The Six Little Mimics
Flicking open her mobile with her left hand, she checked the signal strength, thumbed the pad and held it to her ear then flicked it shut and in disgust flung it back into her pocket. No signal in this dump. Opposite to where she was sitting, six little Arab girls sat in the dust and mimicked her every move even to the pout of disgust. They only glanced sideways at each other to see who had the best look.
She didn’t look at them. In fact, she made a pact with herself not to acknowledge their presence, look at them or even notice their motions. These little girls had attached themselves to her ever since she arrived and were like shadows from morning to dusk. When she had arrived last week, she was in such a dreadful mood that she didn’t want to speak, see or have any contact with anyone. She was really mad with the world, with herself and with her dad, well not really with him since he was more of a victim of the circumstances as she was. She could smile thinking of the funny side of it all but don’t do ‘smile’ here, lets do ‘sullen,’ a ‘Sal Sullen’ as mum labelled it. Yes, that’s it girls you have it to a tee.
She had had a World War III row with mum who wouldn’t let her go camping with her new boy friend. After all it was the school holiday and all her friends were going off so what was the problem? To finish it, she said that she had had enough of her and wanted to be with dad. That usually brought her to her senses since she hated dad even more since the divorce. He was becoming famous with his picture in the papers and on telly. Instead, mum said that was a good idea and I needed some sun and sand and she’d arrange a flight for me straight away. I just slammed the door and went off to my room and turned the music up louder. Next morning there was a letter pushed under my door and a loud knock to ensure I noticed and off mum went to work.
My big mistake was opening it. Now I must keep that ‘Sal Sullen’ going I can see it’s slipping on the tall girl’s face. The pretty one on the left is so good. She could be my mirror. I could have ignored it and should have but curiosity got to me and I ripped it open with a flourish. Could have resealed it and pretended not to have seen it but it was too late. A Passport fell out with six, twenty-pound notes and two notes. One was an E-ticket for this afternoon to Luxor and the second was a pointed itinerary with number one being, Fred the taxi man, booked for three, to get me to LGW, ending with ten, a copy of an e-mail to dad to meet me at the airport. There was a handwritten PS, “important. Take your adapter to recharge your essentials!!!” followed by a squiggle which I now hoped would was a ‘Kiss’ sign. I had cooked my goose good and proper!
I knew I could have got out of it and made up to mum but that would have been weakness and Sal doesn’t do ‘weakness.’ Anyway, it would be cool to tell, no, text all my friends and say that on the spur of the moment I had decided to go off to Egypt to enjoy a good dose of sun, sand and sea and maybe see my dad. That would be just cool. They all thought my dad cool since he’d been on telly and travelled a lot, like a local Harrison Ford. He didn’t look like him at all but my friends liked him.
I’ll skip the next bit of music and switch to my favourite. My right hand gripped the I-pod and thumbed to the correct album and six other hand simultaneously did the same to imaginary I-pods in their laps and their left hand went up to adjust the earpiece of coarse wool leading down to nothing in their lap. I didn’t know I did that, must be a habit like flicking my hair. They are going to love this! As the music hit, hers’ and six index fingers shot into the air and waggled to the first six beats and seven heads nodded in unison to the strong imaginary beat. They love that bit and even Ahyah gave a hint of a smile. She’s the youngest but she did get a grimace of disapproval from Ceetah. They know I don’t do ‘Smile.’ Don’t know their real names so have christened them Ahyah, Bheyah, Ceetah and so on. Careful now, don’t notice them just listen to the music.
The plane touched down at Luxor well after dark and there was nowhere to change money and the heat just hit me so I planned to change it at the hotel and buy some suntan lotion there to help my tan. An Arab in a white shirt and white mucky trousers shouting “Missy, Missy,” and poking a scruffy piece of cardboard at everybody and eventually spied me and darted over. On his card was scrawled in dad’s unmistakable print “Sal Wathenstall” and a “Welcome to Egypt” in small writing underneath. I nodded and the man went ecstatic, dancing about and waving his arms in the air and people started looking so |I picked up my case and headed for the exit.
He ran after me, grabbing my case and swinging open the glass door. The heat then really hit me but fortunately his taxi was close by with its engine running. He opened the rear door for me shouting “Welcome, welcome, missy, missy, lovely jubbly, lovely jubbly,” which was all the English he knew, He drove off into the darkness at breakneck speed and only slowed down when we hit a rough road with loads of potholes which he navigated weaving from side to side. Fortunately, the air was cool with the aircon blasting out so I put on my I-pod and leaned back trying to relax.
I thought of Dan, my boy friend back at school, a bit soft but useful to have around. I drew an elaborate heart in the dust at my feet and six fingers did the same but with difficulty and I wrote ‘Dan’ in the middle then thought it silly and scrubbed my foot over it. OK girls, don’t be so furious, I know it was the first time and I did it too quickly, so I bent down flicked my hair and smoothed out the sand with the palm of my hand. They all knew that bit. I then drew a big heart and slowly wrote ‘SAL=>DAN’ in the middle. They managed that after a fashion. I then swept my foot over the drawing just above the surface leaving it intact. Six other feet followed but to dire consternation and disapproving glances and some smugness. Three wiped their sand clean and three skimmed over it just like me. Watch it girl, this is ‘making contact’, making a joke at their expense so I stood up and stepped onto the drawing. Six girls in brown shapeless shifts stood up as one and put their left hand on their hip and did an imperceptible wiggle or shimmy of the hips. Do I do that? Must do, because my hand was there also resting on my hip.
Dad woke me up gently and said, “Hello girl. What brings you here?” and gave me a big bear hug as I got out of the car. “Got the E-mail and message from your mother just saying you wanted to come out here! Just managed to arrange the car for you and have been busy sorting out some accommodation for you. It’s a bit primitive here.” I couldn’t see a thing with only the feeble interior car light but I just knew. I just knew.
“Dad, we’re at one of your digs, aren’t we?” I saw him nod and he grabbed me in his big arms as I sobbed, “She’s done it again. Mum’s done it again. I hate her, I hate her for doing this dad!”
“Don’t worry girl. Just put it down in your book of life. Come on I’ll show you your palatial accommodation in this rat hole. You’ll survive,” and he took me by the hand and led me into a dimly lit room and sat me down on a canvas chair. My case was already in the room and the driver gone. Dad rooted around and pulled out two bottles of cold beer wiped the bottles carefully, flipped the tops and handed one to me and chinked the bottles saying “Cheers! I’ll get some cola for you later. Don’t tell me you haven’t had one of these before.”
I walked around the building to find the coolest side, maybe a light breeze. You had to walk slowly in this heat and make the most of any shade or breeze. I’m not going to get a suntan this way. I pushed up a sleeve and stuck out a white arm out into the sun for a moment. Six other lovely brown arms did the same and spread and wiggled their fingers. Lily white they were my arms, had to borrow one of dad’s shirts to keep off the sun. All my tops were sleeveless and dad had no cream and just said “It’s no good for out here. You would just fry like a pork chop.” Tied a headscarf around the middle to make it into a kind of shift over cutaway jeans but I notice the girls haven’t copied that belt idea. Maybe it’s too hot and uncomfortable for them. I’ll leave it off after lunch.
There was only one room with dad’s thing piled in a heap and his travelling cot or camp bed in one corner. This had been made up with a couple of clean sheets and a pillow that looked and was a rolled up sleeping bag. A paraffin lamp was the only light and a small torch lay on the bed next to the pillow. “This is your luxury suite for the duration girl, with all mod cons within easy reach. Go easy on the water. It’s in short supply here at the moment until I order another delivery. Only for drinking and cooking, but the beer tastes better than the water round here. I’m going to sleep in the penthouse on the roof so if you hear any commotion up there it’s only me turning down the room service provided by a scorpion or two. You know how to turn the lamp down don’t you?” He gave me a pat on the shoulder and was away before I could ask any questions. After all it wasn’t his fault that I was landed on him.
I sat down in the shade in the sand. It’s hot even in the shade. Haven’t had a bath or a wash for over a week now. Dad said water is only for drinking and cooking out here. If you want to wash just do it in sand and don’t rush around, just do everything slowly. He’s right, the sweat seems to dry before it comes out and I can’t detect any body odours. No, I’m not going to smell under my arms, not with six pairs of eyes on me. Right, we’ll do the OXO game they love. I levelled out the sand and quickly drew the hatch lines. Six other fingers performed the same task in unison. I drew the ‘O’ in the centre and then pondered and then drew an ‘X’ in the space beneath it. I had given them the game so they quickly completed the rest to their own design. Dad had taught me how never to lose at OXO. Draw even but never lose. I played the game a few more times and from the first two moves they knew they were not going to win, they were quick learners. I got up and did the cell phone again because they liked that followed by a ‘Sal Sulk’ and stalked off, kicking the sand in time to the music.
The morning after arrival, Dad woke me up and told me to dress quickly and he would show me the site so I knew where he would be all day. He came in a few minutes later with what he described as ‘room service breakfast.’ He told me he knew I hate mint tea but he said it couldn’t be worse than the water on its own. He also brought in a plate of flat breads and a newly opened tin of jam especially for my benefit. He told me to eat all the jam since it would go funny if we left any. I ate some and he finished the rest then he said that I should cover up since the sun would barbecue me something rotten. Having told him that I didn’t have anything he found me one of his clean shirts and told me I could borrow it until he rustled up a camel to take me to the local department store three days ride away.
He showed me the site which was boring and told me that he had finished the excavations but now needed to record everything in detail before they covered it up again. How utterly boring and pointless it seemed especially when they hadn’t even found the body. The tomb of this scribe had been empty. I didn’t enquire any more. He asked me if I wanted to help but I just put on that face that said that I wasn’t going to be a skivvy for anyone, so I walked back to the mud hut and put his shirt on over my best T-shirt since my arms were already burning. On the way back I was accosted by a bunch of screaming kids all trying to get my attention. I decided to totally ignore them since I was still in a bad mood. I lay on the bed just hoping that the heat would go away and something might change.
I got bored and went outside and six girls just sat there in the shade and looked at me. I sat down where I felt a slight breeze and listened to my downloaded music totally ignoring them and checking if there was a signal on my cell phone. From that moment they became my inseparable shadows and I adopted the tactic that I would totally ignore them as if they were invisible.
On about the tenth day I stepped out of the hut and adjusted my earpieces. This allowed them time to check me over and adjust their hair styles accordingly. I had set mine into two bunches and they disappeared around the corner and helped each other to do their hair. They reappeared moments later with ‘Sal Sullen’ and bunches, a bit lop sided. Must have been a bit sloppy this morning but can’t go back and adjust mine since that would acknowledge that I noticed them. The breeze was stronger so I decided to walk and climb to the top of the highest sand dune and maybe, maybe I’d pick up a signal from there. It was further than I thought but I had plenty of time on my hands.
Climbing up the sand was difficult, so I walked around the dune and found the back of it was quite rocky and I scrambled up there. As I reached the summit my charges broke rank and started yelling and pointing. It was just at the village with a few half-dead palm trees but they have probably never seen it from this height before. I showed total indifference to the view and turned away. They fell back in line and waited for my next move. I did the cell phone but this time showed more disgust and decided to thrust it into my pocket with more vigour. The cell phone missed my pocket, hit a rock near my foot and bounced and slid down the edge of the dune. The show broke down at this moment as we all ran and slid down the dune after the phone. It stopped and slipped down a crack in the rock. I peered down but couldn’t see it. OK, get control, back into position girls and I put on a pose of indifference and inwardly wondered what I should do.
I needed to mark the place so I could lead dad back to where it had slipped into the crack. I casually picked up a stone and put it down carefully I did the same with a number of stones and seven stone towers were built to mark the spot.
I walked them back to the site and dad felt genuinely sorry for me. I could tell because he called me ‘Sal’ and not ‘Girl’ or just ‘You’. He sent four men with picks, shovels and crow bars and told me not to go round poking my hand in any holes or cracks and waking up the snakes and scorpions resting there. I shuddered at the thought and trooped off back to the dune.
I did my ‘Sal Sullen’ routine and on the third beat I caught them by surprise because I had introduced a kind of a skip and a wiggle of the hips. They soon cottoned on and I could hear the men laughing in amusement. After some time, the chatter of the men seemed quieter when suddenly Efiah started shouting back at them. I couldn’t turn around and only noticed whilst going around a bend that the men were lagging behind and the girls were urging them along. It wasn’t as if we were going fast. You just don’t do ‘Quick’ in this heat.
We eventually reached the seven stone towers and the girls told the men where to dig the sand away and in fact helped as I sat and inspected my dry red hands, ruined by the sun. The men again got abused by the girls for wanting to rest and smoke. It was quite amusing but I couldn’t show any reaction. The sand was cleared to reveal a flat outcrop of rock behind which was my cell phone. The girls urged the men to use their picks and crowbars and push the rock over. The gap widened and little heads would look down and urge more pushing and widening of the crack. The tools became useless so the men sat with their feet on the slab and started rocking it. “Hyaah, hayaah, hayaah,” they all shouted in unison with the rocking and on the tenth ‘hayaah!’ the rock toppled over and slid down the sand dune.
The girls ran down frantically to retrieve my cell phone and I realised with the utter looks of horror and dismay the news was not good. I composed myself on the best manner of indifference and slowly slid down the sand with my feet and saw the phone had been crushed into pulp by the rocking action of the slab. I just continued my sliding down to the base of the dune thinking of who was going to pay. I decided Mum would have to fork out and brightened at the thought that I could get the latest smart model. After all she was the one who sent me out here!
The men started shouting and Efiaah and Deeyaah came screaming past me at breakneck speed and ran off shouting back to the village. I just continued at a slow pace dreaming about the new smart phone I should have.
Somewhere in leafy Surry, Louis Wathenstall had poured herself a generous measure of red Rioja and settled down drawing up her legs on the plush settee, listening to the news. The commentator was saying that he had some groundbreaking and exclusive news from Egypt and was calling up Hugh Reynolds our man directly on the spot.
“Hello, this is Hugh Reynolds directly from the archaeological site in Egypt. Now Dr. Wathenstall, tell us exactly where we are?” The camera switched to show Sall’s dad and Louise’s ex, standing in front of a large sand dune with some girls arranged in a semi circle to his side in the full sunshine, sitting on the sand.
“Well Hugh we are directly West of Thebes near the Libyan border at a former Egyptian army outpost, at an abandoned oasis.”
“Dr. Wathenstall, you have made an amazing discovery again. This is becoming quite a habit for you. Tell us about this new find.”
“This is a significant find for us. We have been excavating the tomb of a scribe from Thebes called Imhotep, who was a bit of a gossip and wrote additional comments to messages that were sent out. We came across him in Cairo and Alexandria. And then we came across a papyrus that said he wanted to be buried in a tomb next to this oasis where he had been born. We knew precisely where because he left details to his tomb maker. This scribe was unimportant in the scheme of things but he used to write to his mother weekly, but since she couldn’t read the letters were never sent. His instructions said that these bundles of papyrus were to be with him in his tomb so that he could reread them in the next life and they would remind him in detail of the life in Thebes. They are a diary of his life in those times. That’s their real importance.”
“But the tomb was empty. Had it been robbed?”
“No. It had been untouched but the body must have been secreted elsewhere, which was the custom at that time to foil the grave robbers.”
“Now tell us who found the mummified body and the bundles of papyrus Dr. Wathenstall?”
“Well, my daughter came out to help on the dig and she and her friends found the crevice.” As the camera man panned to the seven figures doing a ‘Sal Sullen’ playing OXO in the sand in unison and strangely ignoring the camera. “They explored the rocks out there in the dunes and came across this interesting opening. It will take years of work for the scholars to decipher these letters but they will be an important contribution to our knowledge of life in Thebes in those past times.”
“Thank you Dr. Wathenstall. Now tell us how you managed to get the news out to us so quickly from this far out place?”
“I used my satellite phone of course Hugh,” As the camera panned to seven faces of ‘Astonishment’ followed by a mouthing of ‘Oh Daaaad, why didn’t you tell me!’ a ‘Sal sulk’ switching to a ‘Sal sullen’ again.
“What are you going to astound us with next, Dr. Wathenstall?
“Well Hugh, the BBC, have kindly offered to fund a trip for me to take these local girls to show them Thebes and the Pyramids in Cairo, to show them their heritage since they’ve never been farther than that distant sand dune. For me and my girl Sal, we are going to spend a fortnight snorkelling on the Red Sea.” The camera switched to seven smiling faces or somewhat puzzled smiling faces since they hadn’t done ‘Smile’ for at least twelve days.
