Cursed Times - What Now?

Chapter 12 - Memories

'We inform mother first,' Ranofer said. 'She'll have an idea how to break the news. First of all we need to spot Ali Baba and his boat. I tried a couple of times to call him, but I only got voicemail.'

'Akil', Metjen said with that didactic overtone in his voice that made Trueth's neck hairs rise the same moment as Metjen was rising himself. 'Let's go over into town. We can park the Jeep at the mooring and take one of the feluccas across.'

'Don't you have bridges in Egypt? They're an amazing architectural feature. I thought I saw a few when we were in Cairo. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did.' Trueth batted her lashes at Metjen. 

'We do, but since they built this particular bridge, which surely fattened the purses of certain people, the purses of the felucca captains are sorely depleted. So I make a point of using their services whenever I'm here.'

Trueth shrugged—and a thought rose from the depths of her mind with a smelly plop. 'Eh, where did you say these crocodiles were?' She did not get an answer and was forced to scramble as the others were already piling into the Jeep.

Trueth watched the captains and their potential cargo having what sounded like a serious argument concerning world politics complete with loud shouting and the waving of many arms. The bridge would have been far less complicated with the additional bonus of transportation secured on the other side she thought.

She noticed the diplomatic tussle come to an end, wondered whether she should demonstrate her independence but decided against that option as it would have involved a rather lengthy hike all on her own. Instead, she followed the others as they clambered aboard the felucca.

This was a long name for what was effectively a tiny craft sporting a single sail on an immense mast which matched the boat in length. Complicated rope arrangements forced the sail to curve towards the stern, giving it a triangular appearance. The captain—in a nightshirt, of course, with lots of cloth wrapped around his head—and his similarly clad helper untangled miles of rope. Next, they pulled in two old car tires that had protected an outside so scratched she did not understand why they even bothered and they were off.

'The wind is good,' Ranofer shouted over the banging and creaking above their heads. Trueth could not agree. The boat was leaning dangerously to one side, skirting a waterline she regarded with trepidation.

Crocodiles again?

Metjen showed his excellent teeth in a way that would have made any reptile proud.

I can only hope the minions of Sobek know who to bite in the bum should they be around. Tell me while we're at it—do you do this mind-talking with Ranofer and Rani-Ra as well? And can you tell me how I can start this off myself? I don't like it when you push your thoughts into my head like that. I should at least be able to retaliate.

She crossed her arms but hastily grabbed hold of the railing again, only to let go as something bumped against the side and sloshed away promptly.

Only a dead dog, don't worry. Yes, we all do it, but in order to be able to project yourself, you'll need training. This brings me to the usual subject, the one you don't wish to discuss.

The crocodile in Metjen's smile snarled briefly and sank under just as they were reaching the safe harbour of the other side.

Biohazard material, which upon closer inspection turned out to be pound notes, was exchanged together with smiles, some of which were more toothless than others and much back-slapping. Trueth was not sure whether the hand-shaking was any better, and she tried to clean hers with a sani-wipe when nobody was observing her. 

Unfortunately people had been alerted to their presence, and she was being assaulted by a cacophony of male voices offering her felucca—no thank you, she had just come in on one, horse carriage—no thank you, not that either as she did not like the look of that horse, nor the vehicle it was pulling and least of all the driver, camels— no they did not seem to have those on offer so she asked for one, her voice at the most hopeful.

That would sort them out.

Agitated reactions from her three companions and the disturbing sight of twenty carriage drivers and an even larger amount of felucca captains digging for their mobile phones in the depths of their galabiyas made her realise that this had not been such a clever comment after all.

Will you shut up! 

'Sorry, I thought they would go away if I asked for things they didn't have.' Trueth apologised as they had finally extricated themselves from the muddle.

More biohazard had been shared, from Trueth's own purse, she felt that contrite. At least nobody seemed to harbour any bad feelings, instead they had all shaken her hands and only now did she dare to get out the sani-wipes again.

'You should know better than to embarrass people, even if they are a bit overwhelming. Business hasn't been good for far too long, and they all need to eat. Especially the horses,' Rani-Ra said.

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Image copyright KV6: of Photo taken by Hajor, Dec.2001 from WikiCommons

This chapter is dedicated to @Minusfractions who writes SciFi and has a truly unique voice I would recognise anywhere. Even without the saloon....