Vanished Without A Trace (6 page)

Daniel did not wait for her to open things up, but took out a fifty dollar bill and gave it to her. She took the money and stuffed it deep into her dress pocket. "This is a payment for two months." she said.

When he finished his tea, he went to his room, closed the door and threw himself onto the bed with his clothes on. Finally, he had time to think about recent events. He did not think about anyone but himself, not about Neta, not about his grandfather, but about Daniel in a foreign country, alone in the whole world. He didn’t realize he had fallen asleep until he heard knocks on the door. "The food is ready." Daniel smiled to himself. Twenty-five dollars a month including meals and a friend was definitely worthwhile.

She talked with him throughout the meal. She asked questions occasionally and became interested in him and in what he was doing. When he told her about the maintenance work she immediately went to prepare him a sandwich so he wouldn’t fall asleep during his duty. The meal was excellent. He complimented her and saw the gleam in her eyes.

Over time, kind of mother son relationship developed between the two. Sultana made the shared evening meal into something permanent and a must. She took advantage of every moment to talk with Daniel to hear the day's events. Sometimes, when he didn’t listen to her intently, or he was taking her for granted the concern she was showing him, she would raise her voice angrily. But Daniel didn’t get angry with her. He was touched by her concern.

Ten months had passed. It was not as bad as he thought when he first arrived there. His salary turned out to be enough for his living requirements. The housing was comfortable, and he even found two good friends, Mikhail and Sultana. He would see Mikhail every morning when he arrived at the site to drink coffee with him for a couple of minutes. During the weekend, they would hang out at Alexander’s bar to have a few drinks and talk. Mikhail proved to be a good friend. He also tried to help Daniel find his mother, Julia Montaigne’s family, hoping to find Daniel’s relatives, but it was impossible because of the government agencies’ disorganization with paperwork.

One morning, Mikhail surprised Daniel by offering him a job in sales with a guy named Adam. "I think it's time for you to start to find a more serious direction in life. You can’t deal with the maintenance job all your life." Daniel was filled with doubt. Although, sometimes he thought of finding a more interesting job, he was afraid to take a new step forward in a field he had no idea about.

Adam understood Daniel's fear. While Mikhail thought Daniel should give up the maintenance work, Adam thought he should keep the job.

"If you want to try, it’s okay, but you need to think carefully before you give up your job. In sales you will only get a percentage of the commission, so you could find yourself jobless and with no income. I suggest in the beginning you continue to work as a guard during the night and try your luck with sales for several hours during the day, it is very difficult to sell houses."

Daniel took his advice and decided to combine the two. But Adam’s warning was proving to be true. All innovative sales strategies Daniel made did not bring him even one potential buyer. Telephone attempts were unsuccessful. Aside from a waste of time and phone calls, nothing came out of it. Most of them said they were not interested even before they heard what it was all about.

Adam, witnessed Daniel’s tremendous efforts not bearing fruit, and offered him a chance to try selling apartments in Western Europe while continuing to try his luck in the Romanian market.

But after many months Daniel was unable to get even one customer which hurt his self-confidence, he considered leaving the field. That day he went home with a lack of energy and a feeling he was a pathological megalomania. Sultana was waiting for him for dinner, but he told her he had no appetite and did not want company.

"What happened?" She asked anxiously.

"Not hungry."

"No, I mean why do you look so depressed?"

"Just tired."

"Come, sit. Tell me what happened."

He went into his room and Sultana went after him. "Sultana, this is my private territory!"

"Do not forget this is my house." She sat at the edge of the bed. "How's it going with sales?" she asked.

Daniel thought this was not the first time Sultana had read his thoughts. He rubbed his forehead. "It's going pretty well, for four months I haven’t sold even one apartment."

"You are in the learning period. You will use all this in the future, use your appearance, it will do you good."

"Very encouraging!" he replied sarcastically. "Shut the door behind you. I want to sleep."

9

"For the next few days, Daniel worked mostly at the maintenance job. He accepted the fact he should feel lucky to have this job - aspirations and reality were two different things. He didn’t go to the sales office that same day. Instead, he went to the beach. The weather was quite pleasant on summer mornings and he enjoyed looking at the yachts moored in the marina, though not a single day went by when watching them without him remembering the meeting with his grandfather. He felt the same emotion of overflowing revenge filling him day by day. One day an idea flashed in his mind. During the summer many yachts would leave the dock while others arrived. This meant many of the people who were coming here were potential home buyers. He went to his room, changed his clothes and went back to the dock with the sales paraphernalia. First, he went onto the dock where a group of adults were sitting at the back of the boat.

"Can I interest you in something?" He asked in English without an accent.

"We don’t want to buy anything." Someone said politely, as he looked at the papers in his hands.

"Why not? Let’s see what he has to offer." Another one said. "We don’t have anything special to do today." Daniel did not wait for another invitation. He stepped off the dock to the boat. He sat down next to them, pulled out a diagram of houses and began to explain the viability of investing in Romania, especially the specific building that was on the market located near the marina. He deliberately used the term investment and not buying, while he noted the value of the apartment. He knew the value was low compared to the costs of the apartments in Europe. For two hours he answered and explained every question they raised. When they finished with their queries, he saw they were looking at each other and he knew he had made it.

In that same week, he easily sold two apartments to two tourists. By the end of summer, he was able to sell enough apartments to leave his maintenance job and find an apartment for himself overlooking the sea. He decided at this point not to tell Sultana about this yet. He knew he would have a serious problem telling her the news. She would take it with anger, and scold him for not knowing how to appreciate the things she did for him. He decided to wait for the right moment.

On the same day he rented the apartment, he stood and looked at the ten acres of land surrounding Sultana’s house. He smiled to himself, thinking of the plan forming in his mind. Although it was a bit far from the tourist center, there was a great potential. He came home and found Sultana sitting angrily in the kitchen.

"You are late today!"

Daniel was worried. If she was angry about him being late for a meal, how much more angry would she be when the time came to tell her he had to leave? Could he even find an opportunity to do so?

"Your dominance makes me afraid of women", he replied and kissed her cheek.

"Your magic will not work on me today."

"Even if I listen to your stories about the time you worked in a circus again?"

These lines acted on her like a magic wand. She focused on herself, staring at the wall and found herself telling him the same stories she told him so many times, about her life when she was young, and how she read people’s future through their palms or through cards. After a while, she seemed to be back to reality, took a deep breath and continued eating.

He looked at her smiling, wondering if she really had such capability.

"What are you smiling for?" she asked angrily.

"Nothing, I just thought it requires a talent for someone to predict people’s future. It requires creativity I didn’t know you were blessed with."

"You're a man with such little faith," she said angrily, and motioned him to follow her. For the first time, Daniel visited her room. He stood at the entrance. There was a two-door cabinet with yellow stripes across the doors that were slightly opened because the cabinet contained more than it could accommodate. On top were large bags and to the side of the room was a very high double bed. Daniel wondered if Sultana ever shared the bed with a man. He gave her a quick look and quickly ruled out the possibility. White wool carpets somehow found their place between the bed and the closet, and still left a space for the table. There rested a crystal ball and some strange accessories such as cards, beads and stones. She picked up the marbles and held them for some time then let him hold them.

"It’s hot, isn’t it?"

"Yes, and so?" he hid his smile.

"Don’t be so cynical. Through the heat, I can predict your future."

He stifled a laugh at the thought that marbles could predict the future. He also noticed tennis balls.

"One whole playground you have here."

"Okay, okay, sit down. Sometimes I miss your shyness when you first came here."

Daniel sat in front of her and she apologized for not dressing just like the way she had in her time.

"This has an effect on people. This makes it easier for them to connect with their subconscious mind, but with you I will give up because I know you don’t believe it anyway." She said angrily.

He didn’t believe in these kinds of things, but he knew if Sultana decided something, no one could stop her. In his experience, it was better to give in at the beginning than to argue because it would only end up with the same result.

Her forehead crumpled. The beam of light was directed to his palms. Her face was contorted. She looked alternately to his face as if she was verifying what her eyes had just seen.

"There's a tough story here." She patted his hand with tenderness in her eyes. "The month you were born, November," she said, "three people met in a high mountain. Pain and heroism trapped them." She lifted her eyes and looked at him. "Your destiny will put their friendship to the test. Your fate is in their hands."

Daniel listened to her confusing words. Now he was really sure she was babbling. She was maybe a little bit unusual, he thought, but she was a good woman. He continued to listen to her.

"Your father is a rich man. He is suffering a lot. There is something separating the two of you, but he can’t stop thinking about you. He is very unhappy." The tenderness in her eyes suddenly turned to anger, "You're lucky I see the suffering in your life, otherwise I wouldn’t ignore the other things I see here. You can get out!" She rubbed her forehead in pain.

"Is everything okay?" Daniel asked worried.

"Yes, yes, you can leave," she said in a solemn whisper.

He left the room confused and sat down in front of the TV, thinking about what she said about his father. 'Your father is very rich ... ' This is true,’ he thought. She also said he was suffering a lot. Could it be his father still wanted to get in touch with him but he couldn’t do it?

Daniel’s thoughts were interrupted when Sultana came out of her room. She did not exchange a word with him and he did not understand why. Did she see something she didn’t like? He was angry at himself that he began to think about those things and started to believe she was capable of seeing things through his palms. After all, her words were quite strange. Three people met... Their fate intersects with his destiny... His father suffers... Well, what had been said predicted his future? He continued to think about it a few more minutes, then he concentrated on the TV. "Well, I'm going to sleep," he said and got up. She did not react to his words.

"I hope you did not see anything that made you so quiet," he said with a half-smile.

"Oh I saw!" She said angrily. "Why did you not tell me that you're leaving?"

Daniel rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "That's why you’re mad?"

"No." Her voice was softer now. It was evident she was sad. "I saw painful things about me. I do not want to be alone in this house."

Daniel leaned over her. "You'll be fine, Solly. You are a strong woman. You must not believe too much about these things. Come, let’s drink a beer and forget about your sadness."

She smiled. "I've never been called Solly. I already feel twenty years younger. You always succeed to do me good. You can live here for free."

"Be careful, I'll remember that, and I’ll come back when I'm broke."

"You will not be."

He kissed her cheek. "I'll go get some beer."

"No, sit down. I'm doing something now and I want you to know I'm doing it with a clear head. You can take my land and do whatever you want." She handed him an envelope with thousands of dollars inside. "Take it. Do your plans."

Daniel looked at the money. "Where did you get this amount of money Solly?"

"One day I'll tell you."

"I can’t take it. I can’t pay you back."

"Give it back to me when you have it", she said, leaving him to wonder if she did have special powers. He was tempted to ask her if she knew whether his plans would come true, whether it would be a success or a failure, but he did not dare to admit he believed in this. Daniel preferred to check things out with Mikhail than to consult with a seventy-year-old woman. Damn, he thought, why did it seem to be logical for him to do this? He must have lost all hope if he was looking for the accompaniment of strange power. He quickly picked up the phone to call Mikhail before he went out of his mind seeking solutions in the cards.

"Mikhail, I thought of quitting my job as the director of sales," he decided to start the conversation like this.

"I thought you were getting along well with the job."

"Yes, but the woman who I rented the apartment offered me her land to construct houses on it. I have a little bit of money and I thought..." Daniel paused for a moment. He knew Mikhail couldn’t even imagine the things he was about to say. "I was thinking you know how to build and I know how to sell, so we can combine the two."