flirty smiles and winks with Eddie. Benny sighed and stuffed his guerba back into a sack strung over his camel's back, who gave him a rather wet lick on the cheek.
"Dumb camel," Benny muttered. "We can't even eat the meat that weighs them down."
Sarah giggled under her breath, but that certainly didn't seem funny to Benny. He turned to scold her, but Joseph stopped him and gave a warning.
"Everyone, look out for camel feces. There are clues everywhere that a well is somewhere around here somewhere, Abram, could you please keep the camels in one spot so they don't find the well the hard way." Joseph said absently, squatting down on the ground and examining a camel dropping.
"That's still not funny, Sarah," Benny reminded her, and turned to her again. Sarah looked in his direction just in time to see him slip and fall in a huge pile of camel dung. "Ewwww!" he shrieked.
"Oh Benny, I'm so sorry!" Sarah cried out, her dark brown eyes flooded with tears. "I-I-HAHAHA!" She unsuccessfully tried to apologize again.
"Wait!" Joseph said, holding up his hands like he was being arrested. "Benny, don't move," he continued, trying to keep calm. He bent down in front of Benny's foot, which was submerged in the camel dung and cried out in amazement. "Oh my. I-I-I just don't know. HEHEHE!" He clapped his hands together rapidly. His eyes were lit up like a wildfire, and words cannot come close to how thrilled he looked.
"What is it, Joseph?" Abram asked. "Oh, I hope it isn't bad." It's bad, it's bad, I just know it. "Is Benny okay? Does he have a disease? WHAT'S GOING ON?" he screamed, running his hands through his short, greasy hair and jumping back and forth from one foot to the other.
"Benny's fine," Sarah told him calmly.
"No he's not!" Abram insisted, gulping in mouthfuls of dry desert air.
"He is fine," Sarah said again.
"But Joseph-"
"No, Abram. Benny is not hurt. He just stepped in some-"
"Two-thousand year old camel feces!" Joseph declared. "It's finally here! My big break. I've been waiting for this moment way too long, my friends!" he laughed and turned around to give Sarah a hug, but perhaps a bit too quickly. As Joseph spun around on one foot, his outstretched hand smacked Benny across the face. Benny gasped and stumbled backwards, his feet coming out from under him. Sarah's hand flew to her mouth, and Joseph's eyes grew wide with realization. Oh my dear lord, he thought. Benny, I told you to look out for wells! This went through his head in a matter of seconds. "BENNY!" Joseph screamed, and sprinted around in the direction of Benny, desperately groping for him as he fell backwards in slow motion. BOOM!
"Ahhh!" Benny yelled in terror.
SPLASH!
"Ahhh!" Benny screamed again. "Please help me!" He started crying, and Sarah ran to the hole in the ground where Benny had fallen through. All at once, the world seemed to stop and Sarah was seeing in slow motion. Joseph fell to his knees and stared into space, unaware that Sarah was screaming his name over and over. They were also unaware that Eddie had taken his camel and was sneaking away towards the dunes, as Abram began to cry.
"Benny, hold on!" Sarah wailed. She got up and ran to untie the rope, sobbing all the way there. "Abram, be quiet!" She roared when Abram began to stutter useless things at her like how sorry he was for always complaining about the heat and how he should have never tried to hit Benny and all of these things just started to annoy Sarah more and more. "Just be quiet! You're not the one trapped at the bottom of a well, so stop whining!" she yelled and sprinted back to the well. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? Benny?"
"Help me Sarah!" Benny screamed. "Pull me up! My Leg! AH, MY LEG!"
Sarah's hand came to her mouth again as she listened to Benny's wails and pleads. "Okay, Benny, I'm going to throw the rope down and try to pull you up! Okay?" She took the rope and started to lower it into the well. "Just hold on, Benny. I'm gonna get you out of here and it will all be okay. It's okay, it's okay," she repeated over and over under her breath. "It'll all be just swell." She took a deep breath and let the rope down a little more.
"I've got it, Sarah," Benny said. "Start pulling."
So Sarah started to pull. She got Benny about halfway up, sweat pouring out of every pore in her body. "I've got ya, Benny! Almost there!" She yelled. "Ah!" The rope started slipping out of her hands. "Benny!" But before it could completely get out of her grasp, Joseph was there. He grabbed the rope and started pulling.
"Oh man, why does the biggest person from our entire group have to fall down a well? I mean, couldn't it have been Eddie at least?"
Sarah ignored his comment and was waiting by the edge of the well. Benny's hand finally flew out and onto the ledge. Sarah quickly rushed to help him out of the well.
"Hey, I found the well," he declared, looking down at his soggy clothes. "Thank you," he cried, throwing his arms around Sarah.
"Anytime," she replied, gently pushing him away.
"Now can we go?" Abram asked.
"Yeah… C'mon Eds!" Joseph said, turning around to come face to face with a tall man in a turban.
"Joseph… we meet again. I see you haven't managed to risd yourself oof that hideous scar," the tall man smirked, pointing to Joseph's scar.
"Abasi," Joseph replied curtly.
"You know him?" Sarah exclaimed.
"College friends probably…right?" Abram asked.
"Hey, where'd Eddie?" asked Benny, still not grasping the gravity of the situation. "Hey, is that a Tuareg warrior?"
"I would have thought you would have hidden your scar by now," Abasi mentioned to Joseph.
"I tried."
"Ah Joey… you were always the scientific one. Mother likes strong people. She wanted both of her sons to be great warriors, but you turned to science. What a pity."
Sarah turned to Abram and Benny and gasped. "They are brothers?" She whispered. Benny and Abram shrugged, their mouths almost toughing the floor.
"So to please Mother you nearly kill me, and then become a thief?" Joseph growled.
"Indeed, little brother, and speaking of thieves…" he let the sentence trail off.
"I will not give you anything, nor will my friends," Joseph said.
Sarah hurried to hide their bulging guerbas.
"Okay, no water…how about a lovely lady…" Abasi winked at Sarah and cast her a devilish smile. She scoffed.
"Over my dead body. We may share a mother, but that does not mean I must give you anything you ask for," Joseph whispered.
"Oh, baby brother is protecting his little girlfriend," teased Abasi.
"Please brother, leave us be."
"Um… Jo-Joseph…I hate t-to break it to y-you, b-b-but Benny, Benn-Benny is kinda sorta…gone?" Abram stuttered, hiding behind his camel.
"Eddie's gone? Of course he is!" Joseph exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
"We should go look for him!" urged Sarah. "I mean, it is NOT safe for someone to be in the desert alone…right?"
Joseph looked at her curiously, and nodded.
"He is a part of the group," she muttered.
"Yes, and we should go look for him," Joseph declared. "But may I remind you, we are kind of in the middle of something right now… so if you would please just shut your mouth until I deal with my brother… thank you," he finished, obviously very annoyed at the entire situation.
Abasi looked around innocently. "Okay, little brother, I will make you a deal. You give me water and a group to be in; I guarantee safe passage, apart from natural disasters and such."
Joseph studied Abasi skeptically.
"Oh, c'mon! What have I ever done to you?"
Still skeptic, Joseph fingered the scar on his cheek. "No thank you. We can find our own way."
Abasi stepped up to Joseph and looked him in the eyes. "Now, I really don't want to have to give your scar there a brother, so let me tag along, huh? What do ya say?"
Joseph glared at Abasi hatefully and sighed.
"And Eddie is still gone, may I remind you," Sarah said, her eyes full of concern.
"He can tag along until the next oasis," joseph finally agreed. "We should go. Grab your camel," he commanded his older brother with a hint of bitterness. Abasi obeyed without a word.
The band of travelers traveled in a single file line. Each one asked the inevitable question in their head: Where did Joseph get his scar? What could have happened to turn two brothers against each other? And each member knew the answer would not come. It was like staring into a foggy window, trying to see through the blizzard outside. Sarah slowed her camel down so she could walk beside Joseph, who didn't acknowledge her presence.
"You okay?" she asked quietly. He nodded, thus ending that conversation, but Sarah didn't catch on. "You want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay then, do you want to talk about something else?"
"Sarah, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I really don't want to talk to anybody about anything, okay?" He sighed. Sarah looked at him and could see the sadness in his eyes. A memory that won't go away. She saw defiance on his face. And somehow she realized that he hadn't always been a scientist. She glanced back at Abasi, and saw bitterness and a lust for revenge etched into his rough face. But she felt that if you looked deeper, you would find kindness and compassion for his brother, however small it may be.
They continued into the desert quietly. They walked until the sun was sitting on the horizon.
"We should set up camp for the night," Abram suggested. "It's getting kind of dark and we really don't know what roams the desert at night." He yawned. "I'm getting really tired, too."
Joseph nodded. "Ben! How much food do we have left?" He asked.
Benny checked the back of his camel. "We have enough for maybe two more nights," he called back.
So they set up their tents and Joseph built a small fire. Everyone gathered around the fire and ate their dinner in silence.
The next day, they continued on in silence. Nobody had said a word since before dinner the night before. The deafening silence was nerve-racking. After about half the day had passed, they began to see palm trees sticking up in the sand.
"Is it real?" asked Benny.
"No, just a hallucination," sighed Joseph, not even looking up to see if there was anything there. "You are seeing things that aren't really there."
"Then I'm seeing things, too," put in Sarah.
"Me too," said Abasi and Abram in unison.
But Joseph refused to look ahead, instead looking at the endless golden sand below.
As the sun was starting to set, they realized that the palm trees were not a hallucination like Joseph said, but an oasis. They sprinted the last fifty yards, Benny falling on his face and laughing hysterically as he did. Hey broke through the wall of palm trees and collapsed, panting, onto the lush green grass.
"We're here!" Sarah sighed, casting a brilliant smile towards Joseph, who blushed and smiled back.
"Hey! I found water!" bragged Benny.
"Leave it to Benny to find the water," said Abram, remembering their fright the other day.
Benny leaped high into the air and landed in the giant pool of water, soaking everyone.
"Must ya get wet wherever ya go?" the Irish voice rang out throughout the oasis. Eddie stepped out of the bushes, holding a juicy fruit in one hand.
"Eddie!" Sarah jumped up and threw her arms around him, provoking a jealous glare from Joseph.
"Aye," Eddie saw the look on Joseph's face, and hugged Sarah back.
Joseph bit his lip and turned around, pretending to busy himself by gathering fruit.
Abasi stepped up to where Benny was floating in the water and filled his guerba.
This night, unlike the night before, was filled with laughter and chatter, with the exception of Joseph. He was glaring at Eddie's arm, which was draped comfortably around Sarah. Eddie whispered something into Sarah's ear, she laughed, and Joseph became even more enraged with jealousy.
"I'm so sorry to be a letdown, but I am extremely tired and I must go lay down Goodnight," Joseph muttered. He stood up and left the fire with one last spiteful glare at Eddie, who snuggled closer to Sarah as a means of goodnight.
As the fire slowly died down, so did the crowd. Soon, all that was left was Eddie and Benny. Eddie excused himself, but instead of going to his tent, he snuck around Benny and held a knife to his back.
"Bye bye, Benny," he whispered into Benny's ear, plunging the knife into Benny's back.
Benny gasped, fell forward, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Eddie left the knife in Benny's back and rolled him onto it so it would seem that he was only sleeping. He stole Benny's camel, which contained the remains of the food and many valuable trading goods. Then he fled the oasis.
The next morning, everyone was awakened to Abram's screaming. They rushed out of their tents in a hurry.
"What happened?" asked Joseph, who was shirtless.
"I-it Ben-Benny blood EVERYWHERE!"
"What?" Joseph stumbled to the remains of the campfire, still half asleep, and saw Benny's limp body in a pool of blood. "Holy camel."
"What? What happened? What is it? What's wrong?" Sarah came out of her tent, rubbing her eyes. She gasped, and fell backwards at the sight of Benny's body. Tears rolled down her soft cheeks. "Oh, oh my. Who? Why?"
Joseph plugged his nose from the horrible stench rising from Benny's corpse. He went to his camel, pulled some gloves out of a bag, and handed a pair to Abasi. Then he slowly removed the knife from Benny's brown, bloodstained shirt, stifled a gag, and set the knife on the grass. "Abasi, help me dig a hole to bury Benny please," he said gravely.
Abasi nodded and went back to the camels to grab a couple of shovels.
"Who could ever kill someone as sweet as Benny?" wept Sarah, burying her face in her hands. Joseph came to her and held her in a war, consoling hug. She hid her face in his bare chest and sobbed quietly. He stroked her curly, black hair as tears came trickling down his face.
"Come, little brother," Abasi said gently from behind Joseph, "let us put your friend at rest."
After they buried Benny, Abram was sad, but no longer crying. Abasi's face was solemn. Sarah's head was down, and Joseph had one arm around her, the other fingering his long, thin scar. They packed up the camels and continued on their fateful trek into the Sahara Desert, sad but hopeful.