What do you expect? Think the sand’s going to miss me out?’
‘The fences need to be kept in good order,’ said Salah sternly. ‘Things are not like they used to be!’
‘What do you think I’m doing to the fences? And I know things are not the way they used to be; they’re a great deal worse!’
‘We can’t have these birds getting out.’
‘Do you think I want them to get out? Each one costs me a packet, I can tell you. That’s money walking away, that is. And if they don’t get away altogether, some fool tries to shoot them!’
‘You go easy on the “fools”. We’re talking Pashas here!’
‘What do I care about Pashas? Or the Khedive either. Put a bullet in my birds and I’ll put a bullet in them!’
‘These birds of yours are nothing but a nuisance. They frighten the horses. Do you know what a racehorse costs?’
‘I know what an ostrich costs. And the birds were here before the racehorses.’
‘Yes, well, you keep them on this side of the railway line! Otherwise there’ll be trouble.’
‘There’s been no trouble up till now. It’s building this new city that’s causing the trouble. City!’ said the old man contemptuously. ‘What do they want to build a city for out in the desert? The desert’s the desert. Keep it like that!’
‘Things don’t stand still. They’re going to build the city and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re going to have to live with it. And that means seeing that your birds don’t get out.’
‘They’d be all right if they were left alone.’
‘If they stay in the pens they will be left alone.’
‘No, no, it’s in the air. They can smell it. It frightens them. That’s what makes them panic.’
‘What’s in the air?’
‘People. Houses. That new railway line. The old one’s all right. They’ve got used to that. But now they’re building a new one. What do they want another one for? They’re building them all over the place. How many more are there going to be?’
‘There aren’t going to be any more. Just this one. And they’re having it because it’ll go straight to Heliopolis. It won’t come near your pens.’
‘There’s something wrong with it, isn’t there?’
‘What do you mean, something wrong with it?’
‘It’s electric, isn’t it?’
‘Well?’
‘There you are, then. It’ll be getting out and affecting my birds.’
‘Nonsense!’
‘Well, I can tell you, if it starts affecting my birds, I’ll be over there with my gun! I’ll soon put a stop to it!’
‘It won’t affect your birds at all.’
‘It had better not. And you’d do better to be worrying about all that stuff getting out than about my birds getting out. I’ll look after my birds. And I’ll look after that new electric railway, too, if you don’t watch out!’
Since he was out at Matariya, Owen thought he might as well go over to the village. With any luck he would meet Mahmoud and find out if he had made any further progress.
The village was only a mile from the ostrich farm but by the time he reached it, even in what he had thought the fresher atmosphere of out of town, the sweat was running down his face and his shirt was sticking to his back. When he got to the village he went to the well and scooped water over his face and drank a little from the bucket he had pulled up. It tasted of sand.
There were some women at the well, filling their pitchers. They saw the face he had made and one of them said:
‘Here, have some of mine. We got it up before the water was disturbed.’
‘It was Miriam who disturbed it,’ said one of the other women. ‘She let the bucket go in too far.’
‘I had to, didn’t I?’ retorted Miriam angrily. ‘I was the last one and you’d got the good water out.’
‘Ali should have put the cover over the well,’ said the first woman accusingly.
An old man sitting in the shade straightened up.
‘I did!’ he protested. ‘It got underneath. It gets everywhere.’
‘Well, it does
‘The fences need to be kept in good order,’ said Salah sternly. ‘Things are not like they used to be!’
‘What do you think I’m doing to the fences? And I know things are not the way they used to be; they’re a great deal worse!’
‘We can’t have these birds getting out.’
‘Do you think I want them to get out? Each one costs me a packet, I can tell you. That’s money walking away, that is. And if they don’t get away altogether, some fool tries to shoot them!’
‘You go easy on the “fools”. We’re talking Pashas here!’
‘What do I care about Pashas? Or the Khedive either. Put a bullet in my birds and I’ll put a bullet in them!’
‘These birds of yours are nothing but a nuisance. They frighten the horses. Do you know what a racehorse costs?’
‘I know what an ostrich costs. And the birds were here before the racehorses.’
‘Yes, well, you keep them on this side of the railway line! Otherwise there’ll be trouble.’
‘There’s been no trouble up till now. It’s building this new city that’s causing the trouble. City!’ said the old man contemptuously. ‘What do they want to build a city for out in the desert? The desert’s the desert. Keep it like that!’
‘Things don’t stand still. They’re going to build the city and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re going to have to live with it. And that means seeing that your birds don’t get out.’
‘They’d be all right if they were left alone.’
‘If they stay in the pens they will be left alone.’
‘No, no, it’s in the air. They can smell it. It frightens them. That’s what makes them panic.’
‘What’s in the air?’
‘People. Houses. That new railway line. The old one’s all right. They’ve got used to that. But now they’re building a new one. What do they want another one for? They’re building them all over the place. How many more are there going to be?’
‘There aren’t going to be any more. Just this one. And they’re having it because it’ll go straight to Heliopolis. It won’t come near your pens.’
‘There’s something wrong with it, isn’t there?’
‘What do you mean, something wrong with it?’
‘It’s electric, isn’t it?’
‘Well?’
‘There you are, then. It’ll be getting out and affecting my birds.’
‘Nonsense!’
‘Well, I can tell you, if it starts affecting my birds, I’ll be over there with my gun! I’ll soon put a stop to it!’
‘It won’t affect your birds at all.’
‘It had better not. And you’d do better to be worrying about all that stuff getting out than about my birds getting out. I’ll look after my birds. And I’ll look after that new electric railway, too, if you don’t watch out!’
Since he was out at Matariya, Owen thought he might as well go over to the village. With any luck he would meet Mahmoud and find out if he had made any further progress.
The village was only a mile from the ostrich farm but by the time he reached it, even in what he had thought the fresher atmosphere of out of town, the sweat was running down his face and his shirt was sticking to his back. When he got to the village he went to the well and scooped water over his face and drank a little from the bucket he had pulled up. It tasted of sand.
There were some women at the well, filling their pitchers. They saw the face he had made and one of them said:
‘Here, have some of mine. We got it up before the water was disturbed.’
‘It was Miriam who disturbed it,’ said one of the other women. ‘She let the bucket go in too far.’
‘I had to, didn’t I?’ retorted Miriam angrily. ‘I was the last one and you’d got the good water out.’
‘Ali should have put the cover over the well,’ said the first woman accusingly.
An old man sitting in the shade straightened up.
‘I did!’ he protested. ‘It got underneath. It gets everywhere.’
‘Well, it does
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