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Authors: Olivia Manning
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town would be hidden under heat but now she could see the
small houses washing, like a sea of curdled foam, up to the cliff-face of the
Mokattam Hills. Above them Mohammad Ali's alabaster mosque, uniquely white in
this sand-coloured city, sat with minarets pricked, like a fat, white, watchful
cat.
Once, before
history began, a real sea had filled the basin and beaten up against the cliff.
It drained away and then the ancient Egyptians had come to give to the human
spirit beauty and dignity. As she reflected on those first Egyptians, cries
came from the minaret nearest to her and at once all the air was filled with
the long, wailing notes of the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer. The
kites, roused from sleep, floated up from the buildings in unhurried flight and
began to glide with gentle, dilatory grace just above the roof tops. Harriet
looking down on them, saw they were not as they seemed from below, a muddy
brown but, catching the sun on their feathers, they gleamed like birds cast
from bronze. She was startled by another voice that joined with the muezzins,
the voice of Madame Wilk. 'Come in, Mrs Pringle, it is forbidden to be on the
roof.'
‘I’m quite safe,
Madame Wilk.'
'It is not for
you to be safe, Madame Pringle. If you fall and are killed, the police will
make trouble for me. So, at once, come in.'
Harriet went in and Madame Wilk banged the bolts into place, saying, 'Ah, I have too many
worries.'
Harriet sat down
to partake of a breakfast that was always the same. It began with six large,
soft, oversweet dates served in a little green glass dish. The next course
would be a small egg that might be boiled, fried or poached but always had the
same taste of damp and decay.
Harriet was, like
most of the pension guests, on the lookout for somewhere to live, yet as she
thought of having to leave Egypt, of having to move once again to an unknown
country, even the Pension Wilk seemed a desirable resting place.
On her way out,
Harriet stopped beside Major Perry's table to ask, 'How did Madame Wilk get the
idea we are in retreat?'
Perry, whose face
had been drooping, reacted to the question like a bad actor. Puffing out a
stench of stale alcohol, he laughed, 'Ha, ha, ha. You know what Cairo's like!
Some surplus equipment was returned to the depot at Heliopolis and the locals
got the wind up. Just the usual scare and rushing to the telephone."
'I didn't know we
had any surplus equipment.'
'Stuff to be
broken up for spares. The desert's littered with it.'
'So there's
nothing to worry about?'
'Nothing, girlie,
nothing. When we get reinforcements, it'll be as right as rain.'
Harriet laughed.
That's fine, only it doesn't rain here, does it?'
Guy and Harriet
had arrived in Egypt during another 'Emergency', almost exactly a year before
the present one. Then, as now, the Germans had reached Sollum and were likely
to come further, but the fact did not mean much to the refugees who had
suffered a much more acute loss. They reached Alexandria still mourning for
Greece and their memories of Greece, and Egypt evoked in them disgust and a
fear of its strangeness.
Their train had
drawn into the Cairo station at midnight and those who had money in Egypt found
themselves taxis and went to hotels. The rest, having nothing but useless
drachma, waited about, bemused, not knowing where to go or what to do.
Eventually an army sergeant took charge of them. Telling them that quarters had
been requisitioned for them, he had led them a long way through back streets to
a building as discouraging as a poor law institution. Here they were shown one
dormitory for the women, another for the men and a single cold shower to be
used by both. The dormitories with their iron bedsteads, army blankets, dismal
lighting and smell of carbolic, had a prison atmosphere but no one complained.
The refugees felt they had to put a good face on things and look grateful,
imagining, until the manager brought round the bills, that they were the
small houses washing, like a sea of curdled foam, up to the cliff-face of the
Mokattam Hills. Above them Mohammad Ali's alabaster mosque, uniquely white in
this sand-coloured city, sat with minarets pricked, like a fat, white, watchful
cat.
Once, before
history began, a real sea had filled the basin and beaten up against the cliff.
It drained away and then the ancient Egyptians had come to give to the human
spirit beauty and dignity. As she reflected on those first Egyptians, cries
came from the minaret nearest to her and at once all the air was filled with
the long, wailing notes of the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer. The
kites, roused from sleep, floated up from the buildings in unhurried flight and
began to glide with gentle, dilatory grace just above the roof tops. Harriet
looking down on them, saw they were not as they seemed from below, a muddy
brown but, catching the sun on their feathers, they gleamed like birds cast
from bronze. She was startled by another voice that joined with the muezzins,
the voice of Madame Wilk. 'Come in, Mrs Pringle, it is forbidden to be on the
roof.'
‘I’m quite safe,
Madame Wilk.'
'It is not for
you to be safe, Madame Pringle. If you fall and are killed, the police will
make trouble for me. So, at once, come in.'
Harriet went in and Madame Wilk banged the bolts into place, saying, 'Ah, I have too many
worries.'
Harriet sat down
to partake of a breakfast that was always the same. It began with six large,
soft, oversweet dates served in a little green glass dish. The next course
would be a small egg that might be boiled, fried or poached but always had the
same taste of damp and decay.
Harriet was, like
most of the pension guests, on the lookout for somewhere to live, yet as she
thought of having to leave Egypt, of having to move once again to an unknown
country, even the Pension Wilk seemed a desirable resting place.
On her way out,
Harriet stopped beside Major Perry's table to ask, 'How did Madame Wilk get the
idea we are in retreat?'
Perry, whose face
had been drooping, reacted to the question like a bad actor. Puffing out a
stench of stale alcohol, he laughed, 'Ha, ha, ha. You know what Cairo's like!
Some surplus equipment was returned to the depot at Heliopolis and the locals
got the wind up. Just the usual scare and rushing to the telephone."
'I didn't know we
had any surplus equipment.'
'Stuff to be
broken up for spares. The desert's littered with it.'
'So there's
nothing to worry about?'
'Nothing, girlie,
nothing. When we get reinforcements, it'll be as right as rain.'
Harriet laughed.
That's fine, only it doesn't rain here, does it?'
Guy and Harriet
had arrived in Egypt during another 'Emergency', almost exactly a year before
the present one. Then, as now, the Germans had reached Sollum and were likely
to come further, but the fact did not mean much to the refugees who had
suffered a much more acute loss. They reached Alexandria still mourning for
Greece and their memories of Greece, and Egypt evoked in them disgust and a
fear of its strangeness.
Their train had
drawn into the Cairo station at midnight and those who had money in Egypt found
themselves taxis and went to hotels. The rest, having nothing but useless
drachma, waited about, bemused, not knowing where to go or what to do.
Eventually an army sergeant took charge of them. Telling them that quarters had
been requisitioned for them, he had led them a long way through back streets to
a building as discouraging as a poor law institution. Here they were shown one
dormitory for the women, another for the men and a single cold shower to be
used by both. The dormitories with their iron bedsteads, army blankets, dismal
lighting and smell of carbolic, had a prison atmosphere but no one complained.
The refugees felt they had to put a good face on things and look grateful,
imagining, until the manager brought round the bills, that they were the
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