“I reached Iraq without incident, and was getting in my truck to go to sleep for the night when I heard a voice calling me. I leaned out of the truck to find the dispatcher for the Baraka Company running toward me.

“‘Please,’ he told me. ‘I have a shipment that must get back as soon as possible. The only way it will get there on time is by leaving now, and you are the only Bedouin driver here.’

“I have never shunned a job so I agreed that I would make a pot of strong coffee and would be on my way, in spite of my rickety truck.

“It was springtime and the stars filled the black sky. There is nothing like the vastness of the desert to make a man’s mind wander and perhaps steer him away from his intended direction. One should not underestimate man’s need for sleep, either.

“Despite the coffee and the clear sky, not long after I pulled off the highway to take the desert route, I found myself facing an unfamiliar direction on an unfamiliar stretch of desert with cracked ground, sparse bushes, and an occasional tree. I stopped the truck and got out because I can always reorient myself if I am standing on the ground. I looked at the sky. How could I be facing south when I should be driving west? I got back in the truck and veered so that I was driving northwest. The more I drove the more worried I became. I had never seen this territory before, and while I would probably find my way out if I were to continue, I might run into a Bedouin encampment that I did not know. Who knows? With the night and the headlights, they might not be welcoming. I wrestled with this for some time—I had a very good reputation as a driver and I did not want to risk that, but at the same time, I am not easily disoriented and yet here I was lost in the middle of a strange desert. No, I decided, better to wait until daylight, which was only a few hours away, even if it meant the shipment would be late. Certainly it would be better to have it late than not to get it there at all.

“I looked ahead and saw a small range of hills and a couple of trees. I will settle there for the night and continue at the break of dawn, I decided. I pulled my truck over and parked the passenger side flush with the base of a tree so that no one could sneak up on me from the other door. I got a flashlight and left the truck to relieve myself. I passed the light over the base of the hills and was startled to see a piece of wood the size of a large window.