INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 28: GALAHAD

The first stop they made was at a car rental shop. Andrew wanted to go sand drifting but this was a sport you could not do with a Mercedes SUV. He had already done a lot of heavy spending; trashing his father’s twentieth birthday gift to him would be an insult to the injury.

“Good afternoon my friend…” The Egyptian man at the counter of the shop said.

“Good afternoon.” Xaviere responded.

“What do you want today? We have all kinds of cars, jeep, luxury, truck; you name it.

“I am looking for a jeep that’s sturdy on the ground but also fast.” Andrew said. The Egyptian man laughed and shouted something about rich foreigners in the native language to a person in the back who shouted too.

“We have just the thing.” The man said. He took Andrew to the jeep section. There were all manner of cars there; beautiful jeeps. Andrew and Galahad looked carefully at the vehicles while Petrichor and Xaviere followed lazily behind. Andrew finally saw the jeep he liked. After a little scrutiny, he smiled and said, “This is the one. How much to rent this for a day?” the man cleared his throat and then said the price. Andrew said nothing; he just looked directly at the man with an unshaken gaze. There saw an awkward silence’ even Petrichor and Xaviere noticed and kept quiet.

Suddenly, Galahad broke the ice. He started speaking fluently in the native dialect the man spoke in earlier. He told him not to cheat them. He also told him that because they are foreigners does not mean they deserved to be cheated. He then spoke respectfully to the man and asked him how much it really cost to rent the car for a day. The man was really surprised and embarrassed. He then told Andrew the actual price and without further bargaining, Andrew paid the deposit and was given the keys.

“Thanks a lot Galahad.” Andrew said, now sitting in the driver seat of the jeep he just rented.

“It is always a pleasure Galahad said.”

“I will call you when I am done. Take care of the love birds for me.” Andrew said finally as he zoomed off.

“Come now, we do not want to keep Abdulsamad waiting.” Galahad said as he walked to the car and opened the door of the passengers’ seat. Xaviere and Petrichor got in and Galahad drove off.

They had been driving for minutes almost silently; Xaviere and Petrichor kept on whispering, Galahad said nothing. There were saying a lot of inside jokes, dropping innuendos and whispering in their ears; it was not exactly the sort of conversation Galahad would join. He was professional in his dealings; he did his work meticulously and respected the privacy of his passengers.

“Mr. Galahad…” Petrichor said, “Where did you learn to speak Egyptian like that?”

“That was not Egyptian; there is no such thing as Egyptian when it comes to languages; that is.” Galahad said after a light chuckle.

“What then was it?” Petrichor asked, feeding her curiosity.

“It was Arabic ma; a Sudanese variation of it.” Galahad said. He was not one for small talk. He did not elongate his speech farther than needed.

“How then did you learn it?” Petrichor inquired. At this time, Xaviere had already caught the hint. Galahad was not comfortable talking about this.

“It is just a passing hobby; I like languages. It also looks good on a CV; a multilingual chauffeur with more stamps on his passport than a post office.” Galahad said, laughing lightly at his own joke. Was that his way of changing the topic? Xaviere wondered. Xaviere then whispered something into Petrichor’s ear and then she asked no more questions.

Galahad has been driving for years. He understood confidentiality. Sitting in the driver’s seat of different cars, he has heard political secrets, family scandals, silly jokes, angry phone calls; he had seen it all and even more. Before becoming the Macpherson family driver, Galahad served in the special forces of the British army. The real reason he was hired was because of his combat and intelligence skills.

Galahad came into the family as a soldier but after all this years of service he has become more than a chauffeur or valet; he was now a member of the Macpherson household.

Those who are financially challenged look at men like the Macphersons and wish to.be them. They think that the rich have no problems at all. From their perspective this may be true. A poor person's problems can be fixed with money and the rich man has money so that must mean the rich man has no problems. If only they knew how flawed this logic was.

People are blinded by the flashy jewellery, big houses, exotic cars and fancy clothes and fail to see the challenges that the rich also face. Andrew experienced such things first hand.

His parents barely had time for him growing up. There was always a servant or maid to take care of his every need. His parents like many aristocrats fail to realise that a wardrobe of clothes, an abundance of food and a garage of cars cannot fill up the space of a parent. But perhaps a Galahad can.

Galahad was his father and friend. Like Alfred was to Bruce Wayne ... so Galahad was to Andrew.