Page 11 of Under the Arabian Sky

CHAPTER7

I drove.Or at least, I did my best to drive.

The jerking gears and the rattling transmission and the sound of metal on metal like nails down a blackboard kept me well on edge for the first few blocks, as the Land Cruiser lurched and shuddered its way through the streets.

My cell phone was trying to tell me directions out of town while the engine spluttered and revved.

I drove past mosques and street vendors and what looked like a large market where men in Arabic dress were haggling over goats.

Soon the flat-roofed, whitewashed buildings of Muscat gave way to the hilly landscape beyond the city.

The air conditioning in the car, as one might expect, struggled in the heat. Suffice to say it blew more hot air on me than cold. I wound down the windows and put my foot down, letting the wind rush through the vehicle. It tussled my hair and lashed my face, and although it was hot the sheer movement of air was enough to keep me sane.

The road snaked its way across the sun-baked landscape.

Before long, the rocky terrain gave way to the stretches of yellow sand that grew larger and reached farther until soon there was nothing but desert dunes.

By now I was half an hour or so out of town.

I decided I wanted to get a true sense of the Omani desert before I started wading through Cavendish’s notes.

I veered off the main road and the Land Cruiser churned its way across the sand.

The sun was high and the day almost blinding.

Driving out across the dunes there was very little to focus on apart from the point where the sand met the sky. Occasionally a rocky outcrop would appear, giving me a sense of perspective and distance.

I gripped the wheel tightly as the sand tried to tug the car this way and that. On these sandy slopes I had to keep my foot on the accelerator, knowing if I slowed down in the wrong spot the car could become bogged. In all honesty I didn’t feel entirely safe in the old Land Cruiser, so I decided to reach the top of the next dune and scan the landscape for firmer ground where I could stop and size up my surroundings properly.

But as I reached the crest of the next dune, another vehicle suddenly appeared out of nowhere, emerging from the other side of the same sandhill.

It was about to crash straight into me.

I turned the wheel sharply.

Too sharply.

The wheels on the right side of the car lifted off the ground.

“Oh fuck.”

In a knee-jerk reaction I pumped the brake, but the brake wasn’t about to stop the Land Cruiser from tipping to the left before completely capsizing.

“Fuck.”

I gripped the wheel in one hand and my seatbelt with the other, clutching both tightly.

The car landed on its roof, but it didn’t stop there.

Helpless to do anything but hold tight, I watched the world tumble over and over again as the car began to roll sideways down the dune.

Roll, thump!

Roll, crunch!

Roll, crash!

The old vehicle groaned and buckled and kicked up sand.

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