Leon Uris - Exodus

Exodus by Leon Uris

CHAPTER ONE

NOVEMBER 1946

WELCOME TO CYPRUS

The airplane plip-plopped down the runway to a halt before the big sign: WELCOME TO CYPRUS. Mark Parker looked out of the window and in the distance he could see the jagged wonder of the Peak of Five Fingers of the northern coastal range. In an hour or so he would be driving through the pass to Kyrenia. He stepped into the aisle, straightened out his necktie, rolled down his sleeves, and slipped into his jacket. Welcome to Cyprus, welcome to Cyprus It ran through his head. It was from Othello, he thought, but the full quotation slipped his mind.

Anything to declare? the customs inspector said.

Two pounds of uncut heroin and a manual of pornographic art, Mark answered, looking about for Kitty.

All Americans are comedians, the inspector thought, as he passed Parker through. A government tourist hostess approached him. Are you Mr. Mark Parker?

Guilty.

Mrs. Kitty Fremont phoned to say she is unable to meet you at the airport and for you to come straight to Kyrenia to the Dome Hotel. She has a room there for you.

Thanks, angel. Where can I get a taxi to Kyrenia?

Ill arrange a car for you, sir. It will take a few moments.

Can I get a transfusion around here?

Yes, sir. The coffee counter is straight down the hall.

Mark leaned against the counter and sipped a steaming cup of black coffee Welcome to Cyprus welcome to Cyprus he couldnt for the life of him remember.

Say! a voice boomed out. I thought I recognized you on the plane. Youre Mark Parker! I bet you dont remember me.

Fill in one of the following, Mark thought. It was: Rome, Paris, London, Madrid (and match carefully); Joses Bar, Jamess Pub, Jacquess Hideaway, Joes Joint. At the time I was covering: war, revolution, insurrection. That particular night I had a: blonde, brunette, redhead (or maybe that broad with two heads).

The man stood nose to nose with Mark, gushing on all eight cylinders now. I was the guy who ordered a martini and

they didnt have orange bitters. Now do you remember me? Mark sighed, sipped some coffee, and braced for another onslaught. I know you hear this all the time but I really enjoy reading your columns. Say, what are you doing in Cyprus? The man then winked and jabbed Mark in the ribs. Something hush-hush, I bet. Why dont we get together for a drink? Im staying at the Palace in Nicosia. A business card was slapped into Marks hand. Got a few connections here, too. The man winked again.

Oh, Mr. Parker. Your car is ready.

Mark put the cup down on the counter. Nice seeing you again, he said, and walked out quickly. As he departed he dropped the business card into a trash basket.

The taxi headed out from the airport. Mark rested back and closed his eyes for a moment. He was glad that Kitty couldnt get to the airport to meet him. So much time had passed and there was so much to say and so much to remember. He felt a surge of excitement pass through him at the thought of seeing her again. Kitty, beautiful, beautiful, Kitty. As the taxi passed through the outer gates Mark was already lost in thought.

Katherine Fremont. She was one of those great American traditions like Moms apple pie, hot dogs, and the Brooklyn Dodgers. For Kitty Fremont was the proverbial girl next door. She was the clich of pigtails, freckles, tomboys, and braces on the teeth; and true to the clich the braces came off one day, the lipstick went on and the sweater popped out and the ugly duckling had turned into a graceful swan. Mark smiled to himself-she was so beautiful in those days, so fresh and clean.

and Tom Fremont. He was another American tradition. Tom was the crew-cut kid with the boyish grin who could run the hundred in ten flat, sink a basket from thirty feet out, cut a rug, and put a Model A together blindfolded. Tom Fremont had been Marks best pal as long as he could remember for as far back as he could remember. We must have been weaned together, Mark thought.

Tom and Kitty apple pie and ice cream hot dogs and mustard. The all-American boy, the all-American girl, and the all-American Midwest of Indiana. Yes, Tom and Kitty fitted together like the rain and springtime.

Kitty had always been a quiet girl, very deep, very thoughtful. There was a tinge of sadness in her eyes. Perhaps it was only Mark who detected that sadness, for she was joy itself to everyone around her. Kitty had been one of those wonderful towers of strength. She always had both hands on the rudder, always had the right words to say, always decent and thoughtful. But that sadness was there . Mark knew it if no one else did.

Mark often wondered what made her so desirable. Maybe it was because she seemed so unreachable to him. The iced champagnethe look and the word that could tear a man to pieces. Anyhow, Kitty had always been Toms girl and the most he could do was envy Tom.

Tom and Mark were roommates at State University. That first year Tom was absolutely miserable being away from Kitty. Mark remembered the hours on end he would have to listen to Toms mournful laments and console him. Summer came, Kitty went off to Wisconsin with her parents. She was still a high-school girl and her folks wanted to dampen the fervor of the affair with a separation. Tom and Mark hitchhiked to Oklahoma to work in the oil fields.

By the time school started again Tom had cooled down considerably. To remain in Marks company one had to sample the field. The times between Tom and Kittys letters lengthened and the times between Toms dates on the campus shortened. It began to look like a strike-out for the college hero and the girl back home.

By their senior year Tom had all but forgotten Kitty. He had become the Beau Brummell of State, a role befitting the ace forward on the basketball team. As for Mark, he was content to bask in Toms glory and generally make a name for himself as one of the worst journalism students in the universitys history.

Kitty came to State as a freshman.

Lightning struck!

Mark could see Kitty a thousand times and it was always as exciting as the first. This time Tom saw her the same way. They eloped a month before Toms graduation. Tom and Kitty, Mark and Ellen, a Model A Ford, and four dollars and ten cents crossed the state line and sought out a justice of the peace. Their honeymoon was in the back seat of the Model A, bogged down in the mud of a back road and leaking like a sieve in a downpour. It was an auspicious beginning for the all-American couple.

Tom and Kitty kept their marriage a secret until a full year after his graduation. Kitty stayed on at State to finish her pre-nursing training. Nursing and Kitty seemed to go together, too, Mark always thought.

Tom worshiped Kitty. He had always been a bit wild and too independent, but he settled down to very much the devoted husband. He started out as a very little executive in a very big public relations firm. They moved to Chicago. Kitty nursed in Childrens Hospital. They inched their way up, typical American style. First an apartment and then a small home. A new car, monthly bills, big hopes. Kitty became pregnant with Sandra.

Marks thoughts snapped as the taxi slowed through the outskirts of Nicosia, the capital city that sat on the flat brown plain between the northern and southern mountain ranges. Driver, speak English? Mark asked.

Yes, sir?

Theyve got a sign at the airport, Welcome to Cyprus. What is the full quotation?

As far as I know, the driver answered, theyre just trying to be polite to tourists.

They entered Nicosia proper. The flatness, the yellow stone houses with their red tiled roofs, the sea of date palms all reminded Mark of Damascus. The road ran alongside the ancient Venetian wall which was built in a perfect circle and surrounded the old city. Mark could see the twin minarets that spiraled over the skyline from the Turkish section of the old city. The minarets that belonged to St. Sophias, that magnificent crusader cathedral turned into a Moslem mosque. As they drove along the wall they passed the enormous ramparts shaped like arrowheads. Mark remembered from his last visit to Cyprus that there was the odd number of eleven of these arrowheads jutting from the wall. He was about to ask the driver why eleven but decided not to.