Friday, October 24, 2008

Saved!


After dodging Arabs in the desert, I was saved by the Virgin Mary herself, also known as filmmaker, actress, editor, yoga master, and world traveler extraordinaire: Jackie S. She had in fact just finished playing the role of the Virgin Mary for a historical documentary filmed in Jordan and unbeknownst to both of us our paths may have crossed during her work on the Italian film “The Holy Family”, the crew of which I kept running into during my stint with the Jordan Times in 2006. But, we instantly had another commonality, in good friend, former roommate, fellow wanderluster, badass editor, journalist, and linguist, Victoria M.

Sitting in the living room of Sofian’s (Jax’s super cool & super talented BF) parent’s house, my narration of recent adventures in the desert where punctuated by Jackie’s disbelief.

“OH MY GOD! I know him!” she said when I disclosed M.’s identity. “He’s hot shit in those parts.” She turns to Sof in explanation, “He’s like the Ivory Tower of Wadi Rum.” She begins to impersonate his high and mightiness with her funnier than hell Arab accent and mannerisms.

I proceed to tell them about the camel milk, the comments, the massage incident (oh yes, there was a massage incident with both M.’s)…

“OH MY GOD! I can’t believe I left my mother alone with that man!” Jackie exclaims.

When I tell them about M2 and the drinking games, Sof interjects, “So you had ‘After Sex’?”

“WHAT?” Jackie and I whip our heads around and ask in unison.

“’After Sex’ – it’s a drink here. It’s what we call vodka and orange soda. You can get it at most liquor stores,” he explains matter-of-factly.

“What??? It’s actually written on the bottle ‘After Sex’?” Jackie asks, shocked that the conservative government would allow a product with ‘Sex’ in its name to be sold off the shelf.

“Yeah, it’s premixed orange soda and vodka, it’s really cheap, you can get a bottle for like 3 JD.”

Jackie and I look at each other and start laughing. A stop at the liquor store is in our future.

I sigh dramatically. “Oh, M2,” I say, full of forlorn sarcasm, “that’s what you were doing wrong--you can’t give me ‘After Sex’ before…”


At the 2nd liquor store we check, we find our orange treasure.

When I see it, I start laughing.

Jackie, picks up the bottle for a closer inspection and reads the label. “After Six???” she rolls her eyes and laughs. “Oh, brilliant…it’s like the words “version” and “virgin” they can’t pronounce the difference.” She begins another hilarious impression playing two roles:
“I’ll take the other ‘virgin’.”
“Uh, you mean, ‘version’.”
“Yes, ‘virgin’.”
“No, ‘version’.”
“Right, ‘virgin’, I want that ‘virgin’.”

I take a peek at the label as well and remember the assortment of sharpies in my bag, “Ah, we can make it ‘After Sex’ after all,” and load up my arms with several bottles and a sly grin.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awwww you girls! Miss you! That description of Jax is perfect.

Were either of you with me in the balad when, at the DVD store, a bootleg (duh) copy of the then-recently-deceased Mustapha Akkad's film "The Message" was labeled "The Massage"? So irreverent. So funny.

<3
V.