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Page 3 of 3
“You mean I could be here for another week?” I asked in despair.
“Who can say? In these matters, it’s best not to predict.”
Within a few days, my despair subsided. After months of jetting from one war zone to the next, it was kind of nice to be in a place where I wasn’t hustling for an interview. And even if Khartoum didn’t exactly meet my definition of fun—the closest thing to popular entertainment was watching the whirling dervishes dance in the Omdurman cemetery— what made up for it were the Sudanese. African and Arab alike, they were among the most generous and sweet-natured people I’d encountered anywhere. Because of them, the days of waiting passed in a kind of easy, slow somnolence.
That came to a shrieking end. At about 4 A.M. one morning, I jolted awake to the sound of screaming jet engines and dashed out onto my hotel balcony. There, I saw the headlights of an incoming airplane, its wings teetering wildly as it flew maybe a hundred feet above the city rooftops. It was either about to crash or about to return the prime minister from his goodwill tour.
I packed, paid up, and commanded a taxi driver to make the 15-minute drive to the airport in five. Already, other cars were ahead of me, and through the swirling dust I made out the prime minister’s passing motorcade. At the air- port I joined the nimble-footed racing through the terminal and onto the tarmac, where I was struck by a bizarre sight: Without even shutting down its engines, the plane was being refueled and appeared ready to take off again. This was confirmed by the mechanic who, with one hand on the fuel pump, frantically waved us onboard with the other. Maybe a dozen of us got on before the stairs were pulled away. As the plane taxied toward the runway, I looked out to see scores of other would-be travelers sprinting over the tarmac in vain pursuit.
“Close call,” I said to the passing steward. “Another five minutes and this thing would have been full of passengers.”
“Yes,” the man laughed gently. “Very close.”
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