Thomas Fillion

After months of unemployment Allen Barber receives a mysterious phone call one day late in 1990. He is summarily hired without much fanfare by Wendell Jackson. The frustration of unemployment is over, but the pain of separation is just beginning. He has good news to tell his family : he has a new job. The bad news is that the job is in Saudi Arabia, and war is imminent. He is hired to teach English to Royal Saudi Air Force personnel.

From months of inactivity, his life is transformed into a whirlwind. Shortly after the new year, he travels from Florida to Denver to meet with Wendell Jackson. There he joins a group of firemen and technicians that are also going to Saudi Arabia.

Dallas and New York are his next stops. In New York his last impression of the United States is a janitor cursing his group for littering an area. While taxiing on the tarmac, Allen Barber whispers good-bye to the United States as the Saudi pilot prays to Allah over the 747’s loudspeakers. The next stop is fourteen hours later after crossing North Africa, then flying south above the Red Sea to Jeddah. During the flight over he is "comforted" by the music of Barry Manilow and Dionne Warwick.

He is the last one in the group to get through Saudi Customs because his guitar is lost somewhere between Denver and Jeddah. Edward Barry, a retired, British naval officer, greets their group in Jeddah. From Jeddah they travel at night up the mountains of western Saudi Arabia to Taif in the Hijaz region. The driver is on constant lookout for wayward camels crossing the highway. The most direct route to Taif is through Mecca, but non-Muslims are required to take "the Christian Bypass" around Mecca. The road has been dubbed "Infidel Highway" by one of the myriad expatriates that have journeyed there before Allen Barber.

When they reach Al Sail compound outside Taif, the security is tight. U.S. Air Force security, armed with machine guns and accompanied by attack dogs, check everybody in the group. Finally, they are allowed to pass. Edward Barry drives Allen Barber to the villa where he is to live. Richard Wellman, a retired Air Force supply sergeant, shares the villa. Allen Barber was immediately introduced to Sadeeq, Arabic for "friend", which Richard Wellman keeps on hand at all times. The Saudi moonshine is made somewhere on the compound. When he arrives late that night, Richard Wellman is completely drunk.

"Infidel Highway" presents a unique view of Saudi Arabia during a turbulent period. It is international in scope as Allen Barber intermingles with expatriates from many countries. Each in their own way is alienated from the mainstream of their own countries.

He is drawn into one intrigue after another as he tries to cope in an unknown and strange country. The road, "Infidel Highway", symbolizes his and many others experiences as they come and go in the sparse though beautiful land of Saudi Arabia.