Eileen

Egypt By Eileen Campbell

“And don’t come looking for us, because we’ll be a long ways away!” The gypsy woman yelled so I fell back on the fiery hot sand. The sun burned down on my face, until I felt like it would melt off. Madame Kadorsa hopped back on her camel and signaled for the caravan to move on. “But it wasn’t me!” I cried. “Don’t waist my time with lies,” she said dryly, and the group moved on. I didn’t try to follow; I knew it would be a waist of time. I watched them until my eyes started to water and the heat worked its magic, making everything hazy. Madame Kadorsa made all the decisions. She had decided to travel on camels instead of horses, and to move our act to Egypt. She had decided to buy the lion from that empty-headed merchant. You could tell he had not fed the lion for days, it’s hide was like the head of a drum, stretched over it’s bones with room left only for the tiniest bit of air. Maybe that’s why it was cheap: Three bushels of hay. That’s all we had. Madame Kadorsa put me in charge of caring for the lion. I hadn’t wanted to take care of the it, it was probably ready to eat the next ten human beings it saw. With any luck, it would take my limb and not my life. But Madame Kadorsa made all the decisions. I had no choice but to carefully guard the big brass cage that held the beast captive. Twice a day, I was forced to reach between the bars and drop a piece of meat the size of my hand on to the cold, metal floor of the cage. I watched, thinking, hoping the lion would not devour me as it did the meat. He didn’t savor it, or chew it: he just ate it. He gulped it down into that skinny thing of a stomach. After feeding the great cat his evening meal, I set up my tent a few feet away from his cage. That was part of my position, too. Yes, I feared being near the lion in my sleep, but I guess I never seriously thought it would escape. It did. I heard nothing until the shrill cry of a man rang out into the night. His scream pierced the air with such coldness that it did not sound like a scream. It sounded like sorrow, and anger, and fear. It sounded like death. I rushed out of my tent, the flap swinging behind me. In the darkness I could see little but the stars and the sand, but the outline of a lion raced off in the distance. That lion’s belly was full with fresh meat. The next sound was different. It was loud, and flowing. It came from the mouth of Madame Kadorsa. “HOW COULD YOU? I GAVE YOU ONE DUTY AND YOU COULD NOT FOLLOW THROUGH! NOT ONE LITTLE JOB! YOU ARE SO LAZY YOU LUMP OF A HUMAN! Pack up your tent.” What was only a minute seemed like a whole moon. But when the yelling stopped, there was only so much more misery to come. I barely gave a glance at the empty cage as I walked past it towards my tent. Inside my tent, my eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. I looked at the bundled up animal hide that I used as a pillow. It was worn in the place that I rested my head, and it looked lonely without a blanket. I had never needed a blanket, the sand was warm enough. I through the bundle of hide out of my tent, my box of jewels I set down more gently. I had three bands in my box. They were the only reward I had for taking care of the temporary lion. I loved these bands, and I do believe they gave me power in my most troubling times. This was definitely my most troubling time, so my first instinct was to put on all three: The small white one, the blue jingly one, and the coral red cobra that curled around my upper arm. It was my favorite, made of rubies and gold. It had been stolen from the Pharaoh Ahkmentet’s treasure room, a crime with the penalty of death. But I did not intend for Pharaoh to find out, and I did not intend to die at the mercy of his sword. After putting on my precious bands, I wrapped the simple box in the roll of hide and threw it across my back. I unhitched my tent as I did every morning to get ready to travel. Today, I knew I would travel solo. With the tent dragging behind me, and my hide bouncing against my back, I was quite a site walking up to Madame Kadorsa. “ I’m sorry I have to do this,” she said. “ Jus give me a chance to explain! I-“ “ The decision is made,” Madame Kadorsa leaned over on her camel towards Maji, who whispered something in her ear. Maji was probably the only other human being that Madame Kadorsa listened to. He was very old. “ Ah yes, Don’t come looking for us because we’ll be a long ways away!” And so you see, we are back to the beginning, and there is no need to explain the closely following events. But as I lay there, in the golden sand, the tiny dots in the distance seemed to get larger, closer. Did Madame Kadorsa know where she was going? Yes, I soon found out. Madame Kadorsa and the caravan of people knew exactly where they were going. As the gypsy woman slowed to a stop, she grinned a nasty grin, her teeth rotting before my eyes. “We have been to harsh on you,” Madame Kadorsa smiled. “There is no way you could survive out here,” I sensed trickery. “We will take you to Pharaoh, he will surely take you in,” Maji said. “As a slave!” Madame Kadorsa finished. I didn’t know what to say, so I kept quiet. The two laughed out loud, grinning from stolen earring to stolen earring. They told me to set up my tent and gave me a tunic as white as the whitest cloud. This was finery compared to my old rags. I wondered why they had given me this until I heard Maji and Madame Kadorsa whispering: “ If she looks well and healthy we will get more money,” he smiled at me when I looked at him and he handed me a necklace of turquoise. I didn’t bother to ask why he gave it to me to cover up my knowledge. I changed inside of my tent. Slowly emerging out of my sanctuary, I held my hand above my eyes to shield the sun. Every ounce of hope I had was flung from my heart and buried in Egypt’s sandy terrain. If I left the group I would not survive, so I had no choice but to unhitch my tent for the second time, and hop on the back of my camel, Myww. I named her after the Egyptian word for cat, because I have every intention of owning a cat when I grow up. Well, I //had// every intention of owning a cat. We rode for miles through the storm of dust before the Pharaoh’s palace rose up before our eyes. It was large, and grand, and every turret had a jeweled border. The doors were made of solid gold, and the walls of white stone. Every design was adorned with Nubian jewels and chips of gold. And the people! There must have been hundreds of men and women roaming the palace grounds. They were carrying baskets and leading cattle. They were planting seeds and weaving threads. And in the distance, way off in the wheat fields, I saw Prince Ahkmentut II. Madame Kadorsa led Myww and me towards the palace. As I remembered my fate, I began to notice the sweat trickling down the people’s faces, and the ribs of the starving slaves jutted out inside their dark skin. The sun beat down on Egypt, making the chains that curled around the ankles and wrists of the sickening skeleton-like bodies gleam, as if showing off the pride and power of Pharaoh Ahkmentut himself. Madame Kadorsa led me to a man who was yelling at the chained people, and told him something I couldn’t understand. He looked at me, smiled, than nodded his head. Madame Kadorsa kept speaking to him strangely, and then I heard this: “Elle S’appelle Natalie.” At the mention of my name I looked up. The man was looking at me, but explaining something to Madame Kadorsa. She rolled her eyes, said something, and then got back on her camel. The man reached into the folds of his long, white robe and pulled out a sack. Madame Kadorsa reached for it but the man pulled away. He shook his finger at her, then reached in his sack and pulled out three gold pieces and handed them to her. Madame Kadorsa grumbled her thanks, then left. I was now a slave.

Chapter Two: The man who was selling the slaves had dark brown skin and a turban much too big for his small little head. He had large teeth and he was very short. Unfortunately, he did not speak Arabic. He soon figured out that I, too, could not speak his flowing language, and from then on I was worthless. First, he chained me up. The metal weighed down on my limbs, but the man only whipped me until I got up. My white tunic was red with blood stains by the time I could feel me back again. Villagers passed by, examining the unfortunate slaves and talking with the turbaned man, who was undoubtedly saying more about the slaves than he knew. Once in a while, people handed bushels of wheat and gold coins to the man with the whip, dragging away the bony humans, and leaving one more spot open. Finally, it was only one man and I. He looked to be about my age, and he was not as skinny as the others. He looked very strong, actually. A small smile seemed to creep out from behind the shadow of the whip, before his gaze rested somewhere else, away from me. We waited into the dark hours of the night, until the chains wet with perspiration, and red with the burden they piled on us. Finally, a lady with simple, peasant-like cloaks on walked up to the man and said to him: “I’ll have the last two,” But he gave her a puzzled look and asked her something in his language. The lady rolled her eyes, pointed to us, and then gave him four bushels of wheat. He smiled and unlocked the chains. It felt so good to have the cool of the night air brushing against our sore wrists and ankles. The smile that had held back before came bursting out of the other slaves face, and I could not help but smile with him. I could have sworn a laugh began to tickle my throat, before the peasant lady took us by the necks of our tunics and pulled us away. She dragged us back towards the palace, and then dragged us around a bend. The courtyard I found myself in was deserted. “I’ve been watching you two all day,” she said. “I’m sorry this fate has befallen you. It makes me think how lucky I am. I’m sorry I dragged you away,” “But…” I started. “Don’t talk!” the lady’s hand flew across my face. I reached up to feel where she had struck me. It stung like the crack of a whip. I looked down, ashamed. “Sorry,” she said. “I saw someone watching. If anyone knew I was helping you…people would think me a…a…a traitor,” “I understand,” the other slave said. It startled me to hear his deep voice. “I don’t! Forgive me, but it’s all happening so fast!” I chimed. “Everything is growing faster now. You need to adapt. But I will explain: