Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

The half hour ride took them up a valley southwest of town. Henri bade the droshki to
await their return in a village of a few houses from where they walked up a hill.
The night was dark. They passed a desolate Moslem cemetery, a vast treeless field.
Crooked steles stood menacing at all angles as far as the eye could see. The mounds of the
graves lay bare and uncared for, ghostly oil lamps flickered at a few sites. Two pariah dogs
disappeared into the night.
On the top of the hill, the silhouette of the church and a tree stood out etched in black
against the lights of the city below. A single candle flickered in the building.
Nobody spoke.
From a branch of the gnarled oak in front of the building hung a bell. Below they found
two wooden tables and an ancient stone block. Another heathen altar? A butcher block for the
slaughter of sheep?
The simple windowless stone building had a pitched roof. A dilapidated bell tower rose
into the night. The door to a small room under the tower stood open. A flickering candle cast
unsteady shadows over a disorderly bed, a table, a half-empty soup bowl, a couple of wine
bottles.
Henri knocked at the narrow door. An indistinct murmur of voices. After an exchange of
passwords a hooded man opened. Henri embraced and kissed the brother, then he introduced
Konrad and Alexandra.
They took off their shoes and entered barefoot. The highly polished wood floor reflected
uncounted candles waxed to the blackened stone walls. A dozen men in long, white skirts,
short jackets, and high, brown, cylindrical top hats sat cross-legged on cushions along the wall.
They quietly smoked softly bubbling water pipes. A pungent aroma filled the room.
Konrad helped Alexandra out of her burka and found that she wore baggy, white cotton
pants, tied at her ankles, a similar buttonless shirt with a high collar—and his necklace. She
turned to him with an encouraging smile.
Alexandra bowed deeply to a middle-aged woman in a black cloak and a green turban
sitting cross-legged at one side of the open dance space,
Persephone. Konrad followed Alexandra’s example. Persephone acknowledged the guests
with a nod. A brother led them to cushions on a carpet across from her. Henri in his white
dance skirt and brown hat had already taken his seat among his brothers.
A brother brought a water pipe. Alexandra took a deep breath from the mouthpiece and
whispered to Konrad. "Be careful, don’t take too much, you are not used to this potent stuff,
you might just fly off! I will help you keep the smoke burning."
It was cannabis. Its effect overwhelmed him. The room began to turn and a pleasurable
dizziness descended upon his senses. He left most of the smoke to Alexandra.
A hush fell over the assembly, the gurgling of the water pipes ceased. Three men in
dark cloaks carried a hand drum and two neys, simple oboes, into one corner of the room. The
neys began to wind a doleful, quiet tune around each other and the drum.
Persephone rose and recited a prayer in Aramaic. The dancers got up and arranged
themselves in a line before her. They held their hands up with bent elbows in an ancient
gesture of prayer.
When Persephone had finished, the mood and tempo of the music changed, and one
after the other the dancers bowed deeply before the sheik, kissed her hand, and spun off onto
the open floor.
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