Chapter 12: Dublin Summer

Dublin had no Kobekistani Embassy, so a number of rooms were reserved at the Shelbourne Hotel on St. Stephen's Green. There was a suite of sitting room, bathroom and double bedroom with views over the Park for the Emir. Three other double bedrooms were booked for female members of the party, since it was unthinkable that the Emir would be without female company; on this occasion the stewardesses of the Royal aircraft were to provide this service. Other rooms were reserved for his security staff, headed by Maktum who would double as a chauffeur. A conference room was also booked for discussions with the Garda Siochana when necessary, and for any dinners the Emir might wish to give. All these were booked in the name of David Ransome, and the hotel was given to understand that he was an oil magnate who was in Dublin for business reasons, though of course the higher echelons of the Gardai knew exactly who he was.

This led to the first little difficulties; when the party arrived, the Assistant Manager on duty first insisted on seeing David Ransome's passport, which turned out to be British, and then insisted on going into detail as to how the bills would be paid. David Ransome produced a Royal Bank of Kobekistan Visa card and it was duly debited with two weeks advance rental for the rooms. An hour later the hotel's own bank manager was on the telephone saying that a letter of unlimited credit had been deposited with them, and that he had solid assurances that money could be obtained in minutes if necessary. What had made the bank nervous was that this had come direct from the Irish Foreign Ministry; it seemed the Irish Government was guaranteeing the financial status of this visitor.

The Emir's first outing into Dublin was that evening when he climbed into the Rolls and said, "Take me to the Celt, please."

Maktum turned and looked at his Master and said, "As the Master pleases, but your servant does not understand."

The Emir went wild with glee, "Got you. For the first time ever, I've asked for somewhere you don't know. Go across Butt Bridge, turn left into Gardiner Street and left again into Talbot Street. Then you'll see it."

Maktum drove off without comment. He made a mental note to ask if anyone else in the party knew anything about the Emir's previous visit to Dublin years earlier.

When they reached the Celt, the Emir got out of the car and said, "Now vanish for three hours. I'll be perfectly safe here. I promise not to go anywhere else."

Inside the bar, the Emir found all was pretty well as he remembered it from his student days. On the left, the wall was filled to shoulder height with what looked to be small drawers in a wooden chest of drawers, above those were shelves with old fashioned bottles and other odds and ends. Each bottle or drawer had an abbreviated Latin name on it, which had come from an old fashioned chemist's shop. To his right was the high bar where pints were being served.

It wasn't long before he was deep in conversation with some of the locals, mostly with an older couple called Tom and Dee who seemed to live on Social Security payments and free drinks. He was an instant hit with them when he was never difficult about whose round it was. The following evening he was even more popular when he treated them to a meal in an improbable little Italian Restaurant run by an Iranian further along Talbot Street. He stayed quite late in the Celt each night, because he enjoyed the cosmopolitan atmosphere combined with the local live bands who played there every night.

It was the fourth successive evening in the Celt that he saw Kaitlin for the first time. She was singing with the band and he bought them all a drink, as had become his habit. During the interval he struck up a conversation with her about the band and the songs she sang, being quite complimentary when she said she had helped her brother to write some of the music they played. She had that ethereal look about her that comes with a pale complexion and the light red hair that is seen to perfection only in parts of Ireland.

He found himself more drawn to her as time went on and they were quickly regarded as an accepted pair when she started to use the Celt on evenings when she wasn't singing there. She found him a pleasant, charming man who did not push himself at her, and she had to wonder how a man so obviously well off had no wife.