The Dunes

The sun set quickly behind the ochre-colored dunes. We were traveling by camel through the Erg Chebbi. When the moon was high, the sky became a theater of stars. We skated along the edge of the sand just 50 kilometers from Algeria. Our guide was young but the lines in his face were etched deep. He wore kohl under his eyes and a blue kaftan. His mother was a Berber nomad, his father Arab. Time was passing, he said. He followed us to the gorges five hours out of the desert with the pretense he was meeting tourists from England. He woke early and caught a taxi back, alone.