The Call

Etienne had just turned off the shower and was about to step out when he heard the phone ringing from the bedroom. "Merde! Qui appelle a ce moment de la matinee?" he said aloud.

He grabbed the nearest towel to him off the rack and hastily dried the soles of his feet. He then wrapped the towel around his waist and hurried off to the bedroom.

"Je viens! Je viens!" he yelled as if the caller could hear him.

The phone was still ringing when lifted the receiver.

"Bonjour," he said.

"Bonjour," replied the voice at the other end. "C'est moi, Haroun."

Étienne, not expecting Haroun to be calling him at that hour, hesitated, and then realizing it was indeed his old friend and colleague, said, "Haroun! How are you?" He paused and then asked, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, yes, I'm well, thank you," Haroun replied. "I know it's early, and I do apologize for any inconvenience I've caused you. If I disturbed you from sleep, please forgive me."

"No! No!" replied Étienne. "You didn't wake me. I was just about to step out of the shower when you called. Give it no thought. You don't ever have to make an apology, Haroun."

"I know, I know, but I wanted to catch you before you left for work. I have something very important to ask of you."

Étienne laughed. "If you had called twenty minutes earlier, you would have caught me still in bed, so you did well."

"Good! I know we haven't talked for a while, but that's not why I'm calling. Let me get to the point."

"Could you hold on for a moment?" asked Étienne. "I haven't completely dried myself off. I'm still dripping wet, and I don't want to drip water all over the bedroom rug, so give me a moment to dry off."

"Oui, oui, mon ami, by all means do."

"It will take a second," said Etienne, placing the receiver down on the nightstand and hurrying back to the bathroom. He soon returned, sat down on the edge of the bed, and picked up the phone. "There," he said.

"I feel much better now. It's so good to hear your voice, Haroun, and yes, it's been too damn long. Now what is it you wish to ask me?"

"Well, first," said Haroun, pausing, "I don't know how or where to begin."

"Usually, one begins at the beginning," replied Étienne, laughing.

"Very funny, mon ami, yes, very funny indeed," said Haroun, not laughing. "I don't know if you've heard or not about the incident that happened here a couple of months ago."

"No, what incident?"

"I didn't think you did," replied Haroun. "Well, it's not important. What's important is we have the two scrolls here at our museum—"

"Scrolls?" asked Étienne, interrupting, and then said, "To answer your first question, Haroun, no. As for your second, what two scrolls?"

"Ah, that's what I figured, but that's not important, not right now. What is ..." Haroun paused and then asked, "Have you any free time, if not, can you make some?"

"For what?" asked Étienne.

Ignoring Étienne's question, Haroun said, "Don't say anything until you hear me out. Hear what I'm going to ask, okay?"

Étienne could almost hear in Haroun's voice a pleading and answered, "Yes, Haroun, I promise."

"Good! I would like very much for you to come to Egypt. What I'm about to tell you has already been in all the papers here." Haroun then paused and, after clearing his throat, said, "It was a couple of months ago that the antiquity service in Luxor got a tip that a sale was pending ... I won't go into details right now, but they intercepted the sale, arrested the individual, and confiscated two papyri scrolls, which are currently here at the museum. They interrogated the person, and he confessed that it was his sons—actually it was their dog—that discovered the grave."

"Wait a second!" said Étienne, interrupting. "Did I just hear you just say a dog?"

"Ah, oui, mon ami, a dog! It seems that his two sons, along with their dog, were searching for carnelian in and around the foothills near the Valley of the Queens. It was their dog that discovered the grave."

Again, Étienne interrupted, "What grave?"

"Please, I'm getting to it. Just give me a moment, okay? Let me see, ah yes, the brothers found their dog digging in the sand below a dead acacia tree, and when they went to investigate, they found that the dog...