Pastoral Affair

Colonel Glinka touches down on a sandspit in the Arabian Sea, the seaplane’s wake fading behind him as he steps onto a stark jetty. The cliffs loom, the air is heavy with the cries of distant terns, and a handful of mute, burnoosed figures watch his every move. Clad in a heavy khaki uniform and a pith‑helmet, he soon meets a nervous young man in a green turban who claims to be a Saudi Hadj named Abdul Hakkim. Their uneasy conversation is punctuated by a golden cigarette case and a reluctant offer of an American‑style smoke.

Glinka’s true purpose is hidden beneath the polite chatter: he is searching for the reclusive “Sidi Doctor Stephens,” a man spoken of in whispered rumors among the island’s sparse inhabitants. Abdul, reluctantly acting as guide, leads the colonel up a jagged path past white‑robed strangers who seem to drift like ghosts. As they climb, the colonel’s suspicion of the locals deepens, hinting at a tangled web of old friendships, forgotten loyalties, and a mystery that could change the fragile balance of this isolated shore.