David and Richard’s friendship and conflict

David Henniger and Richard Galloway’s friendship is tested by secrecy, resentment, and mismatched ideas of care. After David’s ordeal at Tafal’aalt, he returns to Richard’s hospitality with a grievance he cannot settle: he believes Richard knew all along, yet suspects that exhaustion and relief will make forgiveness easier than his anger suggests. Their final exchanges turn ordinary kindnesses—a safer route, an extra night, a request to hear that David has arrived home—into signs of a friendship that remains intact but no longer uncomplicated.

A grievance carried home

While being driven back toward Errachidia, David reaches a phone signal and calls to say he is safe and on his way back. He tells the person he is calling that he will speak to Richard when he arrives, because Richard knew all along; David says he will have difficulty forgiving him. The accusation is David’s understanding of events, not a settled account of what Richard knew. Even in the moment of announcing his anger, David’s certainty is qualified by the relief of escape and return.

His private thoughts make that qualification sharper. He is unsure whether his anger will last: a hot bath and a gin and tonic, he thinks, could make him forgive anyone. He also treats forgiveness as something he has earned through his experience in Abdellah’s house, so that forgiving Richard for what he calls a deft deception seems comparatively small. His relief does not erase resentment; rather, it gives him a reason to imagine setting it aside. The friendship is consequently measured against two different experiences of forgiveness, one David believes he has received from Abdellah and another he may extend to Richard.

Richard’s care and David’s refusal

At an early supper on the terrace, Richard questions David’s decision to leave that evening. He suggests that they start early the next day and reach Azrou by afternoon, connecting his advice to David’s previous experience of driving at night. When David says he and Jo have considered the matter and want to get back quickly, Richard accepts that it is their choice, but again offers them an extra night. His concern is practical and explicit: he does not want David to have another accident.

Richard continues to offer alternatives rather than simply ending the discussion. He proposes giving them a better map and suggests spending a night or two in Tangier to recover, including at one of its boutique hotels rather than the Angleterre. David refuses. He has not told Richard about Tafal’aalt, and, with that experience still unspoken between them, he has no wish to perform the routine of agreeing to plans Richard prefers. He wants to return to England and says he will relax once he is on the plane at Málaga airport. His declaration that the whole country feels jinxed makes his urgency sound less like a disagreement over itinerary than a desire to put the entire journey behind him.

Departure and unresolved tension

As the staff and hosts escort David and Jo to the car, Richard leans at the driver’s-side window and asks David to send word when they arrive safely. He explains that he and the others worry until visitors are home and otherwise feel oddly responsible for them. The request expresses genuine concern, but it also leaves Richard in the position of host responsible for people who are determined to leave. Their farewells—kisses, handshakes, and the usual words between acquaintances—are brief. Hamid wishes the couple luck in Arabic and waves them down the road; Richard thinks the car roars away angrily and reads David as furious at having been bested in some way.

Once the gate is shut, Richard and Dally return to the library, where they drink quietly after the difficult weekend. Richard tells Hamid to lock the outer doors in a tone Dally finds vacant but domineering. He then turns over the weekend’s unresolved puzzles and personalities, repeatedly returning to Abdellah’s eyes, which he feels do not truly see the people looking into them. This reflection shows that David’s departure has not simply ended an awkward visit: the experience has left Richard unsettled, though the passage does not establish that he understands David’s private grievance.

The friendship’s unsettled balance

The contrast between the men’s actions gives the relationship its tension. Richard tries to protect David from another night drive and to make his return safer; David experiences those offers alongside a suspicion that Richard has withheld the truth. Richard asks for a message from home out of concern and responsibility, while David is intent on leaving before further conversation can make the journey feel ordinary. Neither man openly resolves the accusation or explains the silence surrounding Tafal’aalt.

Their friendship therefore ends this episode in suspension rather than reconciliation or rupture. David has announced that he may struggle to forgive Richard, yet already imagines doing so; Richard, left watching the car depart, interprets anger without knowing what David has chosen not to tell him. Care remains present, but it cannot by itself close the gap between what one friend believes the other knew and what the other can understand.