Dear Paul,
I write to you
from a land that I can’t pronounce its name. I am incapable of
describing it as well. All I can say about it is that it's yellow. My
brother chose a spot in the middle of the desert to be our home; they
call it Egypt. He claims that it carries a hidden rich future which no
one else sees; like when he claimed that you and I have no future. I
sincerely wish that time swallows this land and forgets all about it
just to prove him wrong; maybe then he would know that we are
inseparable.
We arrived 15 days ago but
we were staying at the mayor’s house until the servants clean the
palace. The palace that my brother, Baron Edward Empain, had been
building for the past five years. Merriam, my niece, is telling me that
it looks similar to the one we used to live in back in Belgium, however
it seems absolutely unfamiliar to me. All the details are different; I
can barely relate to anything except to my pen.
Darling,
can you imagine that my brother had chosen the farthest chamber in the
palace to be mine? As if the thousand miles that already separate me
from you are not enough for him. But again, he does not know that I have
got my pen. We have been busy all week long in preparing ourselves and
the palace for the grand reception that Edward is holding tonight to
introduce us to the city’s most prominent figures; and of course by
prominent I mean the city’s most untrue and lame figures.
Edward
invited them all; the ambassadors, ministers, mayor, and others. In
fact, as I am writing to you now darling I hear Merriam echoing my name
against the walls of the palace to help her with the preparations.
Excuse me love, I’ll leave you for a while and come back to you with all
the boring stories from the party.
Yours Helena,
1911
Helena
lays down her pen on the desk with a heavy sigh and walks away towards
the door with her eye focused on the letter. She gets out of her chamber
and locks the door behind her. “I am coming!” she echoed back. The
sound of her echo actually scared her a little which made her walk
faster towards the staircase. Oh the staircase! Perhaps it’s what she
most fears in this palace. It is twisted in a way that makes it seem
endless, which reminds her with the possibility that her stay in this
palace may be infinite. She finally reaches the final step of the
staircase with a little relief that she landed safely. “The pink rose or
white rose?” rushed Merriam towards her holding a set of different
flowers. “Pink” answers Helena without even looking at the options.
“From where did you get the flowers any way?” asks Helena after
realizing that she had never seen a plant since she had arrived to this
bald land. “I thought you’d never ask.” replied Merriam with a cunning
smile “Come, I have a surprise for you” She grabs Helena from her wrist
and runs towards the Palace’s garden. “Look Helena! The gardeners have
been working since dawn in beautifying the garden. They had brought with
them the most famous and rare plants and flowers from around the world!
Papa had ordered them especially for tonight!” Helena was confused and
had mixed feelings of pitying her brother for faking a garden and of
feeling glad to have finally seen her most favorite flowers. Her
happiness shortly vanished after she remembered that in less than few
hours these flowers will be dead. “I too shall die soon flowers. I left
my roots in Belgium” Helena whispers to the flowers. What kind of a
challenge is Edward having? And what point is he trying to prove? The
flowers look extra-ordinary contradictory among all the sand that
surrounds the palace, Helena desperately thought to herself.
Suddenly, a very loud sound came out from the palace so Helena and
Merriam rushed back inside to see what happened. It was the clock that
had never worked since they had arrived. The clock that stood with pride
and refused to let time pass just for Helena, now, it breaks its
promise and loses to time. Now, the clock will remind her in the most
disturbing way with every hour, day and month that she spends away from
Paul. She stands still in front of the clock for a while silently
confronting it with its betrayal.
“Papa
is here!” screams Merriam in excitement. She ran towards him while
hiding the flowers behind her back to surprise him too that they are
finally here. Just before she shows him the flowers, he precedes and
places a flower in her hair with a genuine smile. “You didn’t believe me
Merriam when I promised you the flowers”. Merriam responded with a
tender hug to hide her embarrassment. Edward then headed towards Helena
who was standing still in front of the clock. He gently placed a white
flower in her hair as he stared at the clock in admiration. “Amazing
huh! It’s the only clock in the world that counts not only the hours,
but also the days and months. The only similar clock is found in
Buckingham Palace”. Helena pays attention to his presence, and to the
flower that is now in her hair. She gets it off and slowly walks away.
She
hasn’t spoken to her brother since the day he decided she is never to
see Paul again. Back in Belgium, Paul and Edward were business partners
and good friends for many years, which was an enough reason, or excuse,
for Paul to visit Edward's family every now and then. Helena and Paul’s
love story had a typical start of first encounter attraction that soon
developed to stolen gazes at dinner parties and secret meetings. Helena
believes that Edward knew about their secret love story all along but
he just found it inappropriate to speak about it and chose to remain
silent until the time is right. She also never doubted that her brother
may not approve of their love. In fact, she thought that this would be
delightful news to him. Series of events such as the death of Paul’s
mother followed by his sudden travel to his sister in Paris that lasted
for a year in order to settle inheritance issues had stopped Paul from
directly approaching Edward and revealing his hidden love for Helena.
Aside from Paul’s mother’s death, everything else seemed peaceful and
serene. Until one day, Paul and Edward had a huge dispute over how to
use a large piece of land that they both owned; Paul wanted to keep it
for future investments, while Edward wanted to sell it because he sought
a more prosperous opportunity in Egypt. The dispute shortly extended
till it reached Paul and Helena’s story when Edward decided to break his
silence and accused Paul for betraying their honorable friendship.
Paul, then, had to sacrifice the land in order to prove to Edward, and
to Helena, that he never intended to misuse his love for her for
business purposes. For that reason she detested her brother. It was very
clear for her that he was the one who used her for business purposes.
At once, she lost the love of her life as well as her respect to her
older brother. As for Edward, he, very easily and without demonstrating
the least signs of shame or guilt, had sentenced her with lifetime
suffering and now he’s trying to make it up for her with that miserable
flower that will die soon!
She decided to
withdraw herself from all the madness happening in the palace and went
upstairs to get dressed; it was about time to get ready for the night
anyway. As she climbed the stairs, she contemplated the statues
surrounding the staircase. She once heard her brother telling the mayor
about his trip to India and his passion about Hinduism culture which
made him hire two Indian architects to design and build for him Indian
statues all over the palace. Despite her overall resentment of the
palace, Helena could not hide her admiration of the statues; she sensed
special holy aura around them.
Two hours later,
the clock stormed again announcing its eight o’clock. This time, Helena
was relieved that the clock broke its promise with her as she wanted
time to rapidly pass tonight. Shortly, Merriam, Helena and Edward met in
the hall and were all dressed elegantly. Guests slowly flooded to the
palace and soon the palace was crowded with strangers who do not even
speak her language. The few who could communicate with her only spoke
about how magnificent the palace is. She only found company with the
mayor’s daughters since she had spent with them her first days in Egypt;
and since she had told them about Paul. She needed to speak about Paul
since she was incapable of speaking to him. However, the mayor’s
daughters were also drunk on the palace’s radiance and found no interest
at all in trading the repetitive tours around the palace with a talk
about someone they do not know. Helena tried to discretely excuse
herself and to disappear for a while but her brother’s arm gently
grabbed her to join one of the ongoing conversations. “You know, Mayor,
if you honor my family with a visit during the morning, you will enjoy
the sun from every angle of the palace. As a matter of fact, the sun is
the reason that brought me and my family to Egypt or to Heliopolis as I
prefer to call it, which means the city of sun”. Food, music, tours
around the palace and finally the night was over. Helena impatiently
saluted the last guests as they leave and flew to her room. She fell
into Paul's arms as her hands hugged the pen tightly and drowned him
with kisses as the ink flooded on the papers...
