" Go ahead and say it: I'm just a girl. An American girl. "

"T hat's not what I was going to say. "

" Liar."

Amesh frowned . "I f we do end up selling it, then we'll hav e to be clear about who owns what. "

" Fine . I f I decide to sell it, I'll pay you a ten percent commission for helping me get it out of here. "

"T hat's crazy! "

" Why? "

"B ecause I'm taking all the risk! I should pay you you te n percent!" I reached over and squeezed his good arm. "Amesh?" te n percent!" I reached over and squeezed his good arm. "Amesh?"

He shook me off, he was so heated. "What? "

"I f we get it out of here, we'll both own it equally. And i f we decide to sell it, we'll split the money."

He began to cool down. "that's fair. "

"B ut I have one condition . I n the end, I get to decide wha t we do with the carpet. "

"N o way! "

" For the last time- I found it! now we've talked enough; d o we have a deal?" I stuck out my hand. "Yes or no? "

"A ll right." He shook. "You have to promise not to d o anything with it without first talking to me."

"Agreed." I handed him my cell. "Find a taxi that will com e out here, then go wrap up the carpet. "

" For someone I just met, you're asking me to trust you a n awful lot. "

"I t works both ways," I told him . T o lure a taxi to the work site, we had to promise to pay a staggering eighty lira . I was being exploited but there was n o helping it. We had to keep moving forward . T he carpet took only fifteen minutes to dry in the boilin g sun. But a minor miracle occurred when I went to roll it up . T h e carpet practically shrunk . I folded it in two and it laid dow n perfectly flat . T hen, I rolled it up, and it was like handling a deflated air mattress . T he more I folded it, the smaller it got. B y the time I handed it to Amesh, it was two feet by one foot. Plu s it was so light-five pounds max!

Amesh didn't notice the miracle. He just nodded .

"Good work. "

"T hanks," I mumbled, staring at it with awe .

While Amesh went off to wrap it, my taxi arrived . T h e guards had it wait outside the gate. Before leaving the job site, I decided to give Amesh a quick call . I was worried about hi s nerves . T urned out, I was right to be worried. He sounde d scared . I warned him to stay cool .

"T hat's easy for you to say," he complained .

"I 'd take the risk if I could," I said, but I wondered if tha t w as true . T aking something this important in a foreign countr y was no laughing matter .

"You can," he said . "I can give you the package . T hen yo u can have your taxi pick you up inside the compound and leav e with the carpet already hidden inside the taxi's trunk. "

"I t won't work . M y taxi's already here . T he guard s know I'm leaving . T hey have no reason to let my cab throug h the gate." I paused. "Look, if you can't do it, I understand .

Hide it in the building you're in and I'll find another way t o sneak it out. "

" Yeah . T hen you'll own it a hundred percent. "

" Well, yeah."

Amesh sighed. "Wait for me . I f I'm not there in fiftee n minutes, then it means I got caught."

He hung up. Getting in the cab, I smiled and wave d goodbye to the guards . T hey waved back . T his particular tax i driver did not have his radio on, nor did he complain when I stopped him a mile from the job site . I held up a ten lira not e and repeated the turkish sentence Amesh had taught me: "A f riend's coming on a moped." the guy did not complain. H e pulled over and turned off the engine. But he quickly pockete d the cash .

Amesh did not show for twenty minutes-the longes t twenty minutes of my life. When he finally did appear, he acte d nonchalant. He let the driver stick his moped and the packag e in the trunk, and soon we were on our way to istanbul .

"You're as cool as James Bond," I teased when we were bot h seated in the back .

"T his had better be worth it." I saw he was serious. "Did the guards give you a hard time? "

" For the first time ever, they wanted to know what was i n the box . I told them I didn't know, just that my boss told me t o deliver it to Fedex . I said I wasn't allowed to open it." I patted his leg. "You did good. I'm proud of you. "

" Just remember our deal." t he ride back to istanbul proved uneventful. We were s o weary from the heat and stress, we both pa.s.sed out . I n fact, I di d not wake up until we reached the hotel . I must have been growing accustomed to the traffic noise . T he taxi driver got out t o help Amesh unload his moped, but I was up fast to grab th e box. He had done an excellent job wrapping it . T he driver took his fee and left. A security guard at th e hotel parking lot let Amesh lock his moped beside an a.s.sortment of bikes. When we were finally alone, I told him to wai t downstairs for ten minutes before coming up to my room .

"Why?" he asked, suspicious .

"We might draw attention to ourselves, being see n together. "

"M ore like you're ashamed to be seen with me. "

"I would say the reverse is closer to the truth. "

" Or else you plan on stealing it the moment I tur n my back."

t hat hurt . I threw the carpet at him. He barely had a chance to raise his good arm and catch it. "Hold it if you don' t trust me!" I yelled .

He was ashamed. " I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that . I t's just . . . "

" What? I'm an American and all Americans are thieves? "

"N o, no," he said quickly . "I t has nothing to do with that. "

"T hen what is it? "

" Last summer . . ." he began, but stopped, his expressio n pained .

"What about last summer?" I asked .

He shook his head. "Forget about that; it's not important. "

"A mesh. Come on, what are you saying?"

He shrugged. "this is a rich hotel . I don't know how muc h Becktar's paying for you and your dad to stay here, but it's a lot . I don't know how much money you have-and it's none of m y business-but whatever it is, compared to what I have, it's a fortune. "

" What does this have to do with the carpet?"

For one of the few times, he looked me directly in the eye, a nd I was struck by how beautiful his eyes were. He spoke in a soft voice .

"We live in different worlds . T his carpet fascinates you .

You find it beautiful. You might think one day of hanging it o n the wall of your house. But to me it's something that coul d change my life and the life of my family."

" If If we establish that it's old and worth a lot o f money," I said . we establish that it's old and worth a lot o f money," I said .

He nodded. "And if we can sell it on the black market." I considered his words carefully. up until now, I ha d wanted to get alone with the carpet so I could study it. He wa s right-it intrigued me, but in ways I could not explain to hi m because I could not explain them to myself . I simply felt drawn to it .

But I was not a thief . I had not truly considered selling it in turkey or tying to smuggle it back to America . I n the end, after I had fun playing the archaeologist, I figured I would tell my father about it and we would turn it over to a museum .

Yet now I saw how the idea worried Amesh. He was tryin g to say he was not a crook, but the carpet might be an unexpected windfall that could help his family . I could appreciat e that . M oney was good, especially when you didn't have any. u nfortunately, it was too early to make any promises concerning the carpet. We did not know enough about it . I trie d telling Amesh as much-i thought I was rea.s.suring him-bu t the more I talked, the more unhappy he looked .

He handed it back to me. "You carry it . I'll knock in te n minutes. "

" Give me fifteen . I want to take a quick shower and change."

He glanced uneasily around . "I 'll wait across the street. "

" You can't wait in the lobby?"

"T hey'll ask what I'm doing here . T hey'll probabl y throw me out."

His remark was so simple, and so true, it made me sad . I n my room, I did not bother to unwrap the box, bu t jumped in the shower . I wanted to wash and blow-dry my hai r before Amesh arrived. Like I needed a dryer in this climate . I could stand on the balcony in the breeze that blew off th e mediterranean and my hair would dry in the same length o f time. Yet I was hoping to give it bounce. Yes, I admit it, I wa s still hoping to get this cute turkish guy to like me . I t was half an hour before he knocked. Perhaps he ha d given me extra time, afraid he might catch me in the shower . I t would have been just like him; he was so shy. But all I had o n when I answered the door was a tank top and shorts . I t's what I wore most of the time since I had arrived in istanbul, but somehow, right now, it felt kind of mischievous . I mean, he notice d how little I was wearing . I t was like he was afraid to look . I think it was my belly b.u.t.ton that got him .

He looked hot from the sun so I offered him anothe r c.o.ke, which he took gratefully . I gestured to the bathroom .

"You can take a shower if you want, cool off, I don't mind."

He quickly shook his head. " I'm fine," he said . I smiled as I picked up scissors and moved toward th e package, which was sitting on a table not far from the flat-scree n tV . "I feel guilty opening it after you did such a nice job wrapping it up," I said .

"Be careful you don't cut it," he said .

"I hear ya." I sliced off the tape without penetrating th e cardboard . I n minutes I had the carpet in hand and was abou t to unroll it on the floor . T hen I ran into the bathroom and returned with four giant towels . T he floor was clean but not clea n enough for me . T he first thing I noticed was that we had done a great jo b hosing it down . T here was not a spot of dirt on it. Amesh mad e a similar observation .

"I t was this clean when I wrapped it," he said .

"Did anyone see you wrap it? "

"N o . I was alone. "

" Good," I muttered, because my eyes were growing large r with each pa.s.sing minute. Again I was amazed at how black th e bottom of the carpet was; it looked like a rectangular window int o deep s.p.a.ce . I t was made up of an incredibly dense forest of oneinch fibers-that stood up so straight, but which bent so easily- I could not for the life of me figure out what they were made of .

"I t almost feels like hair," Amesh said .

"Very stiff hair, and at the same time, very soft. "

" Can something be stiff and soft at the same time? "

"N o, not really. But this is unlike anything I've felt before. "

"T urn it over," Amesh said .

We flipped it, and our puzzlement deepened . T here wer e no individual fibers that we could see, but the reverse side wa s extremely soft and smooth .

"it's silk," Amesh said .

"I t's not silk. "

" What is it? "

"I don't know. "

" How can you be sure it's not silk?" he asked .

"B ecause it's like it's all . . . O ne. "

" One what?" he asked .

"I don't know, one piece. Let's study the design." t he predominant dark blue color was rimmed on all fou r sides with an inch of bright gold . I n the center was an ill-define d black circle, two feet across and filled with stars .

Around the star field flowed a group of characters se t against a series of exotic backgrounds . T he carpet seemed to tel l a story .

At the top, there was a garden filled with two types o f beings-humans and what might have been angels . T he latte r walked with the people, but were taller and brighter . M ost wor e silver gowns, while the humans wore simple animal skins . T he scene flowed by a dragon, or some kind of monster . I t glowed a sober red and as it pressed upon the soft green of th e garden, the monster transformed it into a desert . N ow on the lower half of the carpet were the humans; th e angels, who had lost height as well as l.u.s.ter; and a third species, w ho were taller than the other two . T hey were an unpleasan t brownish-gray and had flat, almost featureless, faces . T he bottom showed these three creatures at war with each other. Bu t t hen the dragon reappeared and crushed the life out of the angels and the other mysterious creatures . I n the end only th e humans remained .

At the top and bottom of the carpet were gold ta.s.sels . T here were nine on each end . T hey were woven from some kin d of thread, but I hesitated to say what it was . I tugged on the m to rea.s.sure myself they were real . S taring at the mysterious images had left me feeling s.p.a.cey . I sat back on my knees. Amesh sat on a chair beside me .

"Wow," I whispered .

"I t's amazing," he agreed, before frowning. " Sara ? "

" Huh? "

" Do you feel all right? "

" Yes. Why? "

" You're pale. And your voice sounds funny." I shook myself . "S taring at those scenes hypnotized m e somehow. "

"T he artwork is amazing . T he person who made this carpet had skill . M aybe a team of people worked on it." Amesh trie d to keep his voice casual but failed . "S o do you think it's a relic? "

" Definitely . I t almost looks as if it were made by . . . "

" What?" he asked when I did not finish .