Shabtis
Copyright© 2021 by Freddie Clegg
Chapter 9: Collecting Antiquities
(No real erotic content here, I’m afraid - it just moves the story along a bit)
It was early in the spring of 1915. Saeed Abanoub was sitting, sipping mint tea in a cafe near the centre of Abu Sir Banna. The heat of the day was fading and the village was starting to come to life as the evening call to prayer echoed out from the nearby mosque. He was no longer a young man. He was happy to watch as others went about their work.
A motor car – still a rare site in these parts - made its way along the street, its horn urging villagers to move out of its path. Saeed Abanoub could see it was a British army car; going from Abbousir to Cairo, he assumed. They were just the latest foreigners to trample across his country. He wasn’t sure if they were any better or worse than the French. The car stopped and two men got out. One, in army uniform stopped by the car. The other, a bluff looking, moustachioed fellow walked across to the cafe where Saeed Abanoub was sitting. He spoke to the cafe owner. There was some discussion. Money passed from the Englishman to the cafe owner and the cafe owner pointed at Saeed.
The Englishman came over. “Can I join you? Our friend over there,” he nodded towards the cafe owner, “says you can help me.”
Abanoub was surprised. The man spoke good Arabic; colloquially, not like someone that had learned it in class. Abanaoub spoke some English but saw no need to use it. “I help who I can, InshaAllah.”
“He says you find things, old things. Or you know people that do. He says you sometimes have things to sell. Sometimes I like to buy. Things that have been found. Old things.”
“Trading of antiquities is illegal.”
“Of course. But some old things, well, it may not be clear if they are genuine antiquities. When things are found, in the ground, in the fields. You might sell them with a clear conscience. Without fear of consequences.”
“I have some things. Found in the fields. The river winds back and forth here. No one is sure what was where but Busiris – Ddjedu - is supposed to have been nearby. A friend of mine found these beads and these small shabtis. He would be pleased to receive a price for them.”
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