Louis de Bernières - The Dust That Falls From Dreams

They arrived in Colombo at dawn, two weeks before the onset of the south-west monsoon. While Esther and her nurse still slept below, Rosie and Daniel watched the port appear. The palm trees waved gently along the shores, at the back of the narrow sands. It was cool, but the steaming heat of the day was already impending. Daniel said, ‘Ah, the smell of the East! How I love it!’

‘It smells a lot nicer than Bombay,’ said Rosie, breathing in the scent of coriander, cumin and fenugreek, garlic, woodsmoke and tumeric, ajowan, blossom and sweat. ‘It smells all friendly and inviting.’

‘It is going to be terribly hot and humid,’ Daniel warned her for the hundredth time, ‘but don’t worry, it’ll be lovely in the highlands.’

‘I don’t think I’d mind it anyway,’ said Rosie. ‘Nothing could be hotter than the corridors of Netley in the summer.’

‘The tropics drive white men quite mad, you know,’ said Daniel. ‘They cope by drinking vast quantities of alcohol, and then after a few years that stops working, and they go downhill like an avalanche. They come home with malaria and can’t get used to being back, and they keep drinking and then they die. Half of them accidentally set their armchairs alight with their pipes and cigarettes, whilst they’re in a coma, and the whisky makes them quite extraordinarily combustible. And the women —’

‘Oh, do say something cheerful,’ said Rosie.

‘I am cheerful,’ said Daniel. ‘We aren’t going to be in the lowlands. And of course, there’s Esther, so we probably can’t stay here forever.’

‘Esther? What do you mean?’

‘What are we going to do when she’s old enough to go to school? I’m not sure there are any where we’re going.’

‘We could send her home to live with Granny? Or Gran’mère? She could go to one of those nice little schools in Sussex, and frolic on the South Downs in her spare time.’

‘Not sure I could bear that. I’m not sure that you could. I’m told that colonial wives usually have to choose between their husbands and their children. I know there are at least two boys’ schools in Kandy. Ali Bey told me about them, because he’d been to one, and terribly proud he is of it too. But we’ll have to find out if there’s one for girls.’

They heard the shouts of the sailors, and the clank and the booming bass rattle of the anchor chain. ‘Look,’ said Daniel, ‘there’s the steam launch coming to get us.’

‘I think I’ll go and get Esther up and dressed,’ said Rosie. ‘And I’ll see that nurse is awake. We’ll be docking any minute, won’t we?’

‘I’ll miss this ship. I don’t have to say goodbye to Ali Bey yet, though. With any luck he’ll be in the same hotel. I’ve invited him to come and stay sometime. We’ve had such a lot of fun.’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘we have. After I got over the seasickness, anyway. I’ll miss it too. We must remember to thank the Captain and the purser.’

THE SQUARE ON the inner harbour was lined on three sides by about thirty motor cars, four rickshaws and one bullock cart. Daniel had expected it to be teeming and chaotic, like an Indian port, but it was quiet and orderly. He and Rosie were merely lucky, however. On future visits, it would always be teeming with touts and idlers, beggars, sharks and opportunists, with much anarchy and hubbub.

On the quayside to meet them was Hugh Bassett, son of the Colonel. Like Daniel, he was dressed in tropical whites, and wore a topee. He was a tall man with a rubicund face, an exiguous ginger moustache and rheumy blue eyes that betrayed considerable good humour.

‘ Ayubowa! Welcome to Colombo, welcome to Ceylon!’ he cried, as he pumped their hands, and then he bent down and offered Esther his hand too. ‘You have brought a little princess with you! Your Royal Highness, how d’you do?’

‘I do do well,’ replied Esther, shaking his proferred hand. ‘Mostly. I’m a bit hot. I know some poems.’

‘I understand you were in the Flying Corps,’ said Hugh to Daniel.

‘And previously in the Frontier Scouts and Rattray’s Sikhs. I suppose I’m an RAF man now.’

‘Once RFC, always RFC,’ said Hugh. ‘I was in the RNAS.’

‘Gracious, really? We’ll have masses to talk about. We can have pistols at dawn about whether to stand or sit during the loyal toast. You didn’t know Collishaw, did you?’

‘Just met him at a do. Not in my squadron, I’m afraid.’

‘Anyone who has met Collishaw automatically has my greatest admiration,’ said Daniel, ‘Did you know A. K. Smithells? Son of the scientist? Crashed a Sopwith?’

‘Everyone’s crashed a Sopwith,’ said Hugh. ‘I have myself.’

‘Did you fly Tripehounds?’

‘Certainly did. Loved them.’

Rosie took Esther’s hand, and said, ‘Come on, darling, I can see that you and I aren’t going to get a word in edgeways with these two.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ said Hugh. ‘Anyway, I’m sure you’ll get on terribly well with my wife. She was a FANY. You were a VAD, weren’t you? You can talk to your hearts’ content about gangrene and aneurysms and sebaceous cysts. We have some lovely diseases here that you will find quite novel.’

Rosie laughed. ‘I’m hoping to be helpful in the estate clinic. I’ve been told you have one.’

‘We certainly do. Now, the plan is that we will spend today in Colombo. If there’s time and you like the idea, we can go to Mount Lavinia for the afternoon. It’s very pleasant by the sea. Tonight we will all stay in the GOH, and tomorrow morning we will set off reasonably early, and wend our way in a somewhat leisurely fashion, seeing all the sights.’

‘I’ll look forward to that,’ said Daniel.

‘What’s the GOH?’ asked Rosie.

‘This,’ said Hugh, waving his arm towards an impressive and highly Romanesque building right in front of them, with can-opies over the windows, ‘is the Grand Oriental Hotel. That’s why it has “GOH” at the top. And you’ll never guess what that is.’ He pointed to a smaller but prettier building on the left. It had ‘VICTORIA ARCADE’ written along it, at the level of the first floor.

‘I’m only guessing,’ said Daniel, ‘but I think it’s probably the Victoria Arcade.’

‘Oh my,’ said Rosie, ‘I think the GOH is much too grand for the likes of us.’

‘Nonsense!’ replied Hugh. ‘Even the most banal and vulgar of monarchs have stayed there. It has electroliers and electric punkahs, and a wondrous billiards room. Anyone play billiards? There are six tables, and the hotel will even provide you with a marker to play with, should you need an opponent. Watch out for Perera — you can’t possibly win if it’s him you’re up against, so don’t lay any wagers. I’ve got you a room overlooking the harbour. There’s a charming little dwarf on the staff, called Chandan, and I’ve briefed him to be very attentive to you at all times and keep away the tip cadgers. You’ll find him most appealing and comical. And,’ he added, turning to Daniel, ‘the reason we are going to be tourists for a few days is that we are going to work you absolutely flat out for at least six months. This is your brief respite before the apocalypse.’

‘I shall enjoy it as the condemned man relishes his last meal,’ said Daniel.

‘Your baggage will be brought straight to your rooms by the porters.’

‘And what about my Henley?’

‘You’ve brought an entire town?’

‘My motorcycle. It’ll have to be unloaded and uncrated, and I’ll have to check it’s all working. Unless you’re taking us in a lorry, I’ll need to come in convoy with you.’

‘And leave me alone in the car with your lovely wife? Foolish man. You may live to regret it. I do hope you brought plenty of spares. You’ll find that the engineers at the station are extremely able, but it might take months to get new parts. A motorcycle is really not the most practical way of getting around here, I’m afraid.’