Anna knew she was dreaming. It was the strangest feeling to be both an observer and a participant in the dream. She tried to wake up but the dream continued.
She was in a courthouse of some kind, on trial for a crime she could neither remember nor defend. The prosecutor refused to face her. She glimpsed him briefly from the side and felt as if she knew him from somewhere. The jury was composed of people with animal heads who barked and bayed and howled whenever she tried to speak.
She turned to ask the judge to bring order to the court and saw that the judge was a woman with the head of Sekhmet carrying a golden sceptre in her hand.
The lawyer for the defense looked like an older version of Nigel and spoke constantly and emphatically towards Anna. She could not make out one word of his advice in the overpowering and chaotic noise.
The Sekhmet judge rose to pronounce sentence and Anna felt horrible fear course through her. She was about to be condemned without the opportunity to present her case.
She tried to flee from the courthouse, but could not find the strength to move.
She opened her mouth to scream and no sound emerged.
Anna sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, but so glad the dream was over and she was safe.
The morning call to prayer resounded through the bedroom from the open sliding doors. Thankfully, Alina was still asleep in the dawn light.
Anna could not bear to lie down again in case the dream would resume. She grabbed a robe and tied it across her middle, searching in the pockets for a tissue to mop her brow and neck.
Outside, she thought. The fresh air will drive away the demons.
Sitting on the balcony, its half wall topped with flowering plants, restored some feeling of normalcy. She waited for the sun to light up the hotel grounds below, and she listened to the dawn birds call to each other as they flitted from tree to tree.
A few minutes of deep breathing steadied her racing heart but she was still affected by the strange nightmare of a waking dream. She recalled seeing a television program once, where a therapist comforted a patient by stating all events in dreams had their source in the dreamer’s daily life and memory.
“Heaven help me! That’s not a comforting thought. I must be losing my mind.”
Reluctant to even begin to pursue the origins of the dream, she paced back and forth on the balcony. A longing for a hot drink to chase away the residue of her feelings made her return to the bedroom and grab a pair of slacks and a sweater. She pushed her damp hair into place with her fingers, slipped on sandals and tiptoed to the door where she employed her most careful movements to open and close it without disturbing Alina.
Once safely in the corridor, she walked to the elevator and descended to the main level.
The Sheraton’s Karnak restaurant must have been staffed twenty-four hours a day. Men in crisp hotel uniform were moving around stocking the buffet tables with fresh goods for the few early morning travellers who were seated by the windows hunched over their breakfast and looking as dazed as Anna still felt.
She picked up a plate in passing and filled it with rolls and pastries without looking at them. Coffee was what she really needed and it was not long before a young man noticed her at a quiet corner table and brought the required carafe.
Four cups later and the day was beginning to brighten up. The sun had arrived in force and Anna felt more able to cope with whatever the day should bring. With returning confidence she realized that Alina might be worried when she awoke and found her companion’s bed vacant.
A quick word with the waiter supplied a small carafe of coffee, cream and a cup and spoon on a tray. Bearing this peace offering, she knocked softly on the door of their room and was greeted by Alina’s relieved face.
“I was just about to send out a search party!” she complained. “Where were you, and why? I would have panicked if I hadn’t seen your keys lying there.”
Anna made excuses about waking early and not wanting to disturb her friend’s rest. This was mostly true and seemed to pacify Alina. She gratefully drank her coffee and they planned their quiet day in the hotel grounds, saving their energy for the formal dinner in the evening when Nigel and Philip were to collect them and escort them to the Winter Palace.
Alina chattered on about the shops they could stroll through at their own pace without a time frame dictated by a tour schedule. Lunch was already decided. They would eat at the pizza restaurant and throw crust crumbs to the ducks while they ate under the shade of the palm trees. It sounded like a leisurely, happy day but Anna could not shake a feeling of foreboding that emanated from the dregs of the dream she had endured.
After a pleasant lunch, the women retired to their room for a nap. When the heat of the day had dissipated somewhat, they donned swimsuits and robes and claimed lounge chairs by the pool for an hour’s gentle exercise in the pool’s cooling water.
Appointments had been made at the hotel’s beauty salon so that hair and nails might be made more presentable for the evening event. Alina persuaded Anna to have a makeup application. She also insisted their skin had suffered from the parching heat and they both needed a moisturizing facial first.
By the time they returned to their room to dress, the day had disappeared and shadows were
gathering as the breeze wafted through the trees. Anna was glad she had agreed to the salon pampering. She felt more relaxed than she had in days and laughed with Alina as they shared jewellery for their respective outfits, congratulating themselves for allowing Maria to insist on one dressy outfit each for their trip.
“I wonder what an embassy official wears to a dinner party?” mused Alina, as she fastened pearl drop earrings and adjusted a matching chain around her neck. “Maybe she will appear in a dark suit with an official briefcase full of government documents and I will feel overdressed in this long, light-green skirt and fitted jacket.”
“I doubt that,” replied Anna. “She is Egyptian by birth remember, and could wear either North American style or possibly something more culturally appropriate.”
“Can’t imagine what Egyptian style would be like. We have seen so few upper-class women on our travels. She could be draped in those dark, Muslim robes from head to foot for all we know.”
“We’ll find out soon enough, Alina. Now help me with this zip. I have to wear my new leather belt around this top. I have really lost weight in the middle and the handkerchief hem is hanging too low without it.”
“The bronze belt complements your hair colour, Anna, and the creamy shade of the top looks even better with the tan you have acquired.”
“I am not too dark, am I? I don’t want to compete with Philip.”
“No chance of that! Let’s get going. We don’t want to keep our escorts waiting.”
Anna was amused by Alina’s eagerness to see Nigel again. What a flirt she was turning into on this trip! There was always more to learn about people, even those you have known for your whole life, she thought, with a happy smile.
The Winter Palace had the stately facade reminiscent of The Old Cataract Hotel but its entrance was far more spectacular. The taxis drew up in front of the hotel and guests could ascend by a choice of semi-circular stairways to the elaborate doorway at the top.
Alina whispered to Anna that she felt like Cinderella entering the prince’s palace for the ball.
Anna nodded but concentrated on lifting her feet in their high heels so as not to trip on the hems of her delicate, silk palazzo pants. Philip, resplendent in a dinner suit, lent her his arm after he noticed that Nigel had politely assisted Alina in this way.
They all arrived safely on top of the balcony level with a view out over the Nile to the west bank sunset. The usual clamour of the Corniche was muted at this hour and the glimmering lights of the hotel’s many glass coach lamps and lanterns, turned the scene into a fairy tale setting that matched Alina’s comment perfectly.
An immaculately-dressed maitre d’hotel met them inside the doors as if he had been waiting there just for their arrival.
He conducted them to a candle-lit dining room overlooking the gardens at the rear of the hotel where strings of tiny white lights illuminated featured flower beds and fountains.
Their table was arranged to take full advantage of the views outside the lavishly curtained windows but Anna could hardly concentrate on the views when the dining room itself was so amazing.
Table linens and crystal glasses gleamed in the candlelight of the chandeliers and fragrant flowers scented the air. A small posy lay beside each lady’s place and an entire drawerful of elegant silverware spread out on each side of a delicate china plate embellished in filigree gold.
Anna and Alina exchanged surprised glances as they sat carefully on the silk-upholstered armchairs.
They were glad of a moment to adjust to the fabulous setting before their hostess arrived.
The lady in question soon advanced through the dining room like a ship in full sail.
Philip and Nigel got to their feet and bowed respectfully as the impressive woman approached them.
She was attired, (dressed did not seem to be the appropriate description), in an ensemble which would not have looked out of place on the wall of an Egyptian temple. She might have been Isis herself.
The dress was a cloud of fine, pleated white linen, over a tunic of crimson silk. The linen covered her arms and swept around her neck but it did nothing to disguise the quality of the jewelled belt and collar of the tunic. Alina thought of the pitiful copy on the cotton dress she had bought on the ship and recognized the real thing now.
Gold bracelets and earrings of a depth of colour that denoted a very high carat grading, caught the light as she moved. A similar gold decorated her night-black hair that was twisted expertly and piled on her head in heavy coils indicating a luxurious length.
The entire effect was breathtaking and the pose she adopted as she waited for her seat to be pulled out for her, signalled clearly to the two women that she was well aware of the stunning effect she created.
The man who followed in her wake, seated himself on her right side beside Alina with Philip on her left side and Anna next to him. Nigel was between Anna and Alina. Anna smiled to herself at the bemused expression on Nigel’s face as he confronted the vision settling herself opposite him and it was a moment or two before she had the chance to focus on the lady’s husband.
A shock of recognition raced through her like a bolt of lightning.
Her breath stopped.
Alina’s assertion in the Luxor Museum echoed in her mind.
“I tell you, it was Richard!”
Here he was sitting across the table in this spectacular dining room. It had been years since she had last seen him. There was more grey in his hair and eyebrows, of course, and he was heavier of face, but it was her ex-husband without a doubt and she was trapped here with no way to escape.
Anna was temporarily distracted as Philip stood to perform the introductions.
“Madame Nefer al-Sayyid and Mr. Richard Mason, may I present my sister Anna Mason and her friend Alina Barlow from Canada, and also my colleague Nigel Ogilvy.
Her worst fears were confirmed.
Richard did not connect the name with that of his first wife until he heard a gasp from the woman beside him at the table. Alina was looking frantically at Anna and then back at him in a manner even he could recognize as astonishment. At the same moment, the principal private secretary to the Egyptian ambassador to Canada also registered the name of Anna Mason and immediately knew who the attractive older woman across from her was.
There was a second or two of tense silence that was shared by all except Philip and Nigel, then compliments and conversation resumed to cover the gap. There was no mistaking the social bomb that had dropped onto the table, however. No one attempted to diffuse that bomb by taking responsibility for lightening the atmosphere and commenting on the unusual coincidence that had occurred.
Anna was transfixed by shock. Alina had resorted to gazing at the silverware. Richard was dabbing at his hands with a pocket handkerchief and his wife was glaring at Anna with kohl-lined, dark eyes that resembled black pits.
The breath rushed back into Anna’s lungs as the paralysis abated. In its place a wave of unexpected and powerful emotion engulfed her.
It was anger; pure unadulterated rage from a place inside her she had not known existed until now. Anger at Richard consumed her as if all the hurts and disappointments of their marriage coalesced into one burning spot in her chest.
Where had this emotion come from so suddenly? Could one quick look at her ex-husband produce this torrent of feelings? She could not remember anything this powerful happening before. Even in the grim weeks after the divorce was finalized, Anna’s state of mind was one of self-blame and depression, never anger at this level.
Could it be that this emotion had been suppressed for all these years, to emerge now that her life was finally back on an even keel again?
The feeling of rage burned itself out as quickly as it had come, leaving a flush on her face.
In the seconds it had taken to register and release her torrent of feelings, Anna had been unaware of what was happening around the table.
She came back to the present in the midst of a conversation among Philip, Nigel and Madame al-Sayyid about Egypt’s current political situation.
“Do not use the term Arab Spring.” she insisted. “What is happening here is a revolution against three generations of incompetent police and family-mafia rule. Yes, there is sectarian strife and it will take time for the new government structures to settle into their power but, make no mistake, Egypt has broken free from oppression and we will define ourselves and shape our own national policies in the future.”
Philip summoned up a reply to her impassioned statements.
“These are extraordinary times for Egypt. You must be excited to be here at this moment.”
She responded in a calmer tone. “I am always happy to return to my roots and to my home in Luxor, but this year it is especially significant.”
She made the tiniest motion of her finger towards her left shoulder and a sommelier appeared to hear her request. “Let us share a toast to the new Egypt.”
The sparkling wine frothed into crystal glasses as if summoned by a genie as she proclaimed “Egypt!” and raised her glass high.
Everyone sipped the champagne while around them other diners politely applauded her passionate toast.
After this moment of public attention, she cleverly switched to her guests’ interests.
“Please tell me how your building project is progressing. I am very interested in the new technologies you plan to incorporate.”
Nigel proudly recounted the latest developments at the site with water purification systems and solar panels in place. Philip responded with updates on the projected completion schedule and cautioned that these were provisional at this point.
It was clear to the remaining three at the table that their role was to be listeners and not participants. Anna watched the exchanges between the men and Madame al-Sayyid and tried to figure out how Richard had met and married such a powerful woman. In the days of her own marriage, Richard had been anything but the passive partner she saw before her now. Whenever Anna had tried to assert herself by objecting to one of his unilateral decisions, his reactions were loud and uncompromising. She could not imagine his current wife accepting that kind of verbal bullying.
Waiters had removed the delicate charger plates and substituted salad plates which were filled with selections of green and bean salad dishes spiced with beetroot. Anna noted it was French service and knew the meal would be superlative but possibly lengthy. It was a relief to focus on her plate and not to have to look at Richard. Whenever she did glance his way, he seemed to be watching her intently.
Nigel had now embarked on an account of his family background. Anna’s attention was alerted by this topic. She wondered what he might say about his Scottish relatives. A trickle of anxiety began to affect Anna’s heart rate but she calmed herself by remembering that she was the only person who knew about the connection to Helen Dunlop and it was highly unlikely that Nigel would mention that name here.
“Yes, my father inherited the business from his mother, a grand old lady called Rachel Fraser, although it was a well-established firm a generation before that.”
“Did you live in a fine Scottish castle, Nigel, and that prompted your interest in architecture?”
Anna was surprised to hear a flirtatious note in the cultured voice of Madame al-Sayyid. Nigel’s good looks must be having an effect on her also, she thought.
“Ah, no, I’m afraid not. There was an elegant family house near Stirling Castle at one period but a mysterious loss of money resulted in a move to the countryside and that’s where my interest in buildings was nurtured.”
“I see. Most families have a mystery of one kind or another, I believe, Nigel.”
Anna and Philip exchanged glances. Their family was a case in point and only Anna knew how much information she could have added to Nigel’s family mystery.
Two more courses had come and gone before Madame al-Sayyid’s attention turned to her women guests.
“I understand you two ladies are business people also? What are your business interests?”
Alina responded before Anna could reply. She could sense Anna’s tension in her clenched hands and stiff posture and wished to spare her the ordeal of social conversation, under the present circumstances.
“Our company is named A Plus, which, of course, denotes excellence. We have many internet clientele on both sides of the Atlantic and we supply a wide variety of knitted, crochet and special-order goods to discerning women.”
Richard’s wife watched Anna during Alina’s promo. She had wished to hear her husband’s former wife speak, but Alina was clearly determined to avoid this.
“I see. Would you have any interest in expanding your business in Egypt?”
“I........” Alina turned to consult Anna about her reply and received a nod of her head giving her permission to say whatever she wished. “We have not given that idea any consideration so far, but I have recently purchased here, some beautiful fabrics that might be incorporated into new designs.”
“I am pleased to hear this. You may have read about a government initiative being broached in Canada to initiate visas specifically for entrepreneurs. This would allow those with new ideas to be granted access to Canada to establish and promote technologies or manufacturing skills that are not currently in production. I would be pleased to act as an intermediary should you and your partner decide to pursue this idea. There are many expert weavers and designers here in Egypt who could help you in such an enterprise.”
Alina was not the only person at the table to be surprised by this offer.
“That is very generous of you,” she replied. “My partner and I will give your suggestion our most careful consideration. Thank you, Madame al-Sayyid.”
Two more courses were presented and removed. The superb quality of the meal was now the focus of the discussion.
Anna was beginning to feel she had been transported back to the nightmare that had begun her day. All she wanted was to escape from the dining room and talk the whole series of strange events over with Alina, but it seemed as if she was trapped in her chair with no hope of escape as the meal went on and on.
Increasingly, she could see a resemblance between Richard’s imperious wife and the Sekhmet judge in her dream. The silent Richard was akin to the prosecutor and the loquacious Nigel, who was now carrying the bulk of the dinner conversation, was her defense lawyer.
Anna shook her head and wiped her mouth with her napkin to dispel the ridiculous images she was superimposing on her dinner companions.
She looked up to see coffee and sweets being placed on the table. Surely that indicated the meal was almost at an end?
Neither she nor Richard had contributed anything to the general conversation and their silence was starting to become embarrassing. Anna could see Philip’s questioning gaze on her whenever she glanced his way. There were going to be explanations required of her soon.
Then their hostess made an unexpected request that seemed to signal the conclusion of the evening.
“Perhaps I could arrange a special tour for you tomorrow, if you wish? I can have tickets messengered to your hotel in the morning. Afterwards I would be delighted to welcome you to my home in Luxor for refreshments. We have a charming garden.”
Spending more time with Richard’s new wife was about the last thing Anna wanted, but she could hardly refuse such an openhanded offer. This important woman was responsible for the superior accommodations she and Alina had enjoyed on their trip. It would be churlish to refuse and might have repercussions for Philip.
She quickly cleared her throat and managed to utter a ‘thank you’ together with Alina, whose voice was able to express a more sincere gratitude.
At last they escaped down the circular stairs. The idea of Cinderella fleeing at midnight did not seem too far removed from Anna’s feelings as she held onto the white balustrade for balance. She felt as if days had passed since she climbed up these stairs.
There were still tomorrow’s events to get through, she thought. What would it feel like to be in a home shared by Richard and his brilliant new wife?
How on earth would she cope?