The Second Remarkable Story of a Friend.

THE SECOND REMARKABLE STORY

Jubail, a camp in the dessert in Saudi Arabia, a giant litter of sand containing a few hundred prefab houses in the middle of nowhere, near to the coast of the Persian Gulf.
There were three companies represented, Volker (Holland), Hochtief (Germany) and CCC (a Lebanese company). We were there for Volker. In that camp I soon had a Dutch friend, Map, she stood head and shoulders above the rest. She was Dutch and very straight, what you see is what you get, had her heart on her sleeve, was honest and under her armor very sweet. We saw each other regularly at the pool or at her house. She had three children, who went to the Dutch school together with my youngest son. The rest of my days I spent with Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian women, with whom I felt at home. I also did a lot with little May, the baby of my Palestinian neighbour Leila, who also was my best friend there.
Later in Holland my friendship with Map continued, mostly via phone calls and once in two months, Map her husband, Willem and me, the four of us had diner together, which was always very nice. Her husband, a lover of big American cars, drove us around in Vlaardingen or in Zeeland, very luxurious and comfortable. Peter, her husband worked on an oil platform in the Caspian sea, one month he was there and one month he was at home. When he was at work, we phoned a lot talking about our kids, animals, houses and books.
One day out of the blue she decided to let the dentist pull all her teeth and wear a beautiful new denture, she would have it done all at once. She also wanted to lift her eyelids. I thought it was very rigorous. But resolutely as she was, it was done as she had said. Her teeth first, six weeks of pain, longer due to an inflammation, getting peneciline, eating porridge and soft foods and still in pain. To make matters worse, the plastic surgeon detected a small cancerous spot next to her eye. It wasn’t malicious, but it had to be taken away before she had the eyelid operation.
She also had a terrible fight with the daughter’s neighbour. She was very angry at him. Suddenly she called and said: “Dinkie, I will die very soon and I will not see my children and grandchildren grow up”. I was shocked: “Map, how can you say something like that? Only because of that spot on your skin, that is nothing. For your teeth you get peneciline so there is nothing wrong”. She kept on talking about her death and saying goodbye. I was very afraid, this wasn’t Map. She also told me that her daughters child, being two years old, had suddenly called out the name of their beloved cat who died years ago and who had become 18 years old and was immensly loved by her own children. She phoned me asking how is this possible, how could she had known the cat's name. How is that possible Dinkie? You believe in reincarnation, can you tell me something about it. That I believed in it, has to do with an incident that had taken place in my youth. I‘ve been outside my body for two hours, followed my parents who went to the movies, which unfortunately was sold out. Then they went to a cozy restaurant ordered coffee and cake and half past eight they went to another cinema where they were able to get tickets and went in. After that I went back and saw myself laying on bed and at that moment I became aware that I was out of my body and the next moment I was pulled back into my body. Next morning I went to my parents and told them what they had done, even what the waiter did, that they had white tablecloths and ate cakes and that there was live music. Everything in colour and odor. My father said that I had an out of body experience and that I should never do it again, because it was very dangerous. The babysitter that night had seen us (my brother and I) sleeping peacefully. Map kept on asking about it, she had to know everything. I then told her to buy a book about little children, who remembered their past lives, the book was named,: “Earlier when I was a grown up”, It is about children and reincarnation, she loved it and we talked for hours about this subject.
“Dinkie, if it is true, then dying is not so bad, because you’re not dead, you will live forever in your soul”. And so Map talked on and on about saying goodbye to all and everyone. First I thought that she was overdoing it and got scared of here talking constantly about dying.
One Friday afternoon she called again: “Dinkie, I am so afraid, I have to talk to you, do you have time?” I unfortunately didn’t have time because my granddaughter was with me and I had to take care of her. Then the most remarkable thing happened. She said: “that’s a pity, but always remember that I love you, never forget it”. I said: “I love you too and will call you first thing tomorrow”. “That’s not possible, I will be shopping with my daughter”. “Okay, then I’ll call you on Sunday”. “Fine, lots of love, till Sunday”. This was so not Map. I was pondering over it all Friday and Saturday. Then it was Sunday and I was going to call her. We were still in bed when at nine thirty the phone rang, it was her son. “I call to tell you that my mother died Saturday morning”. Oh God, we were shocked and completely devastated. No one knew what had happened. Her daughter had found her laying next to her bed, she was supposed to go shopping with here mother, but when her mother did not come, she phoned her, got no answer and went to the house where she found her. For days I was very sad and blamed myself that I hadn’t called her on Friday evening. It took a long time before I could grasp it and from now on I more often tell the people I care for that I love them. That one sentence from her has helped me through, that was a gift. Map was 52 years old.
Dinkie