But always there was a brilliant light on the edge of my inner vision, a beacon whose strength never faltered. When we arrived in the camp, so dehydrated we couldn’t speak, the Old Man hadn’t even seemed surprised about what I’d done. I always suspected afterwards that he’d set it up as a test — sent me and the boys out into the khala , knowing a ghibli was on the way. Still, after that I was always known among the tribe as Nawayr — ‘The Little Light’.
‘Hey!’ Daisy’s voice shouted in my ear. ‘Anybody there?’ I blinked rapidly to dispel the memory, and saw her standing in front of me. Today she wore dark glasses, a loose fitting red and blue cotton kaftan and jeans. Her braided hair had been coiled up and pinned under an elegant panama hat, and she wore flat, thick soled shoes. She swung her Gucci handbag easily from her left shoulder, with the flap unfastened. ‘Okaaay!’ she said, whipping off her glasses and craning her neck at the Great Pyramid, whose peak towered more than four hundred feet above us. I wasn’t looking at the pyramid, though, but at something that struck me then as far more wonderful — Daisy’s profile. The slim hips and neatly curved breasts looked perfect, and I had to clench my teeth to control a waft of desire that ran through me like a tsunami. ‘I’ve seen pictures of this thing so many times,’ Daisy said. ‘I thought it could never live up to them, but I was wrong. Now that is really something ! ’
And she was really something else, I thought. You can look at a woman, even find her attractive, but it takes a little time before it sinks in that she’s just about the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen. I smiled back at her, yearning for her, knowing there was no chance. Upper crust girls like Daisy didn’t go for ex-street kids like me. She was the sort of woman that as an urchin in Aswan I’d always dreamed of having, but knew I never could. She was about as high above me as the Great Pyramid itself. ‘You know there are more than 2.3 million blocks of stone in that heap?’ I said, swallowing hard. ‘Each one of them weighing about two tons or more. Some weigh as much as eighty tons.’
‘That’s incredible.’
‘You’ve got it. The whole thing’s unbelievably accurate, too. The length of the base is 756 feet but the maximum difference in length among the four sides is only one and three quarter inches. It’s almost completely level — less than a one inch variation in the whole base. That’s more accurate than most modern buildings — the kind of precision that even today you only find in machine shops. In the past it was a whole lot more impressive than it is now, because it was encased in brilliant white limestone that was stripped off later, and the whole place was surrounded by a twenty five foot wall. There was only one way of getting inside the compound — through a temple that’s disappeared.’
‘What about the apex?’ Daisy asked, craning back again and shading her eyes. ‘It looks kind of flat to me.’
‘Yeah, that’s a mystery,’ I said, ‘there obviously was a capstone there, but it’s gone AWOL. No one knows what happened to it. They reckon it might have been covered in gold.’
‘Wow! And to think the Pharaoh Khufu built this thing just as a tombstone! Now that’s what you call megalomania!’
‘Who said Khufu built it?’ I asked. ‘And who says it was a tombstone?’
‘Come on — it’s well known.’
‘It’s what the experts say, sure,’ I grunted. ‘But personally I’ve never had a lot of time for experts. They make out they’re dealing in truth, but actually they’re dealing in theories. Somebody once told me that the pyramids are actually older than they say, and when you think of it, if the Pharaoh Khufu did throw up this pile of rocks, why doesn’t he or anyone else ever mention the fact? I mean, tombstones are supposed to have names on them, aren’t they? These ancient Gyp bigshots
‘Hey!’ Daisy’s voice shouted in my ear. ‘Anybody there?’ I blinked rapidly to dispel the memory, and saw her standing in front of me. Today she wore dark glasses, a loose fitting red and blue cotton kaftan and jeans. Her braided hair had been coiled up and pinned under an elegant panama hat, and she wore flat, thick soled shoes. She swung her Gucci handbag easily from her left shoulder, with the flap unfastened. ‘Okaaay!’ she said, whipping off her glasses and craning her neck at the Great Pyramid, whose peak towered more than four hundred feet above us. I wasn’t looking at the pyramid, though, but at something that struck me then as far more wonderful — Daisy’s profile. The slim hips and neatly curved breasts looked perfect, and I had to clench my teeth to control a waft of desire that ran through me like a tsunami. ‘I’ve seen pictures of this thing so many times,’ Daisy said. ‘I thought it could never live up to them, but I was wrong. Now that is really something ! ’
And she was really something else, I thought. You can look at a woman, even find her attractive, but it takes a little time before it sinks in that she’s just about the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen. I smiled back at her, yearning for her, knowing there was no chance. Upper crust girls like Daisy didn’t go for ex-street kids like me. She was the sort of woman that as an urchin in Aswan I’d always dreamed of having, but knew I never could. She was about as high above me as the Great Pyramid itself. ‘You know there are more than 2.3 million blocks of stone in that heap?’ I said, swallowing hard. ‘Each one of them weighing about two tons or more. Some weigh as much as eighty tons.’
‘That’s incredible.’
‘You’ve got it. The whole thing’s unbelievably accurate, too. The length of the base is 756 feet but the maximum difference in length among the four sides is only one and three quarter inches. It’s almost completely level — less than a one inch variation in the whole base. That’s more accurate than most modern buildings — the kind of precision that even today you only find in machine shops. In the past it was a whole lot more impressive than it is now, because it was encased in brilliant white limestone that was stripped off later, and the whole place was surrounded by a twenty five foot wall. There was only one way of getting inside the compound — through a temple that’s disappeared.’
‘What about the apex?’ Daisy asked, craning back again and shading her eyes. ‘It looks kind of flat to me.’
‘Yeah, that’s a mystery,’ I said, ‘there obviously was a capstone there, but it’s gone AWOL. No one knows what happened to it. They reckon it might have been covered in gold.’
‘Wow! And to think the Pharaoh Khufu built this thing just as a tombstone! Now that’s what you call megalomania!’
‘Who said Khufu built it?’ I asked. ‘And who says it was a tombstone?’
‘Come on — it’s well known.’
‘It’s what the experts say, sure,’ I grunted. ‘But personally I’ve never had a lot of time for experts. They make out they’re dealing in truth, but actually they’re dealing in theories. Somebody once told me that the pyramids are actually older than they say, and when you think of it, if the Pharaoh Khufu did throw up this pile of rocks, why doesn’t he or anyone else ever mention the fact? I mean, tombstones are supposed to have names on them, aren’t they? These ancient Gyp bigshots
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