it didn ’ t and I was left to load up my luggage feeling guilty for accepting everyone ’ s generosity when we hadn ’ t really been in trouble at all .
If they minded , they didn ’ t show it . We had shared some wonderful moments and the hugs good-bye were genuine . The mechanic offered to show us a shortcut to town and we followed his scooter along little used farm roads . Then it happened again . My bike died seemingly for no reason and any leftover guilt evaporated . At least there really was a problem .
The mechanic couldn ’ t identify the cause , so we just fitted a new fuse and were on our way . The bike continued its regular mysterious deaths , slowly but surely depleting my supply of spare fuses so the mechanic offered that we should use the garage in town where he works to try and find the problem . Our tests with the voltmeter came up empty and soon everyone was packing up to get home in time for their Ramadan
feast at sunset . The mechanic was hungry , too , and said we should stay at his place . By now I had run out of the right fuses , so we fitted a larger capacity one to get the bike going .
He lived in a single room at the bottom of a three storey house . A shower was fitted into one corner , separated from the kitchen by a shower curtain and a loo was behind the door . The sofa doubled as his bed . Having spent the afternoon helping us , he hadn ’ t had a chance to do the shopping . So he cooked up a simple meal and we contributed what we could find in our panniers .
When we rolled out our sleeping bags on the floor for the night and switched off the single lightbulb , sleep wouldn ’ t come and our friend shared his story in the dark . This house belonged to the family and the parents and each sibling had one floor . He , too , had occupied an entire floor with his wife . But when his wife had tried to poison him , he had divorced her . Divorce for any reason is frowned upon and brings shame to the family so his parents had moved him to this single room downstairs , reasoning he wouldn ’ t need more as a bachelor .
The next morning he showed no trace of last night ' s sad reminiscing and brewed up coffee while I made yet another attempt to find the elusive electrical problem . I found nothing and it was time to move on . The mechanic fancied a ride and came with us to the next town . His scooter was slow and we stopped often for tea and conversation at roadside stalls . Strangely the bike didn ’ t blow the fuse once at this relaxed pace .
By late afternoon we reached the next town and hugged our mechanic friend farewell . It was too late to do anything else today , so we stocked up on food and followed a side road into some olive groves . An almost dried-out river bed made for an
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