Samira’s eldest daughter, Eleana, has developed a bad cold and has been running a fever. Her chest shudders out deep, bronchial hacks. The mucus she brings up is thick and green, the colour of the scum on our canal, tinged with flecks of carbon. Nursing her has curtailed Samira’s garbage picking, and she has made almost nothing over the last few days. I have offered to look after Eleana tomorrow, at least until early afternoon, so that Samira can work. Work! This is what we call it. Samira gratefully accepted.
Some days, Samira takes the children with her, and they pick through the garbage together. A few days a week, however, she goes alone and Eleana looks after her younger sibling. The girls clean the shelter, collect wood for the fire and scavenge whatever else that they might find that may be of use. Then Eleana teaches her sister to read and write.
At first, I found the idea of two young girls alone in such a place profoundly disturbing. Now I simply marvel at the courage and resilience of these children. Perspective is everything.
This morning I called the Kemetic. We agreed that I will go to his apartment tomorrow evening.
And yet I am no nearer my goal. Every day that passes buries the truth just a little deeper, as if in a boy-king’s tomb lost to the ages. Tuthenkhamun’s golden death mask haunts me. I saw it for the first time when I visited the Egyptian Museum a few days ago. It was only a glance, so distracted was I, but ever since a vision of that perfect face has held on in a little corner of my mind. He was only nineteen when he died.
In all that has happened, there is one clear thread that can be traced. The more I consider it, the more convinced I have become. Yusuf Al-Gambal was accused of treason and brought to trial by the attorney general. The police have been watching him ever since the acquittal – if that is what it can be called – and now they are following me. And now I learn that the Egyptian embassy has asked the Directorate for assistance in finding me. What is the thread? There can only be one answer: the Egyptian government, or someone very powerful within it, wants me, and everyone else connected with this case, silenced.