144
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
them over their heads. Shrouded, immobile figures, they lay
grotesquely along the roadway and in the clump of pines.
I had no blanket, so I curled up on the driver's seat of our
truck. The night was cold. I was wearing my nondescript khaki
uniform and my flowing khaffiya. Unable to sleep, I walked
to the canal's edge and dipped my fingers into the water. It
was surprisingly warm under the cold air. I sat down by the
bank and pulled my knees up to my chest. I stuffed the cuffs
of my trousers inside my socks and pulled up the socks in an
attempt to husband as much warmth as possible. I sat there,
huddled up and shivering. The ferry that would take us over
tomorrow was moored to the bank on my right. The moon
kissed the shimmering waters, but its light made the desert
beyond seem all the more bleached and forbidding. I could
see the road snaking from the opposite bank and losing itself
in the bleak Sinai waste. A merchant ship churned slowly up
the canal, its lights ablaze, moving through the water with a
soft muffled sound. The waves lapped softly against the shore;
then all was stillness again. There was only a tiny light gleaming in the customs office; nothing in the adjoining tent where
Sheikh Azaayim slept, apart from his men. Six of his men
guarded the entrance. In the dimness I could see the others.
Moustafa, I knew, was somewhere among them.
I returned to my truck. The hasheesh-drunk driver was
slumped over the wheel snoring peacefully. I dozed off in fits
and starts. The cold drove me out again, prowling about for
warmth. Then the sun broke over the bleached Sinai sands,
a radiant, blazing sun that brought with its warmth, life,
hunger. The water and the ferry took shape, and the birds
began their chirping in the pine grove. It was also time for
the Followers of Truth to water the roadbanks, en masse.
Moustafa and I went to the bank and washed in the salt
water, I loaned him my comb. "Keep it, Moustafa, I have another one." He was grateful. Almost anything I said or did
for him evoked his gratitude.
I noticed now that there were twelve Green Shirt regulars.