Cursed

The arid, dusty floor of the tomb was soft beneath Laura’s canvas shoes.

After crawling through the tight passageway to the burial chamber and standing upright, she was surprised at how small the chamber was. She compared it to the size of her bedroom in their small, terraced house in London. All that was in the chamber was a stone sarcophagus.

“Wow! Mum, isn’t this fantastic?” her twelve-year-old gushed. Suki was studying Egyptology at school and had always wanted to visit the pyramids.

“Yes,” Laura responded dreamily, her head tilted back as she took in every aspect of the chamber. It felt eerie to be alone inside the pyramid with just Suki for company. And the sarcophagus. As if drawn to it like a magnet, the two of them wondered if it would be alright to touch the sacred tomb.

Suki’s face suddenly clouded over.

“Mum! Don’t!” she demanded in a very serious voice. “You know what happened to Howard Carter.”

“Oh, that’s just…”

“What?” Suki probed, raising her eyebrows and giving her mother a challenging look. “It’s a fact that he died soon after opening Tutankhamen’s tomb.”

“He contracted blood poisoning, which he could have caught anywhere,” Laura retorted.

“Well, in school we all think he died because he disturbed the Pharaoh’s tomb. So, please don’t touch the sarcophagus.”

Laura knew better than to defy her daughter. Besides, she didn’t want to tempt fate.

They both stood for a few minutes, taking in the enormity of where they were, reveling in the fact that they had finally achieved their dream. They had not only visited the pyramids but they were actually standing inside one. It was Laura who eventually broke the spell.

“Come on. We’d better go and find Dad.”

Suki smiled at the mention of her Dad. “I wonder if he’s still on that camel or whether he's fallen off!”

“Don’t say that! He could hurt himself and I don’t fancy wasting our holiday waiting around in an Egyptian hospital.”

Right on cue their young guide, Hassan, appeared at the entrance of the tomb.

“Ready, Ma’am?” he asked, a cheeky grin on his face. He sauntered over to the sarcophagus and before Laura or Suki could stop him, he hopped on top and pulled a half-smoked cigarette from his kaftan pocket. Swinging his sandaled feet up on to the tomb, he pulled out a lighter and lit up.

“You can’t smoke in here!” Suki admonished. “And I don’t think you should be sitting on the sarcophagus either!” Her voice was high-pitched and taut. She stood close to her mother as if seeking reassurance.

“She’s right, Hassan. I don’t think it’s very respectful. We’d better go. Come on.”

“Okey-dokey,” he quipped, mimicking an English saying he had heard from the tourists. He snuffed out the cigarette butt with his fingers and stuffed it back into his pocket.

A few minutes later, after inching their way awkwardly back down the cramped passageway, they emerged into the blistering heat and the ladies scrambled in their handbags to find their sunglasses. Laura checked that Suki was wearing her sunhat and looked at her watch. They had agreed to meet David back here, but he was nowhere to be seen.

A throng of Arabs and tourists mingled in the desert surrounding the pyramids and the heat was almost unbearable. Laura suddenly realized why the Arabs wore long, flowing cotton thobes and ghutras to shade their head and neck. She passed a water bottle from her bag to Suki and watched as she drank thirstily before passing it back.

“There he is!” Suki yelled excitedly.

A wave of relief washed over Laura as she saw David waving in the distance, striding towards them. He was wearing chinos and a long-sleeved blue linen shirt. He was carrying his straw Fedora hat and reaching into his pocket.

“What do you fancy doing now, Suki?” Laura asked.

The youngster drew a picture in the sand with her foot.

“What’s that?”

Suki smiled up at her mother.

“Ah. I’m supposed to understand hieroglyphics now, am I?” They both laughed.

“Did you enjoy the tomb?” David asked, wiping his brow with a handkerchief and smiling broadly. “Let’s get out of this damned heat. I’m melting. You can tell me all about it later.”

The three of them marched off, Indian file towards the road and as they hurried along, David was hailing a taxi. Miraculously, a beaten up, dirty old Mercedes pulled up at the kerbside to greet them.

“Mena House Hotel”, David instructed, “Shukraan.” He sat in the front to make sure the driver didn’t take the long route and try to over-charge them. Laura and Suki clambered into the back seat.

The air-conditioning in the cab was icy cool and a revelation to the appearance of the car from the outside. The relief from the stifling heat was most welcome and Laura would have paid the driver double for the luxury of the cool interior. She sat back and closed her eyes as the car sped along.

Suddenly, the taxi screeched to a halt and a camel with a young boy on the back plodded across the road. The driver bellowed something in Arabic out through the window before quickly drawing it back up again to stop the heat pervading the cool interior. The boy shouted something back and gesticulated, but they couldn’t hear him.

“Mum. Wasn’t that Hassan?” Suki asked.

By the time Laura opened her eyes, the boy had disappeared amongst a crowd of tourists.

As the cab drew up outside the hotel, David handed the driver the fare with a generous tip.

“Shukraan, Habibi”. *

“Shukraan jazilaan,”** the driver responded, smiling as he drove away.

The bell-boy at the hotel entrance greeted the family like long lost friends, even though they had only been at the hotel for a couple of days.

“Good afternoon, sir. Very hot, today, sir. Very hot.” The young man was dressed immaculately in black pantaloons, a white blouson shirt and a purple and gold striped waistcoat with a matching bell-boy hat. He had the most beautiful smile and he opened the door quickly and gracefully, ushering his guests inside to the marble foyer, with its imposing pillars and impressive views across to the pyramids at Giza.

“Would you like a drink, girls?” David asked, not waiting for them to answer but instead striding off towards the bar. Laura and Suki followed behind.

“One watermelon juice, a pint of Stella and…” he turned to Laura.

“Oh, I’ll have a half of Stella, please.”

David didn’t need to repeat his wife’s order. The barman had heard and nodded in acknowledgement; the staff were first-class.

“Take a seat, please, sir, ma’am. I will bring it to your table.”

Suki chose the colourful majlis-style sofas nearest to the bar and her parents sank gratefully into the soft cushions.

Mustafa bought the drinks over almost immediately and proceeded to set them out on the brass oval table in front of them, remembering which drink was for who.

“Did you enjoy your trip today?” he asked.

Suki beamed and told him all about the tomb with the sarcophagus and how she and her Mum had climbed up the narrow passageway, which they didn’t realise would be so small and the reason why her Dad had decided not to go with them, because he thought he might get stuck.

Mustafa smiled warmly at the young girl, “So, you visited the Great Pyramid?”

“Yes!”, Suki said, her dark eyes gleaming. “It was amazing!”

“I hope you didn’t touch the sarcophagus. It is sacred,” he said, his face clouding over.

“No, of course not”, Laura interjected.

The waiter bowed politely before returning to his duties at the bar.

Laura made a funny face at Suki who sipped her juice without ushering another word.

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the entrance to the hotel. A Western man was being helped in by two of the staff. He looked as though he were in shock.

Laura tried to shield Suki from the drama but she managed to peek under her mother’s arm.

“It’s probably sunstroke,” Laura said, gently pulling Suki around to stop her gawping at the man.

They finished their drinks and made their way across to the elevators, avoiding the fracas in the foyer. As they were waiting for the elevator to arrive, David told Laura to go up to their room.

“I’m going to Reception to make sure our booking for the Felucca trip tomorrow is all confirmed.”

Laura smiled at him; she loved the way he organised everything so beautifully. It was probably the reason why all of their holidays ran so smoothly and they always had such a fantastic time. He was such a lovely husband and father. He only ever wanted the best for 'his girls,' as he called them.

Back in their suite, Laura sent Suki to take a shower to cool off and said she would follow. As she waited for her daughter in the lounge area, she sat on the couch admiring the amazing view across to the pyramids and was in awe of how beautiful and mysterious they were, containing all sorts of secrets from days long past.

David arrived a few minutes later looking very concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Laura asked, getting up to greet him.

“Did you go into that tomb today? The one in the Great Pyramid with the sarcophagus in it?” he demanded.

Laura blew out her cheeks. “Well, we did go into the tomb but we didn’t touch the sarcophagus, if that’s what you’re asking. Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“David? “What is it?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

“Well, the man they carried in just now was driving a car that hit a camel and the young boy on the camel was killed. The staff were all shocked. Apparently, he was a local character and was well-liked by the tourists. His name was Hassan”.

The colour drained from Laura’s face and she felt her knees buckle beneath her.

* * *

*Thank you, my friend.

**Thank you very much.

This story was first published on Medium, where you can find more of my work. Why not get a weekly update from my village in England by signing up to Rosy's Ramblings?

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