Only the two women at the tubs still scrubbed children.

Faaria sputtered as Amhara poured the remaining water from the fi rst bucket over her head. Then they switched places and Faaria moved behind. She poured handfuls of water on the long hair , then drizzled the washing oil down the length of it. She gathered the thick hair in handfuls and squeezed the lather through it from the scalp down the length of Amhara's back. Finally she rinsed with handfuls of water until the froth was gone.

Sitting in front of both of them, Reni let herself be splashed, then crawled onto her mother's lap, sucking her thumb.

Amhara kissed the top of her head. "Why don'

t you want to marry?"

she asked over her shoulder. "Don't you want to have children?"

Faaria combed water from the long hair with her fi ngers. "Yes, of course I would. But I wouldn' t like that-what men do to make you pregnant. They are too rough."

"Not all men are rough. Samek was tender."

"Was he?" Faaria was torn between desire to hear Amhara talk about love and resentment that she had given herself to a near stranger.

"Yes," Amhara confi ded. "He came to me only once, while the men were preparing the winter caravan. He was supposed to be one of the drovers. I knew it was wrong, but something came over me. He was different from the other men."

"He must have been. I mean, you wouldn't have otherwise..." She resumed combing.

"No, I wouldn't have. He came from the South. From a people he said worshipped the old gods."

* 72 *

Vulture's Kiss "Did you love him?" Faaria asked, sullen.

"I had no time for that kind of love, but I would have loved his whole people, the idea of them. He said they made gifts to the water and to the animals. I wanted to be like him and know the names of his gods.""What happened to him?"

"He was caught the moment he left my room. They tied him up, but he escaped and ran away. A month later I knew I carried his child."

Faaria was silent for a moment. "I would be tender ," she said fi nally, and trickled water once again through the hair . "And I would know what to do to please a woman. If I were a man, I mean."

Amhara glanced at the two women from the other caravan, who seemed engrossed in their own conversation, then said softly , looking nowhere in particular , "Really? What would you do? If you were a man, I mean."

Faaria dropped her voice. "I would take my time and touch her in all the soft places." She added a bit more oil to the hair so as to have something to do with her hands. The back of her fi ngers touched the slender neck as she worked up the lather again. "She would know what comes at the end and would want me to hurry, but I would not."

"Do you know what is at the end? You aren't supposed to know that, you harlot," Amhara whispered back.

"Oh, yes. I do know, and I would press my lips against her throat and caress her breasts to make her long for it."

"I am sure she would like that." Amhara sat motionless, with her back toward Faaria as she played with her hair.

"Do you think so?" Faaria stilled her hands. Her palms warmed from the heat of Amhara's neck while the backs of her hands were cool against the wet hair-a confusing sensation that seemed the physical form of what was happening in her mind. "Do you think she would want to kiss me back, deeply , like a lover?" She leaned forward as closely as she dared.

Amhara didn' t move. Only her shoulders rose faintly as she inhaled. "Kiss you? Yes, I am sure she would. But the girls kiss all the time in the harem. You must know the things to do to reach the end."

"Oh, I know them. I would put my hand on that lovely place every woman who is not mutilated knows. I would make her sweet juices fl ow over my fi ngers." Faaria closed her eyes and allowed her lips to * 73 *

brush softly against the damp hair. "I would go where men want to go, but I would do it so gently that she would moan with happiness."

"Because of what's at the end." Amhara's voice had grown tight.

"Yes," Faaria breathed. "That moment when the air becomes honey and your head swims with happiness."

Amhara reached back and stilled the hand that stroked her hair. "I think my hair is clean enough."

"We can go back to our own room then, and we'll be alone."

Amhara didn' t answer but stood up, her sleeping baby in her arms. Faaria gathered up the buckets. They dressed without speaking in the anteroom and walked, not looking at one another , out of the hammam.

The caravanserai had settled into its evening quiet. The unsaddled camels clustered in two groups near the portal, chewing contentedly on fodder. At the far end, the cooking fi re continued to burn, fed from an inexhaustible supply of camel chips. The men of the two caravans crouched together in a circle around it, wrapped in their burnooses and exchanging news or rambling tales. She could smell the cof fee they had just boiled, but had no interest in it. Tonight she would be with Amhara.

Faaria's heart was pounding as they approached the curtain over their doorway that cut them off from the sight of men. In a few moments they would be in a private place, alone for the night, and she would make Amhara moan with happiness. She drew back the curtain.

Five women sat or lay on carpets. Two held infants at their breasts, while the others scolded small children who, for their part, whined or tussled among themselves. A boy of about three urinated into a clay pot in the corner.

Faaria stood at the entrance, biting her lip, still gripping the curtain. Forty days of growing infatuation had seemed to climax in the intimacy of the hammam. And then, at the very doorway of the room in which they would lie, it was snatched away . Her mouth, which half a day before was dry as sand, fi lled now with the taste of bile.

* 74 *

Vulture's Kiss

18.

Family Values Derek was standing in the lobby as Valerie arrived at the Cairo Sheraton. He embraced her again, as if he had not just seen her an hour before.

"Umm, you smell nice. You must let me have some of your shampoo."

"Silly queen. Get your own shampoo." She had for gotten how much fun he was to be with, how he reminded her of every little thing that was good, even the smell of freshly washed hair.

"I've just spent a nice hour at the hammam, and you should try it too. It'll take your mind off the heat."

"Mmmm. I'm not sure I'd know how to behave in one of those places. I'd have trouble knowing where to look." He blinked with beautiful long eyelashes.

She linked her arm in his. "Ready to go to the souq, girlfriend?

You can tell me about your big important meeting with the reverend while we're in the taxi."

"Uh, I haven't really had the big important meeting yet," he said sheepishly. "I thought if you were here with me and we said we were in a hurry, he'd get to the point faster. Otherwise I know I'll get a sermon."

She looked at her watch. "Oh, Derek! We are in a hurry. Tomorrow is the Muslim Sabbath so the shops will close early. We're really cutting this close."

"I know that. Rekemheb is my ancestor too. Look, I promise we'll be out of here in fi ve minutes." He led her to the elevator.

Valerie sighed. "We came here for serious things, and dealing with Reverend Carter wasn't one of them."

"I know, Val. But you shouldn' t be so hard on him. He really believes he's offering the Egyptians salvation."

"They'll recognize that of fer. They had it once from the crusaders."

They stepped into the elevator together . "I suppose so, but he' s * 75 *

basically a good man. He just has this Christ-and-Judgment-Day thing."

"That can't have been a very nice atmosphere to grow up in."

"He was a good enough father when I was young. At least until I told him I was gay . He slapped me and said we'd never speak of it again. And we never did. But I still had a home. And think about it, Valerie. You and I both lost our fathers, but you got put in an institution while I had the benefi t of a decent stepfather."

"If he's such a decent, fun-loving guy , why does he travel with bodyguards?"

"I guess he fi gures he's going to meet some hostility."

"He's right about that. And when he does, his two goons, who don't speak a word of Arabic, will be useless."

The elevator pinged and the doors opened on the fourteenth fl oor.

They stepped out together. "Well, I guess it'll be my job to see that it doesn't come to that."

"But it will come to that," she insisted. "Don' t you remember two years ago in Al Amarna, how furious those people were that we entered their shrine? It' s far worse now . Egypt-the whole Middle East-doesn't welcome crusaders." She walked beside him along the red-carpeted corridor.

"Al Amarna," he said nostalgically. "Seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Lordy, Lordy," he added softly , shaking his head. "If I'd known what we were in for...that we were going to both die...and then be resurrected-"

"Yes, but not in that big-spectacle way that Reverend Carter preaches about." Valerie checked her watch again as he knocked on the door. "We really only have fi ve minutes, Derek."

The door opened to a view of the entire room with Reverend Carter standing at the center , in front of the television set. News was being broadcast-something about melting glaciers-and he fl icked it off. Annoyance registered for an instant on his face when he saw Valerie, then he waved them both in.

"Uh, Pa. Can we take care of this quickly? We're in sort of a hurry here. We have to get to the souq before it closes."

"This is more important than shopping, son.

This is family business."

"Ours is family business too, Reverend," Valerie countered as * 76 *

Vulture's Kiss she entered. "For a family member in the South. And I'm afraid we're really pressed for time."

Carter didn' t reply, though she could feel the air in the room crackle with his hostility.

"All right, Pa. What is it?"

"Please. Take a seat." Carter motioned toward the chair in front of the hotel television set.

"No, Pa. We can't sit down. Please just tell me what you want to discuss."

"What I want to discuss, my son, is salvation, so you had better sit down."

"What? Oh, please. Not that again." Derek took a step toward the door. At that moment, the two bodyguards entered from outside. One confronted Derek and the other one took up position by Valerie's side.

"What the hell's going on?" Valerie looked around.

"I will thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head, Ms. Foret."

Carter turned to Derek. "You know your momma and I love you, and you must understand that this comes from my heart." He set a second chair down next to the fi rst.

"This? This what?" Derek held out both hands.

The burly guards took Derek and Valerie both by their shoulders and pressed them down into the two chairs.

"This intervention." Carter sat in the bed next to Derek's chair and laid a hand on his forearm. "Y ou have no idea how much it pains me to have to do it this way, but one day you will thank me. Perhaps very soon, when we are all standing before God."

Derek leaned away from him. "Pa, if an intervention didn' t work when I was sixteen, it's not going to work now. I'm a grown man and I like who I am. Now we've got urgent things to do, and you've got to let us go and do them."

Carter still held onto his arm. "I know who you are. You're that little boy who used to sing like an angel in our church. Your momma and I were so proud of you. You were fi lled with the Holy Spirit until you fell into bad company ." He shook his head, seeming to recall the ruinous moment.

"You've got to fi ght it, boy, and you can! We're your family and want to help you push away those unnatural infl uences." He didn't need to glance at Valerie for the accusation to hang in the air.

* 77 *

Derek jerked his arm from the grasp. "It' s not unnatural. You always said God is love."

"Of course He is. And God loves the sinner always. It is just the sin that He hates." Carter opened the briefcase at the side of the bed and drew out a battered Bible. "Let me read you the passage where it says so." He opened a bookmarked section.

Derek shook his head. "Pa, you're way out of your element here, and you have no idea how ridiculous you sound."

Carter was near tears. "Don' t talk that way . I'm a pastor , the shepherd of a fl ock. God has called on me to save as many as I can before the Reckoning. It' s coming soon, Derek. The wars, the hatred, all the signs prove it. I want my family to stand beside me when that awesome day arrives."

Abruptly Valerie stood up and confronted him. "It is illegal to hold people against their will in Egypt, just as it is in Geor gia. If you don't let us go, I will call the police." She reached past him to the hotel phone.

The fi ve minutes had become twenty, and now they'd never make it to the souq. She was furious.

Carter seized the handset from her and placed it back on the cradle.

"Have it your own way. You who are unrepentant can go with your sins upon you. It is my family I care about."

He signaled to the men to unlock the door and turned back to Derek, then began to talk faster . "Please listen to me, son. Don' t you see? God made that baby to show you who you are. That woman needs you to marry her, and her baby needs a daddy. You've got a chance to take them back home to America and start over as a Christian man with a Christian family."

Derek brushed aside the Bible and got up. He opened the door for Valerie, then glanced back to Harlan Carter. "You're right, Pa. This baby showed me who I am, but who I really am is way of f your radar.

There's just so much you don't know."

"I know about the Resurrection!" With his Bible across his chest the reverend spoke in a tone he was clearly accustomed to using before a congregation.