“But it will be cooler on the boat. And we can swim in the pool.”
Jeremy, Bart and Simon roar laughing.
“Pool?” Ethan shakes his head with a frown.
“Hate to break it to you, Riles, but there’s no pool. You can have a dip in the river if you get too hot,” Simon suggests as we near the highest point of the plateau.
“Humph. I guess I’ll just stay inside in the aircon, then.” Riley tries and fails to hide her disappointment, still struggling to keep up with Ethan.
The Cambridge boys share a look.
“There’s no aircon on the boat, is there?” I whisper.
With cheeky grins, they shake their heads and hold their fingers to their lips. Riley is in for a big disappointment.
The view back towards the Pyramids is superb, and waiting there with a camel for each of us is Ashraf and a collection of grinning young Egyptian boys.
“No visit to Giza is complete without a camel ride,” Ethan explains as I try to maintain some small level of cool.
Inside, I’m jumping up and down like a kid about to go on their first roller coaster ride.
“Oh my God. They smellterrible,” Riley complains, screwing up her face as her camel is presented to her with pride.
“The camels belong to these boys,” Ethan explains with a disapproving frown at Riley. “They’re very proud of them and their industriousness at starting a small business.”
“As-Salaam Aleikum.” I smile at the boy leading a camel towards me. He beams even wider. “Your camel is very beautiful.” And it is. Its hair is light and curly, the saddle brightly coloured and decorated with pompoms and ribbons.
“Wa ‘aleikum-u s-salam, Amira,”he replies, as the camel sits to allow me to climb aboard.
I’m barely in the saddle when Riley sets up a blood-curdling scream. Her camel is lurching to its feet, back legs first, throwing her forward in the saddle. The scream spooks the other camels, and they start shifting in agitation, letting out loud, guttural grunts. All eyes turn towards Riley’s camel. I hold on tight as my camel stands, and my handler jumps in to help Riley, whose screams have turned to frightened whimpers.
I’m so fascinated watching the handlers settle the anxious camels that, at first, I don’t notice my saddle starting to slide backwards. All the handlers are busy, distracted by Riley and her carrying on. But my saddle and I are sliding. Falling backwards. Fast. Off a very tall animal.
There’s no time to call for help, so I close my eyes and brace for impact, hoping the camel doesn’t step back on me once I’m on the ground.
Suddenly there are strong arms, a familiar peppery smell and a firm chest catching me seconds before I hit the rock-strewn sand.
The speed of my fall turns into a slow-motion capture. Ethan’s deep blue-grey eyes stare into mine, his expression a mixture of fear, irritation and, strangely, humour. His heart is beating fast under the hand I raise to his chest, almost as if to reassure myself he’s real, he has me safe in his arms, and he’s not a wish or a dream.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you. How did you get to me in time? You were already on your camel.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve had to jump off a camel in a hurry. Probably won’t be the last.” Ethan lowers my legs but keeps an arm around my back, holding me to the warmth of his chest.
I can’t help the bubble of laughter. “I hope someone got all that on their phone.”
“Me too. You should’ve seen your face.”
“What happened?” I make no move to step away, although I know I should.
“It looks like the girth on your saddle wasn’t tightened enough. They usually check it when the camel stands up, but …” Ethan tips his head towards Riley and rolls his eyes.
We stand grinning at one another until angry yelling pierces the moment of connection. The head handler is yelling at my poor camel owner, arms flailing.
Now everything is happening in fast forward.
“Oh, no.La, la. It’s not his fault.” I try to intervene.
