Icejacked

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Leddicus and I had agreed to meet at ten thirty. That was as late as we could risk arriving before the waiters started clearing away breakfast and preparing for lunch. By coincidence, we reached the top of the stairs at the same time. As we stepped from the stairs into the lobby, we both stopped in surprise. Not only was Julie sitting there, but Joe was alongside her.

“Joe, what a surprise!” I said as we walked toward him. “What on Earth brings you here? Not bad news, I hope.”

“No, just the opposite.” Joe reached into his briefcase and pulled out a large brown envelope. “Surprise, surprise!” He handed it to Leddicus, who immediately began tearing into it.

He pulled out the contents and gave a big smile. “Someone has sent me back my papers with my picture on it. That’s nice.”

“Much better than nice,” Joe said. “I’ve already had a peek at it, and there’s a very important addition.” He took the papers back from Leddicus, flipped them open, and tapped the bottom of one of the pages. “See this stamp here. It may not look too impressive, but it says ‘indefinite leave to remain.’”

“What does that mean?” asked Leddicus.

“Fantastic,” Julie piped up. “It means you can travel and come back to the whenever you want to, and they won’t stop you and put you in a detention centre again.”

“It wasn’t so bad. Most of the people were all right, apart from some of the ones in uniform. I didn’t like how they spoke to me,” Leddicus said.

“You might think it’s okay, but I found it very stressful. I don’t ever want to go to that place again!” I said. “Anyway, this little stamp means we can make plans to visit your hometown.” I turned to Joe. “What do you reckon?”

“Yes! Yes, please!” Leddicus clapped his hands.

“Go for it.” Joe picked up on Leddicus’s keen desire to get there. “But I hope you’ll come back soon. Shall we get a coffee and something to eat? Then I can tell you what’s going on, and you can let me know what you want to do.”

Julie hugged Leddicus. “At last, we’re on our way.”

In all the excitement, we had missed breakfast, but the waiter willingly served us coffee and a plate of croissants. Leddicus was obviously keen to get going as soon as possible. He had a distant look in his eye, and he wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation as Joe updated us on the outcome of the American tour, where the finances were at, and how he and Julie planned to salvage the loss of Julie’s vital electronic and hard copy book preparations. He also outlined plans for a second tour. He had started receiving approaches from schools and church organisations. Although not as lucrative as the previous tour, it would keep Leddicus in the public eye.

Leddicus had been sitting there, impatiently waiting for a gap in the conversation. As soon as Joe sat back and took a bite out of a croissant, he jumped in, “When? When are we going to my home?”

“Julie, can you give me the details of the booking you have on hold? I’ll get my office onto it,” Joe said, “and get them to locate a guide. When’s a good time for you to fly, Julie? This pair are freewheeling now, but you have deadlines.”

“Sunday or Monday is best for me.”

Leddicus pulled a face. “Why do we need a guide? It’s my country. I know it like the back of my hand.”

“Trust me, Leddicus. It’s better to have one.” Joe pulled out his phone and made a quick call to his personal assistant to ask her to reschedule the flights.

As soon as Joe had made the call, Leddicus relaxed. “Why are we flying?” he asked me.

“I thought you realised. There’s no other way to get there unless you swim.”

“I don’t fancy that, so I guess flying is better. I don’t mind as long as we get there.”

Julie asked Leddicus and me if we wanted to go to her meeting on Saturday. As I was up to date with my work, I agreed. I didn’t particularly want to, but truth be told, I was beginning to get cabin fever.

It made a pleasant change to be away from the hotel. People, as usual, surrounded Leddicus and Julie. I didn’t feel part of it, but everyone seemed very friendly, and I found myself wondering what they had. I was not really in the mood for chatting, and I was just enjoying my bowl of homemade soup, accompanied by a giant-sized hunk of crusty bread when a young lady came and sat beside me.

“Hi, Gerhardt, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said through a mouthful of bread.

“I’m Jenny. Jenny Latimer.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said automatically. As I ate my soup, she began chatting to me, asking me about my life before Leddicus arrived on the scene. She seemed genuinely interested in finding out about me, which was quite odd. In the last few months, no one had ever talked to me about me. If they were talking to me, it was always about Leddicus. Against all the odds, I was having a good time, and I felt a little sad when it was time to depart. Jenny was very interesting and interested in my thoughts and ideas. Before I had thought it through, I had given her my mobile number, something I never did unless it was a business contact. She walked out to the car with the three of us.

“I’ll text you,” she said as Julie pulled out of the car park.

We finally flew out of Heathrow at five o’clock Sunday evening, bound for Tel Aviv, and arrived in around midnight. The airport was packed, and queues formed at the immigration desks. It was quiet. No one seemed to have the energy to talk. The lines of shuffling people looked straight ahead with grey, morose faces. Many made no attempt to stifle bouts of yawning. We all gradually moved towards the line of desks containing the usual suspects, stern, uniformed officials stamping papers and making very little conversation.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. As I looked up, I noticed a couple of official-looking men gradually moving along the line. They were speaking to people, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. They moved from person to person, coming nearer, and I strained my ears to try to catch what they were saying. When they were about ten people away, I caught the word “Palantina” and then my name and Julie’s. My heart sank. I remembered the poker-faced official at Heathrow who had frog-marched Leddicus away to the detention centre. We had nowhere to run. We just had to stand there with our hearts pounding and wait for them to reach us.

“Mr. Shynder? Miss Bright? Mr. Palantina?” We acknowledged we were who they were seeking. One of the uniformed officials turned to the other men and said something I didn’t understand.. They all moved towards us.. “Come with us..” One of them said.

“What’s this all about?” Julie whispered to me.

“We’re going to the dungeons,” I said rather inappropriately.

Leddicus was looking like a rabbit in the headlights. The officials walked us smartly to the end of the line of desks where all that could be heard was muffled thuds as officials stamped passports. I noticed one young lady sitting in a nearby booth was not stamping any passports. Above her was a sign announcing “Diplomats and Crew.” Our captors were heading directly toward her. As we drew level, one of the men with us smiled at her.

“We found them. Thanks,” he said.

Before we knew it, we walked straight past her smiling face without even showing our passports.

I drew alongside one of the men. “Excuse me, what’s this all about?”

Before he had a chance to answer, another man approached our group and shook hands with everyone.

One of the other men turned to us. “Welcome to . This is Kaalim Malouf. He will be your guide during your stay, and we hope you will enjoy your time with us.”

The three of us were stuck dumb, but the ever-practical Julie soon found her voice. “Thank you very much. It’s good to be here. Where can we collect our luggage?”

Kaalim turned to her with a broad smile. “Ma’am, that is all taken care of. It has already been retrieved and placed in the bus that will take you to your hotel. Please follow me.” He swept his arm forward theatrically and led us out of the terminal.

The early morning heat hit us, and our faces were soon glistening with moisture. Kaalim led us along the terminal perimeter to a large, shining luxury minibus, and we all clambered into its cool interior.

“This is a rather nice dungeon,” whispered Julie.

“Now this is the sort of reception I like,” I said.

Up to this point, Leddicus had not said a word. He had just trotted along behind us, looking rather confused by it all, but now, as we sped along the modern road toward the centre of Tel Aviv, he exclaimed, “Are you sure we are in the right place, It all looks very strange to me. The only thing that’s right is the weather.”

“Let’s get some rest, Leddicus, and we’ll see how it looks later once we have slept,” I said to calm him. I was too tired to get into a big debate. I knew he was uncomfortable, and I was not surprised. I still had the experience in the back of my mind.

The hotel was luxuriously perfect, and the rooms were exquisite. The sumptuous surroundings and attentive staff blew Leddicus away. As it was so late, we had a quick nightcap and went to our rooms with the agreement to start early, but not too early. Our guide would join us for breakfast at the hotel.