Claire woke fully energized and excited for the day ahead. After a calming shower, she left to see the town. The first stop she made was to the viewpoint from where she could see the waters of the gulf down below. There was a small but beautiful mosque at this site dedicated to the saint whose name had inspired the town’s. She sat here in silent meditation for some time soaking up the gloriously warm winter sun of the Mediterranean.
After a while though pangs of hunger urged her to get up and move in the direction of breakfast and coffee. She stopped at a cute little café and ordered a sandwich and coffee. Claire did not like to get filled up too heavily this early in the day when she had to go sightseeing. There were two reasons for this. The first was practicality. It was very difficult to walk around and enjoy the world after a heavy breakfast, and the second was caution because she knew that in a new place, one came upon many different types of foods and food vendors which were very tempting to try. So Claire had a light breakfast in order to keep sampling different types of delicious snacks the city had to offer.
After breakfast, she walked to the second viewpoint and from there headed on to the market, referred to locally as the ‘medina.’ During their conversation yesterday afternoon, Suleiman had told her that all cities of Tunisia had a ‘medina’ which was the city’s local market. Everything that a person could need would be found here in these marketplaces.
As Claire walked the small twisting alleys of the market she was amazed by the beautiful artwork this small town, she had never even heard of had, to boast of. There were so many vendors, selling beautifully crafted jewels, clothes, paintings, ceramics, rugs, carpets, everything you could need or think of.
The amazing part was that not only were the wares that were being sold in these shops of remarkable beauty but the shops themselves were great architectural gems. She had rarely seen such beautiful architecture holding ordinary local craft shops. She spent a lot of time in the ceramic shops and took notes on the ideas that inspired her creativity.
Claire realized how good it was that she knew she had no option but to go ahead with her studio as she now saw these shops with a much keener interest. She felt good knowing that she had no security of a job to fall back on.and make any more excuses from doing what she really wanted to do. She took hundreds of pictures and noted down several brilliant ideas regarding the designs of the ceramics.
Claire stopped at a particularly gorgeous shop selling Tunisian ceramics and was enthralled by the beautiful wares. It felt like there was a great burst of creativity flowing to her through the place, its people, and its crafts. She felt like she stood in a portal of creativity and ideas were flowing to her in great ease and abundance. Right then she was snapped out her of reverie by a loud male voice coming from somewhere above and behind her.
“Do you have it?” The voice said.
The shopkeeper nodded yes to someone behind her pointing towards the back of the shop eagerly. Claire turned her head around to look what was going on but all she could see was a dark silhouette of a man. Interestingly the man stood right in front of the sun blocking its rays and his shadow fell directly over Claire so that when he moved a bit away from the sun Claire had to put up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
Claire couldn’t really make out a face just a long-haired man pointing, gesticulating something to the shop vendor. Claire turned back to the shopkeeper thanking him and moving forward with the wares she had bought. He was still gesturing furiously at something in the shop but Claire could not make any sense of it. “Yes, yes! you come down… it’s ready” he said to the shadow of the man Claire had just left behind.
Claire had a seafood platter for lunch at a huge open terrace restaurant. It was almost evening by the time she was done visiting the shops in the market and she decided to stop at the last viewpoint. She ended up staying for a long time here. Her thoughts were deep like the ocean in front of her. Eventually, she reluctantly got up to leave and on the way back got a kebab wrap to have for dinner that night. She intended to spend some more time at the house so she could unpack the ideas that had so inspired her that day. She knew if she did not write them down that night half of them would be forgotten by morning. However, when she got back to the house there was a surprise waiting for her. It was Suleiman.
“Hello, Claire! Are you having fun?” He greeted her cheerily. “I had a message from Mr. Hatem for you he said to deliver it in person. He was just here waiting for you but he had to talk to Mr. Bellam inside. He’ll be back in a minute. Here he is now he said looking at someone behind her.
“Hatem she’s here Ms. Claire.” He called out to him.
Hatem looked like a jovial artistic fellow. His grey-black hair was long and roughly combed through. “Ahhh Ms. Claire what a delight it is to finally meet you. I apologize that I wasn’t here personally to show you around the property I hope Suleiman did a good job of that,” he said.
“Oh yes! He is amazing.” Claire beamed at Suleiman. She really liked the open youthful energy of the boy. He was young still and unburdened by the tragedies of life. But the reason that Claire really liked him was that something about his demeanor suggested to Claire that he would always remain unburdened by the heavy things life laid down on you because of his beaming smile, charm, and gracious attitude.
“Suleiman is taking very good care of me. Thank you so much, Suleiman.” She said to him.
“Yes, he is a good lad.” Hatem patted him gently on the back.
“I hope you had a good time at the medina.” He said pointing towards the many shopping bags Claire held.
“Amazing!” Claire replied
“Anyway, the reason I came to see you is that my daughter is getting married this week starting tomorrow. I have left your card with Mr. Bellam who is staying in the room across the hall from you. I would be honored if you could take some time out to attend the festivities. I also wanted to apologize because there had been an unprecedented rush of guests so I had to adjust a few in this place. They would not be a bother to you at all. They would be staying in the lower part of the house and I have strictly forbidden them to make any unnecessary noise. I have put my most well-behaved guests here.”
Claire smiled heartily “That’s no trouble at all Mr. Hatem. And thank you so much for the invitation I’ll try my best to make it.”
“Please do come! something about you tells me that you are a very interesting person to talk to. You look like the artist who has found what they had been looking for. This is a rare and special occurrence and must be treated as such I would love to benefit from the flow, the glow, the spark of creativity that you are inspired by.”
Claire was surprised. Why did Hatem say these things to her? How did he know that she was closer to her dream of being an artist than she had ever been in her whole life? He himself had the air of a person who was a remarkable artist.
As if reading her mind Hatem said “I consider myself to be a patron of art. I’ve spent my whole life studying the many shapes and forms art can take. I ask you to attend the wedding for my sake, for you see my wife has her Americans and I have my artists, and if there is an unfair balance of artists and Americans then I would be very melancholy indeed to have no one to talk to. She would love to have another American at the wedding and I would love to have another artist. This way we can both be happy. She always complains that getting married to me took her away from her first love which is America.”
“…and now in a turn of fate, my daughter marries an American.” Hatem sighed “I feel like life has come full circle.”
“She is my only child and I hate to be away from her.” Hatem continued turning somber.
“Who knows maybe I’ll give in to my wife’s demands and spend the final chapter of my life in a country that makes, both my wife and my daughter, very happy. Maybe I would find happiness there as well.” He looked sad as he said this and Claire could see that he was not just saying this, he was seriously considering moving to America.
“The thought of leaving my beloved hometown makes my heart heavy with pain. But my wife, she left her home for me for all these long years. It is time that I show her and our relationship the same dedication and loyalty. That is what love is after all, isn’t it so Claire? We should not love places and things in life more than the people who make it worthy of living. But…” he said loudly breaking free from the spell of nostalgia that had gripped him.
“If we ever decide to settle in America, Suleiman I am telling you, you must come with us. There is no way I can survive a foreign land without the help of my beloved student or is it master now eh?” Suleiman grinned broadly but lowered his head to hide his blushing cheeks.
“Of course Hatem, you have taken care of me my whole life. You are the only family I have ever known. I would not have it any other way myself. As for the flute, I think you are not wrong in realizing that I have now become better than you could ever be.”
“Ohh, you rascal!” said Hatem and shoved him playfully.
“Anyway, Claire I will not take up any more of your time. Please try to come for at least one day. You might benefit from the cultural experience yourself. And if you need anything at all just ask Suleiman or even any of the guests in the house. They are all dear friends and family and will always be there for you. In fact, the groom is staying here as well as we had to keep him somewhere away from our house.” he said winking
“I’ll be there!” said, Claire suddenly, surprising herself.
“That’s great! I’ll see you at the wedding. You won’t regret it!” Hatem exclaimed and after making a couple of comments on the weather he left with Suleiman.
Claire felt oddly welcomed and warmed by her meeting with Hatem and even though she had resolved to shun any kind of festive activities she thought she might make an exception for one day.
It would have to be some day before Christmas though. She was still determined to spend Christmas making her artistic dreams come true so that she wouldn’t have the time to remunerate over her failed romantic ones. Hatem had mentioned that the wedding would go on for a whole week. She decided she would attend the event planned for the day after tomorrow because, after a visit to the capital of Tunis in the morning, Wednesday would be her last night in Sidi Bou Said. She would leave for the island of Djerba on Thursday as that was one of the 2nd most important cities devoted to the art of ceramic making. It was there that she planned to spend her Christmas finalizing the design details of her business venture.