The Arab nodded and walked over to take down a necessary third chair. He stretched to reach the dangling legs then gently lifted it off its resting hook. As he lowered it, his eyes widened in amazement at the accumulation of dust on the seat. The sediment lay on it in a uniform inch thick layer. Bewilderment showed on his face as he held it and looked over at Clovis.

The old man walked over and took the chair from his hands. "That is life in Arabia for you, an endless battle with dust." He carried the chair outside and cleared the seat with his hand. He set it at the table minutes later. There was more on the chair than could be cleared away with a single hand, the layered dust betrayed long stretches of solitude accumulated within the sediment. Clovis seemed embarrassed by the abundance of both.

I sat in one of the other chairs and watched as he returned to the pot. He finished cooking and ladled three carved wooden bowls full, placing each of them on the table without speaking. Drusel mumbled a prayer over his bowl before he ate.

"It's good," I said, breaking the silence.

"Thank you. I agree," he said smiling. "It is a shame I do not cook this more often. My habit is to cook more simply when dining alone."

I had planned on waiting for the perfect moment to pry a question under his protection of repose but knew that time was whenever I decided to take it. "Why do you live this way Clovis? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your hospitality and I think this is exactly what I need right now, but still, it's so isolated, so solitary."

"Exactly," he said, looking up at me.

I looked up at him, confused. Drusel ate oblivious to our conversation.

"It is comforting to me," he continued. "As I said, I prefer a slower, uncomplicated life. This quiet corner of the world affords me that. My home here allows me a refuge from the maddening changes going on in the world."

"What changes are those?"

He raised his eyebrows as though I'd missed his point entirely, then began again. "It is a matter of perspective I suppose. Funny, for over sixteen hundred years I saw mankind build its society on the experiences of the past, and then suddenly, as though at the behest of some unseen catalyst, within a few generations of the Renaissance, society began to continually rebuild itself on anticipations of the future. It was then that virtue became based on the promise of the new instead of the traditions of the past. I came here and stayed shortly after that."

"But look at the advances made since then."