“Funny you should say that. He absolutely loves having his photo taken. Always turns towards the camera.”
“I noticed that - looks like he’s smiling. Maybe he likes having selfies? And he is pretty good looking - for a camel.” I replied. I was now getting to appreciate camel aesthetics and was quite proud of my newly learned skills.
“Yes, definitely the best looking one here,” Tim agreed.
I looked at Jordan's beautiful eyelashes and then smiled at Tim whose eyelashes were now hidden by his big sunglasses, his hair sun-tipped blond.
“You haven't explained why Jordan’s a celebrity.” I quickly refocused.
“Mmm, not really not sure I should tell you.”
“Actually, you’re the one who brought it up.”
“Mmm, OK. Well, Jordan’s known to the police. He’s an escapee.”
“From where, prison? I guess he’s wearing the right colours - orange.”
“Very funny. Well, he broke free from the camel train a little while ago and disappeared."
“How can an animal this big disappear?”
“He ran away into the sand dunes and we couldn’t catch him and it was getting dark. We had to call in a favour from the local helicopter pilot to locate him. Took hours to find him and take him back to his camp. Then another time he escaped and took himself out into the ocean for a swim. We had to get a boat to rescue him. Camels don’t usually swim. He was on all the TV channels and in the newspapers.”
By this stage I was totally in love with Jordan. His cheekiness, his naughtiness, his misguided adventures, those eyelashes. By his awkward attempts to turn around and look at me, I was thinking our feelings were mutual. He knew I was photographing him. Apparently he was so mischievous they only ever allowed one passenger on him at a time, someone quite light.
