Of things you shouldn't do

You shouldn't swim in the Nile. Really. It's supposed to be infected with Bilharzia. Captain Ziggy has talked me into a sunset felucca trip to the first cataract. For a special price, not a tourist price. After all we are friends now, since the trip to Kom-Ombo. So we don't talk about money and sail off. We have lunch, Nubian bread with tuna and cheese. Ziggy is trying to find out what more he can please me with. Whiskey, a Nubian massage (nothing sexual he assures me), a girl? I ask him about Nubian girls, would it be possible to go out with them? The girls I talk about, he says, you just pay them. No, I mean just for a walk and a cup of tea? Then it would take a long time, he says. No, I explain, not to get her in bed, just for a nice day out. He has no idea, I think he can't imagine why anyone would want to waste his time like that. So, he summarizes the conversation, get you a girl? I decline, tell him I am not interested anymore. The water at the first cataract is great. This is also the safest place to swim. It's upstream from the city, so not infested with human. And the current is stronger here. After the trip I of course discover that I really should get a better sense of the meaning of the word 'friend'.

You really shouldn't fall in love with a Nubian girl.
Nana sits down near me at the Luxor station. She is with her mother and her baby in her arms. A six year old girl and a three year old boy are with them too. And her younger sister I think. Nana is very beautiful and there is no risk in looking at her. Two other older women join the group, I count seven children now, two of them babies, the oldest boy is maybe seven years old. Nana is now looking and smiling at me too. She asks me from across the group 'What's your name?'. She offers me to hold her baby. I refuse with a laugh. It's a very ugly baby! She hands the baby to grandma and comes sitting close to me. The three older women and Nana are dressed in Nubian black, showing just the face, the hands and bare feet in sandals. The dress is not as tight and strict as the arabic style, so when at one moment Nana's robe falls open I see she is wearing jeans underneath. She asks me if I want to sit. No, I say, I want to go! I'm waiting for my train near to three hours now. To Aswan? she asks. Yes, and you? Also Aswan. We are all smiles and glances by now. Two of the three women start breastfeeding their babies. Simply right in front of me. Sure they cover up as soon as the baby has a good grip, but still it comes as total surprise to me. The group now changes into three mothers with seven children, accompanied by two younger women. I'm shocked to realize that these mothers must be years younger than me. Nana is wearing a silver ring, and I have no idea of her age. Then she asks me: You... madame? I show her my hands: No, I'm alone. The younger girl, she is not dressed in black yet, I guess her age to be 15 or 16, gets all enthousiastic. She makes a gesture with her hands pointing at Nana. She waves her hands across each other a few times. I don't understand it, so I ask, pointing at her ring, if she has a man. No, no man. And the other girl makes the same gesture again. Now I get its meaning. It means: her hands are untied, she is free. Oh lord, the universe rearranged, suddenly every thing has a new meaning. I do manage to tell her that she is very beautyful. She doesn't understand and I am at a total loss with the situation.

Then my train comes in. With a last goodbye I walk away to find my seat. And I really shouldn't have done that.