A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Aubry is 34 years old when she boards a train in Russia. She claims a seat in a train car already occupied by a single tall Black man who speaks French with an accent. It is a men’s sleeping compartment, but he invites her to stay, promising to be a gentleman. His name is Lionel Kyengi, and he is an accountant heading to Vladivostok. They are both aware of the impropriety of a white woman and a Black man sharing a train car but do not care.

Aubry tells Lionel about her sickness. Lionel says that criminals are punished with confinement, never allowed to move or see the world again. Therefore, her ability to travel and see the world must be a reward, not a punishment. Aubry reflects that people are always envious of her and do not understand.

They talk all night and into the morning. At some point, they kiss and eventually have sex. Later, they lie together, and Lionel asks why Aubry is so certain that there is no cure for her illness. Aubry tells him about Uzair Ibn-Kadder.

Aubry emerges from a realm of “endless shadows and the endless books” (88), not knowing where she is. She presumes that she is still in Alexandria, where she left the Greek sailors, but she no longer sees the Mediterranean Sea, and the city is different. She wanders and sees a group of men torturing a lion that they have tied to a stake. The animal is starved and bleeding from many wounds as the men jab it with sticks.

A man in a black tunic and headdress approaches her, speaking a language she does not understand. The man tries several languages before trying French. He asks how Aubry found this place and tells her to hide before the men torturing the lion notice her. He offers to take her to his home, pointing out that the only other option is the desert, but Aubry walks away.

Aubry is waiting in Uzair’s home when he arrives. Uzair is speechless for a moment and then offers her a tour. Uzair collects scientific specimens, including a dinosaur skull and rare rocks. His greatest ambition is to discover something new, but he fears that everything has been discovered already. Aubry mentions the city library she just left, but Uzair says that the only library in the city is his personal library. Aubry is confused but does not argue. Aubry asks why he collects so many things. He responds that studying them gives his life a purpose.

Aubry has only been traveling the world for a few years now and is still learning different methods for survival. She decides to experiment with using her looks and charm to earn her shelter for the night. She suspects that “insinuating herself into the life of an older man” will be the least of her sins (98).

As she flirts with him, Uzair nervously brags about his country and his possessions. Aubry warns him that she is ill and cannot stay more than a day or two or else she will die. She explains her sickness, and Uzair suggests that it is all in her head. She suggests that he wait a few days and see what he thinks then.

The next morning, Uzair offers Aubry herbal remedies and other medications. He says that he will cure her, whether her illness is of the mind or the body. Aubry realizes that she does not know where she is and asks him. Uzair says that she is in Tripoli (in present-day Libya). Again, Aubry is confused because she was just in Alexandria, Egypt, which is hundreds of miles away.

Aubry has seen many doctors, but none suggested that the illness is in her mind. She is skeptical of Uzair’s insistence that he will cure her but decides to let him try. On the third day of her stay, Uzair tells her that someone secretly freed the lion from the city square. She believes that he did it and feels a surge of attraction toward him. It is the first time she has felt this way.

On the fourth day, Uzair brings her a new remedy to try. She coyly flirts with him. Just as Uzair is about to kiss her, he stops. Blood drips from her mouth, and she topples over, convulsing. She tries to crawl to the door, but Uzair and his servant, Hamza, carry her out into the desert. Uzair says that he knows someplace to take her.

They travel by camel through the desert. On the way, Uzair tells stories and feeds Aubry ginger, herbs, and other remedies. Uzair surmises that Aubry may have a real sickness but that it has been complicated by a fear of staying still. He believes that if he can cure the mental aspect, the physical aspect may lessen as well.

They arrive at a large, domed building on the edge of the Calanshio Sand Sea. The building is sealed off from light except for tiny holes that exactly replicate the starry night sky. Uzair explains that he was so obsessed with the night sky that he stopped eating and sleeping and only cured himself by building this replica. In the dark, they have sex.

Lying together on the train, Lionel says that he is jealous. Aubry tells him that he should not be because the story does not end well.

The next day, Uzair and Aubry travel again. Uzair still believes that he will cure Aubry. She asks what it means if he cannot cure her, and he replies, “[T]hen your purpose is to suffer” (117). Aubry reflects that he is cruel and dismissive. They arrive at another house in the desert. Aubry says that she will have to leave after this and thanks him for trying so hard. He offers her one last remedy to try, insisting that she will not die and cannot leave him. Then, she falls asleep. The voice of her sickness warns her that something is wrong, but it is too late. In the morning, she is locked in a room.

Aubry bangs on the door. She yells that Uzair will kill her. He calls through the door that he is curing her because he wants her to stay with him. She tells him that his only options are to let her leave or bury her body when she dies; either way, he will lose her. He insists that her sickness is not real and walks away.

Aubry’s sickness strikes. She shakes with pain and bleeds as she lies on the floor and scratches pitifully at the locked door. Suddenly, the door swings open. Hamza has taken pity on her and is letting her go, though he will be punished. Desperate, she crawls through the house. Blood trails behind her as she escapes and crawls into the desert.

Lionel interrupts, unable to believe that she crawled across the Calanshio Sand Sea. Aubry explains that she felt healthy again quickly and walked through the desert for three weeks. Eventually, she found a caravan. The people in the caravan fed and clothed her, and she traveled with them for several more weeks. During this time, she decided that she would never again treat people with insolence or try to manipulate them into helping her. She would only “repay kindness with kindness” (130).

Lionel asks if she suffered from hunger, thirst, or heatstroke. He asks if she has ever been sick with any normal illness at all, even a cold. Stunned, Aubry admits that she is not sure. She recalls occasions when she has fallen and injured herself, certain that she must have broken bones, only to feel well enough to walk within hours. Lionel speculates that it may be much more difficult for Aubry to die than she thinks.

Aubry kisses Lionel and offers to show him the library when they reach Vladivostok. She explains that it is a special library “for travelers like us” (133). Before long, however, the train has engine trouble and slows to a stop in the middle of empty fields. A day goes by, and the train does not move. The passengers spend the day in the fields and sleep in their compartments at night.

For two days, the train does not move. Aubry wonders if her sickness is a “rejection of sedentary life” (137), an attempt to return the body to its ancient migratory roots. On the third day, she tastes blood in her mouth and knows that it is time.

Calmly, she packs her things. She tells Lionel that it is time to leave and begins to walk. Lionel rushes to follow her. Aubry knows that he will not survive the journey and tells him to stay. Lionel says that they were meant to find each other, but Aubry believes that he was “put on this earth for a reason” and she was not (141). Lionel sits down, crying.