Zeitoun by Dave Eggers Read Free Book Online Page A

there was Kathy, loading up the minivan, the two youngest already buckled inside.
    “Where you going?” he asked.
    “I told you I’d go with or without you. And we’re going.”
    They were going to Destin, Florida, a beach town on the Gulf about four hours away, with long white beaches and clear water.
    “Come with us, Daddy!” Nademah pleaded. She had just come out of the house with their snorkeling gear.
    Zeitoun was too stunned to react. He had a hundred things on his mind, and a pipe at one of the rental properties had just burst. How could he go?
    Nademah got in the front seat and put on her seatbelt.
    “Bye bye,” Kathy said, backing out. “See you Sunday.”
    And they were gone, the girls waving as they left.
    He didn’t go that Friday, but after that, he no longer doubted Kathy’s resolve. He knew she was serious—that in the future he’d be consulted on vacation plans, but that trips to Florida or beyond could and would happen with or without him. So over the years there were other trips to Destin, and he even made it on a few of them.
    But always his decision was made at the last minute. One time Kathy was late in getting started, and he was so late in deciding that he couldn’t even pack. She was in the driveway, backing out, when he pulled in.
    “Now or never,” she said, barely stopping the car.
    And so he jumped in the car. The girls giggled to see their dad in the back seat, still in his work clothes, dirty and sweating—as much from the stress of the decision as from the day’s work. Zeitoun had to buy beach clothes when they got to Florida.
    Kathy was proud that she’d gotten him to Destin once a year. Zeitoun didn’t mind going too much because, given how close it was, he knew he could come back at any time—and more than once, he had cut a vacation short because of some problem at one of the work sites.
    By 2002, though, Kathy wanted something that really felt like a vacation. And she knew she had to do something drastic. In all their time together—eight years at that point—he had never taken more than two days off in a row. She knew that she had no choice but to kidnap him.
    She started by planning a weekend in Destin. She chose a weekend when she knew things would be calm at work; it was just after Christmas, and there was rarely much work till well after New Year’s. As usual,Zeitoun wouldn’t commit till the last minute, so she took the precaution of actually packing a bag for him and hiding it in the back of the minivan. Because she had made sure the weekend was quiet, he came along—as always, at the last minute. Kathy told him she’d drive, and because he was exhausted, he agreed. She made sure the kids were quiet—they were in on the plan—and he soon fell asleep, drooling on his seatbelt. While he slept, Kathy drove right on through Destin and onward down the paunch of Florida. Each time he woke up she would say, “Almost there, go back to sleep,” and thankfully he would—he was so tired—and it wasn’t until an hour north of Miami that he realized they weren’t going to Destin. Kathy had driven straight down to Miami. Seventeen hours. She’d checked on the computer for the warmest place in the country that week, and Miami was it. Being that far away was the only way to ensure he would take a real vacation, a full week’s worth of rest. Every time she thought back on the gambit, and how well it had worked, Kathy smiled to herself. A marriage was a system like any other, and she knew how to work it.
    At about two-thirty, Ahmad called Zeitoun again. He was still tracking the storm from his computer in Spain.
    “Doesn’t look good for you,” he said.
    Zeitoun promised he would keep watch on it.
    “Imagine the storm surge,” Ahmad said.
    Zeitoun told him he was paying close attention.
    “Why not leave, just to be safe?” Ahmad said.
    Kathy decided to go to the grocery store before picking up the girls from school. You could never tell when people would