The Seer of Dreams
By
“Attention Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of Air
MacGyver checked the time on his watch, it was still set on California time. Their flight had left Sunday afternoon, leaving LA at noon. It was now 10 pm that night but with the time change it was 7 in the morning on Monday. He shook his head as he turned to his wife beside him. “Do you realize how long we have been in the air?”
Gillian nodded. “Yeah I know, with the time change we have been flying for about 19 hours and we aren’t there yet. We still have four and a half more to go.”
The couple was sitting in a pair of maroon seats, they were in the middle of the compartment. The high backed seats around them were filled with Gillian’s staff, Pete being among them. MacGyver had decided to dress in blue jeans and a bright blue long sleeved shirt. He had chosen something comfortable to travel in since the flight was going to be so long. Gillian had put on a pair of jeans as well, a rarity for the young woman. The only other time she had been in a pair of jeans was when she and Mac had traveled to London. She had on a pair of black jeans and a white knit shirt.
“19 hours, that’s a lot.” Mac leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly. “And you’re sure your friend is going to meet us there?”
“Positive, he’ll be there. He promised he was going to take us to Luxor.”
MacGyver turned his head towards his wife. “How far is it to Luxor from Cairo?”
“A little over 300 miles.”
“Oh terrific, with the time change from London to Cairo plus the flying time we will have spent 24 hours in a plane. Then we will have to spend 3 or 4 more hours on the road to Luxor.” He sighed and shook his head. “You know, I wouldn’t be doing all this for just anyone.”
Gillian smiled at her husband. “I know it’s been a pain in the neck getting there Mac but I promise it’s going to be worth it.”
“Why don’t you show me your appreciation then?”
“All right I will.” She put her hand behind her husband’s neck and moved him towards her, giving him a kiss. The plane began to move, jolting everyone. That broke the kiss and Mac looked at his wife.
“Wow nice kiss, now I know what they mean about feeling the world move.”
Gillian laughed. “I can’t take credit for that Honey, it was the plane getting ready to take off.”
“Oh,
all right then.” He reached in between their seats and took his wife by the
hand. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat. The plane was picking
up speed and in a matter of minutes it was airborne, heading east towards
“So tell me about this friend of yours.”
Mac had taken a cat nap, he had dozed for an hour. He unbuckled his seatbelt and shifted in his chair.
Gillian turned her body towards her husband and crossed her denim cladded legs, she smiled.
“Okay, I’ll tell you about my friend.” She started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
Gillian cleared her throat. “I swear I am telling you the truth Mac, my friend’s name is Dr. Henry William Jones.”
MacGyver looked at his wife with wide eyes, he started to open his mouth. Gillian saw this and put her hand up. “And to answer your question before you even ask, yes we all called him Indy. We named him after Harrison Ford’s character because of his name and the fact he’s an archaeologist.”
They both started laughing and Gillian shook her head. “But believe me when I tell you that Indy is probably the most unlikely archaeologist you ever saw in your life.”
“Why do you say that?”
She leaned back in her seat and sighed. “First off he’s about 6 foot 4. He’s so thin I swear he looks like he weighs about a 100 pounds. He has long brown silvery hair that he always puts in a ponytail. The last time I saw Indy he had a goatee that was starting to turn silver too.” She shook her head as she pictured her friend. “He looks more like a held over Hippie then he does an archeologist.”
MacGyver nodded, he licked his lips and pressed them together. He was curious about something, the way his wife spoke about her friend made him think that they might have been more than friends. “Gill, were you and Indy…close?”
Gillian glanced at her husband, a slight smile coming to her lips. “Indy was my professor my last couple of years of college. He was very good to me and taught me a lot.” She reached over and picked up Mac’s hand and held it in hers. “Henry was my friend, and that was all Mac. He hinted that he wanted to be more than that but I told him no. I valued him as a friend and a colleague, maybe even a big brother. He was there for me when I first broke up with Michael and I loved him dearly for that but not that way.” She lifted his hand and gently pressed her lips to it. “You are the only man I have ever loved Mac.”
MacGyver grinned at his wife, he leaned close and gave her a kiss, touching his forehead to hers.
It was almost 1 o’clock in the afternoon when the plane landed in Cairo. A pair of automatic glass doors slid open and MacGyver, Gillian and Pete all stepped through them. They had now been traveling for 25 hours. The couple had their carry on gym bags on their backs as they walked through the crowded airport. MacGyver was very weary from all the flying, he took his black gym bag off of his shoulder and carried it in his hands.
“Well, any sign of him Gill?”
Gillian was just as exhausted as her husband but at the same time she was excited about being there and seeing her old friend. She took her red back pack off her back and slung it over her shoulder. She was scanning the crowd. “I don’t see him.”
Pete was in a pair of blue jeans and a white polo shirt, he sighed. “He’s got to be here somewhere, he said he would meet us.”
The threesome stopped walking and started looking around. Gillian spotted someone near the luggage area, it was not too far away. She smiled widely as she recognized her friend. “There he is!”
Gillian dropped her back pack and started running towards him. “Indy!”
Henry William Jones was just as Gillian had described. It had been almost a decade since she saw him. The only changes were his hair was totally silver now and he had gained a little bit of weight. He was in a pair of faded light blue jeans and a brightly flowered Hawaiian shirt. He turned towards the sound of his name and smiled, opening his arms widely. “Flame!”
MacGyver picked up his wife’s backpack and he and Pete started following her. At the mention of her nickname they both looked at each other. “Flame?”
Gillian was laughing as she hugged her friend around the neck, he picked her up and hugged her. “How ya doing Flame?”
“I’m great Indy, I’m so glad to see you!”
“Me too Doll, me too.” He closed his eyes briefly and set her down. He gave her a couple of kisses on her cheeks. He stepped back and took her hands. “Wow you look amazing. You are still so hot you burn.” He shook his head and sighed.
Gillian could feel her face heat up, she turned and saw her husband and Pete had finally made it over to them. She let go of her friend’s hands and smiled at MacGyver.
“Indy, I want you to meet two very important men in my life.”
Gillian reached down and picked up her husband’s hand and held it. “Dr. Henry William Jones, I want you to meet MacGyver.” She put her other arm around his waist. “My husband.”
Indy’s eyes grew round, he realized what he had said about Gillian being hot. “It’s a pleasure to meet you MacGyver.” He tried to smile as he stuck out his hand. “Sorry about that crack I made about your wife.”
MacGyver started shaking his hand. “Don’t worry about it Dr. Jones.”
“Indy, please.” The grey haired man sighed. “You are a very lucky man MacGyver.”
Mac smiled at him and nodded his head. “All right then, Indy.” He squeezed his wife’s hand, he knew full well how lucky he was.
Gillian turned and motioned to Pete. “And this is my very dear friend, Pete Thornton, he is the Director of Operations at the Phoenix Foundation.” She turned to Pete. “Pete this is Dr. Henry William Jones.”
Pete stuck out his hand and Indy shook it. “A pleasure to meet you Indy, please call me Pete.”
“Same here Pete, welcome to Cairo.”
Indy looked at his friend. “You went and got yourself married Flame, I am so heartbroken that you didn’t even tell me.”
Gillian shook her head. “And what was I supposed to do Indy? Send you a smoke signal? Carrier pigeon? You are not exactly the easiest guy to find.”
The rest of Gillian’s staff caught up with Pete, MacGyver and Gillian. She turned around and saw all of them.
“There you guys are!” She pointed to her friend. “This is Indy Jones, he is going to take us to Luxor.” She glanced at her friend. “Right Indy?”
Indy put his hands up to the crowd. “Right, I brought along some of my staff and 6 SUVs. We are going to pack you guys and your luggage up and drive you to Luxor.” He counted everyone, there was 12 in all. “So if you all will follow me, we’ll go.”
He looked at Gillian. “Flame, you, your husband and Pete can all ride with me.”
Gillian gave him a slight bow of her head. “That is very kind of you.”
He raised his head to address the crowd. “It’s this way everyone, let’s go.”
A
long line of all terrain vehicles drove through the desert on their way to
Luxor. There was no road, they had to drive through the desert itself. The
ride was not a smooth one, the sand and the terrain made things bumpy and
rough. Because it was late November, the weather in
Indy Jones was in the lead in his bright red Suburban. Pete was sitting next to him in the front seat. MacGyver and Gillian were in the back seat. Indy checked his rear view mirror, looking at his old friend.
“Flame, we got your equipment last week, everything has been set up. All of the tents, the showers, everything.”
Gillian nodded and sighed out of relief. “That’s good, after how hard I fought with that company I’m glad everything went smoothly.”
MacGyver looked at the back of the driver. “Don’t you and your staff have tents there?”
“No MacGyver, my staff and I live in Luxor itself. There is an apartment building that we have been living in for the past few years.”
“Oh, so we’ll be the only ones sleeping at the sight itself.”
Indy nodded. “Right.”
The
bank of the Nile was right beside them and they kept looking at the water.
Gillian sighed, she was so happy to be there. “Wow, the Nile, I never thought I
would see it.” She leaned against her husband’s shoulder. “This is a dream
come true Mac. Finally I’m in
MacGyver put his hand to her head and kissed it. “I know, it’s amazing isn’t it?” He was looking out the window at the murky blue water of the Nile.
“It is, I’ve got souvenirs from Egyptian digs in my office but they were given to me from other people. This time I’ll have some souvenirs of my own to bring back.”
Mac nodded and kissed his wife’s head again. “Yeah you will.” He stroked her hair. “Boy you were right about the temperature Gill, whenever you hear about Egypt it’s always about how hot it is.”
“There are seasons here just like back in LA Mac.”
Indy adjusted his mirror and looked at MacGyver. “It’s winter here MacGyver. The temp won’t get much past 70 this time of year.” He laughed. “We’ve even had snow, of course it didn’t really stick to the ground but it has snowed. It makes the work much easier when it doesn’t get so hot. You all picked a great time to be up here.”
Pete was also looking out of his window at the desert and the river. “That’s good, when we were in Santa Fe we roasted. It was fun but very hot work, we had to take breaks in between all the digging.”
Indy turned to his passenger. “That’s how we have to do it in the summer around here. The temperature can go into the 100s, even the 110s. Sometimes we have to get some huge industrial lights and do some night work in the peak of the summer season.”
The stout man beside him shook his head. “I can imagine, so how long until we get to Luxor?”
“About 3 hours.”
Pete sighed. “That long huh, I was hoping it’d be sooner.”
Indy chuckled. “I know you all have spent a lot of time in the air but we’ll get you to your tents as fast as we can. If you are tired feel free to nap, I’m the one behind the wheel not any of you.”
“I don’t know if I can sleep just yet.” Pete unbuckled his seat belt and turned partially around. “How about the two-”
He stopped in mid sentence and shook his head. MacGyver and Gillian were asleep, they were leaning against each other. Pete smiled at his two friends as he sat back forward in his seat. “You’re right Indy, I might as well nap.” He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
The area of the Valley of the Kings they were going to was a particularly flat area. It was hardly touched by anyone. There were only two tombs nearby, Ramesses II, and the tomb of Ramesses IV. There were two outcrops of rock in that area. One almost in the center and the other one was at the western edge. It was at the base of one of these rock outcrops that Indy Jones and his staff had spent the past 5 years excavating. They were only days away from finally breaking through into what they thought was a main chamber.
Indy and the other SUVs drove down the main path that cut through the heart of the Valley of the Kings. He drove to the very edge of the valley and parked his vehicle in the middle of the tent city.
“Well here we are.” He was the only one awake, he turned around in his seat and touched Gillian on the shoulder. “Flame?”
Gillian stirred and opened her eyes. “Are we there yet?”
The older man with the grey hair grinned. “Welcome to the hind end of the Valley of the Kings.”
Gillian grinned and shook her husband gently. “Mac, we’re here.”
MacGyver opened his eyes and yawned. “We are?”
“Yeah, come on!”
Gillian opened her door and got out, the area they were in had dark beige cliffs that were just to the west of them. She looked around at huge beige rocks and boulders that surrounded them, going as far as she could see. There was something magical about the air and she could feel it. She was standing in the presence of history. The wind kicked up a bit and she closed her eyes, just listening to everything. She could almost hear the workers from thousand of years ago carving the tombs out of these rocks for their beloved Pharaohs. A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, she turned to see her husband.
“Amazing isn’t it?”
“Yeah it is.” She put her arm around her husband’s waist. “And I can’t believe I’m here.”
Indy walked up to them. “Well we used some of our equipment to smooth out some of the ground here so we could set up your tent city.” He turned around and pointed it out to them. “Take a look.”
MacGyver and Gillian turned and saw the tent city that had been set up. There were 18 tents that surrounded the area behind the large center outcrop of rock. The rock would be providing a shelter from the high desert winds. They all would be sleeping, showering, and eating close to the tomb of Ramesses IV.
“I hope Ramesses the Fourth doesn’t mind having us as neighbors.”
Indy laughed. “Well Flame we couldn’t have you guys camped anywhere else without interfering with the work area.”
MacGyver nodded. “So when do we get started?” He was hoping that Indy would not want to start work until the next day. All he wanted to do was spend the rest of the day relaxing and resting.
Indy grinned. “Don’t worry MacGyver, I won’t force you all to work until tomorrow morning. I know how hard a trip it’s been to get here.” He put his hand on Mac’s shoulder. “So by all means, feel free to sleep and relax.”
Mac smiled. “I appreciate that Indy.”
Gillian sighed, she too was starting to feel the affects of the long plane rides. “Me too, but what I could really use is some food.”
“Don’t worry I got that all taken care of, the mess tent has an early dinner all ready made. You guys brought enough food to feed three armies.”
Gillian nodded. “Well I figured it was better to have food with us then to risk my staff not being able to take the local food and coming down with something.”
“Good call Flame, good call.”
The threesome starting walking towards the tent city to the beige canvas mess tent, it was time to eat.
MacGyver and Gillian’s tent was different this time then the one they had in Santa Fe. The tent they had in Santa Fe was a three room beige canvas tent. It was rather large and very roomy. This time however they were in a more modern tent. It was located on the outer edge of the tent city, the closest tent to the entrance to Ramesses IV’s tomb, giving the couple privacy.
The tent was a large olive green vinyl rectangle. The top of it had a slight dome shape to it. The roof was tan and the floor on the inside of it was also tan. The tent was broken up into two parts. There was a small section of the tent that resembled a screened in porch, it was framed with mosquito netting. Just inside of it was a zippered section that led to the sleeping area. There was a small dark green tent sitting right next to their tent, it was their own shower.
“We need to take off our boots or we’re going to track sand and gravel into our temporary home Gill.”
MacGyver crouched down and started untying his hiking boots. Gillian did the same, they both had their hiking boots in their hands as they unzipped the flap and stepped inside.
“We have a little sitting area, how nice.”
Mac nodded. “Yeah, and since we have a floor we can sit right on the ground.” He unzipped the next section and parted the olive green vinyl. He stepped inside and looked around. This was a two room, 6 person tent. Indy and his staff had taken the liberty of setting up their air mattress on its wooden frame. It was just to the left, along the west wall. Across the tent against the east wall was their large black trunk. There were two lawn chairs and a small wooden table with two lanterns beside it. Gillian walked over to the table and put their boots on top of it.
There was a center pole, Mac went over to it and flipped a switch, the dim little tent suddenly lit up. He looked up and saw a string of light bulbs going across the ceiling of the small tent.
“We have power.”
He took his back pack off of his arm and took his wife’s red one from her. He hung them on a stray nail hammered into the pole.
A small black box with a vent was sitting on a perch near the top of the pole caught MacGyver’s attention. He saw a second switch on the pole and he flipped it. The black box began to whir and he reached up and put his hand over the vent. He started laughing.
Gillian creased her brow. “What is so funny?”
“It’s a portable air conditioner.”
The young woman shook her head as she looked down at their air mattress. It had been made like a regular bed, there was a light brown blanket on top of it and two more folded up sitting at the foot of it. There were two pillows with matching pillow cases. MacGyver went over to their trunk and opened the drawers. He took out a pair of blue shorts.
“Did you see that Indy gave us our own shower?” He touched the bottom of his shirt and started hiking it up. He pulled it over his head and set it on top of one of the lawn chairs.
Gillian unzipped her jeans and slid them down her legs. She lifted her knit shirt over head, leaving her in her underclothes.
“Yeah I saw, that was nice of him.” She pulled off her socks, she too draped her clothes on one of the lawn chairs. She watched as her husband changed into his shorts. As soon as he was done she put her arms around him and hugged him.
“What’s the matter Gill? Tired?” Mac put his arms around his wife.
“Exhausted.” She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of her husband. “I want to curl up in your arms and just sleep.”
“Well let’s do that then.” He let go of his wife and took her hand, they walked over to the air mattress. Mac took the extra blankets off of it and set them down on top of the trunk. He peeled back the bed and laid down on it. He sighed heavily. “Oh man that feels good.”
Gillian climbed onto the air mattress. “You’re right it does, I’m all sore from those airplane seats. We should have gone first class so the seats would have been more comfortable.”
“After 25 hours on two planes and 3 more in a car, nothing is comfortable.” MacGyver tucked his arms under his head. “Except this bed.” He turned and looked at his wife. “And besides, we weren’t paying for this little trip Gill, the Foundation is.” He looked up at the ceiling and groaned.
“What?”
“I left the lights on.”
“I’ll get them.” Gillian sighed as she got up and went over to the pole, she flipped the switch and once more the tent was dim. “But I’ll leave the little air conditioner on.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She climbed back into the bed and moved closer to her husband.
As promised, Mac turned on his side and let his wife curl up next to him. He put his arms around her and they both went to sleep.
It was almost 5 o’clock when the couple had gone to bed. It was now midnight and everything was dark and quiet. Gillian opened her eyes and looked around, the tent was pitch black. She could hear her husband breathing as she slowly sat up. She quietly climbed out of bed and went over to the trunk. She opened a drawer and took out a match. She struck it against the side of the trunk and lit one of the lanterns that was on the table. The tent filled with light and Gillian checked her watch, it was set to Egyptian time and read that it was 5 after 12.
“What’s the matter?” MacGyver sat up and rubbed his face.
“Nothing I just woke up, that’s all.”
“What time is it?”
“A little after midnight.”
He flopped back down on the mattress. “We were asleep for 7 hours?”
“Yeah.” Gillian left the lantern lit and laid back down beside her husband. “Well we did spend one whole day traveling.” She turned her head towards him. “How do you feel?”
“Better.”
“Me too.”
MacGyver was lying on his back, he turned to his side and moved closer to his wife. He put his head down on the hollow of her neck. Gillian put her hands in her husband’s hair and started playing with it.
“Did Indy say anything to you about whose tomb he thinks he’s found?”
“No, but he did promise to show me some artifacts they uncovered. He thinks they may have some clue as to who is buried there.” Gillian sighed. “Some of the tents in this little city belong to him and his staff. Not all 18 of them are for us.”
“Yeah I figured that.” Mac lifted his head and started kissing his wife’s neck.
“You are feeling better aren’t you?” She sighed as she put her hands on her husband’s shoulders.
“What makes you say that?” He kissed up to her face and started kissing her lips.
Gillian laughed. “Oh I don’t know, a little birdie told me.”
Mac shifted, stretching out partially on top of his wife. He was looking down at her. “Being in a tent like this reminds me of Santa Fe.”
His wife grinned at him. “Yeah I know, it does.” She touched her husband’s face and pressed her lips to his. “That was the first time you ever made love to me.”
MacGyver smiled and nodded his head. “I know, I’ll never forget it.”
This made his wife grin. “Why?”
His face blushed slightly, even in the low light the lantern gave off she could see his pink cheeks. “You know why.”
“No I don’t.” The truth was that Gillian did know, she just wanted her husband to tell her.
Mac licked his lips and pressed them together. “Because it was the most amazing time I had ever had.” He looked at her seriously. “Up until then I didn’t know it could be that way.”
Gillian put both hands on her husband’s face. “It was because we love each other Mac, that’s why it was so special. There is a big difference in having sex with someone and making love with someone.”
Her husband nodded. “You showed me that.” He kissed her gently, touching his forehead to hers. “Since we are both rested and awake, there are many things I’d like to show you before the sun comes up.”
The young woman sighed and closed her eyes. “Oh? Is the Egyptian air giving you wicked ideas?”
“No, I had them before we got here.”
“So what do you want to do?”
Mac looked at his wife with great affection. “I want to show my wife how I feel about her.”
Gillian smiled widely and kissed her husband. “I want to show you too.”
She put her hands around her husband’s back and moved them down it. She touched the waistband of his shorts.
MacGyver shook his head at his wife. “Hey Madam Archaeologist, I’m the one in charge of this excavation.” He moved so he was all the way on top of her. He reached behind him and took her hands away from his shorts.
“MacGyver? Gillian?”
Pete was standing outside his friends’ olive green tent, he heard nothing going on inside. He cupped his hands to his eyes and looked through the mosquito netting. Despite the bright morning sun it was too dark to see anything inside the tent. Pete sighed, he decided to invite himself in. He unzipped the mosquito netting and stepped inside the porch area. He saw the inner flap was unzipped, he poked his head in and saw the bare back of his friend, the sheet pulled up to his waist.
“MacGyver?”
He pulled the two flaps apart and stepped inside. He could see his friend was asleep and that he was alone in the bed. Pete looked around and saw the windows were all zipped shut. He walked around the bed and started unzipping all of the windows, letting the bright Egyptian sun into the dim tent.
MacGyver got a blast of blinding light right in his face. He opened his eyes and shielded his face from it.
“Gillian?”
Pete stood over his friend, blocking out the sun. “No, guess again.”
Mac’s eyes adjusted to the light and he saw his friend standing over him. “Pete?” He looked beside him and saw the other half of the bed was empty. “Where’s Gillian?” He sighed and rubbed his eyes.
“I don’t know, I just got here, I came to take you both to breakfast.”
“What time is it?”
Pete checked his watch. “It’s a few minutes after 6.”
MacGyver tossed his sheet aside and got up, he still had his shorts on as he walked over to his trunk and opened some of the drawers. He looked at his friend and noticed he was in khaki shorts and a white t-shirt. “So how’s the weather out there?”
Pete sat down on his friend’s bed. “It’s really nice, it’s only supposed to get up to 72 today.”
“Yeah we got cold and turned off our little air conditioner about 2 o’clock this morning.”
MacGyver got a large blue bath towel out of one of the drawers and slung it over his shoulder. “Okay, give me 10 minutes to go shower and then we’ll go see if we can find my wife and have breakfast.”
Pete nodded. “Yeah I saw you guys have your own shower, must be nice.”
“I guess, but I’ll let you know after I try it out.”
Mac yawned as he set his clothes on the bed beside his friend. He slipped on a pair of blue shower shoes and left to go clean up.
Gillian had woken up at 5 am. She had put on a pair of khaki shorts and a pink and white striped sleeveless shirt. She was in Indy’s tent, he had a very large 4 room white canvas tent that was set up like a mini laboratory. There were cabinets full of artifacts that lined one whole wall of the tent. In the middle were several large tables that were put together to form a work area. The tables were covered with some of the artifacts that had been uncovered in the 5 years Indy and his team had been excavating the tomb.
Gillian was bent over the table with a magnifying glass, carefully reading a huge plaque that had been found only a few days before. She was mumbling to herself as she scanned over the fragile stone tablet.
Indy was leaning over the table beside her. He had on a black t-shirt and blue jeans shorts that were frayed on the ends. He had a pair of beat up tennis shoes on his feet. “You see Flame, the plaque talks about how great this person was but no mention of a name.”
“I can see that.” Her red hair was hanging loose, she was so far bent over it started falling in her face. She straightened up and set the magnifying glass down. “I need to pull my hair back.” She combed her hair with her fingers and reached into her pocket. She pulled her hair into a quick pony tail and secured it with a hair tie. “There.”
Gillian picked up her magnifying glass. “There has to be more to this tablet then just this Indy.” She shook her head. “The story just stops, there has to be more.”
“Good Morning.”
Gillian and Indy turned around and saw MacGyver and Pete had come into the tent. Mac was wearing a pair of dark tan shorts and a light tan t-shirt.
Gillian smiled as she set her magnifying glass down and kissed her husband. “Morning.”
“I wake up to find my wife is missing.” Mac put his hands on his wife’s shoulders and rubbed them down her arms.
“I know I’m sorry Honey I wanted to get a jump start on things.”
Pete laughed. “Yeah I’m the one that woke him up.” He saw the tablet on the table and his eyes grew wide. “Wow, what is that?” He walked over to the table and looked at all of the hieroglyphics.
“It’s a stone tablet, it tells the story of whomever is buried in the tomb. We found it on Friday.”
Gillian nodded as she took her husband by the arm and showed it to him. “Check it out Mac, isn’t it neat?”
MacGyver stared down at all of the symbols. “So this person was a healer.” He squinted his eyes a little as he tried to make out some of the writing. “And was a source of wisdom and enlightenment.”
Indy widened his eyes. “Well I’m very impressed MacGyver, I didn’t know you could read hieroglyphics.”
Mac smiled. “A little, Gillian has taught me some.”
“And he has been a very good student.” His wife smiled at her husband proudly.
“I can see that.” Indy clapped his hands together loudly. “I don’t know about any of you but I’m starving. How about we go get some breakfast?”
“Good idea.” Pete patted his stomach and looked at his friends. “Well come on let’s go eat!”
The three men and one woman were sitting inside the giant mess tent. It was a dark green canvas tent that was filled with small tables and chairs. It was air conditioned and the foursome had chosen a private table to sit down and eat. The breakfast that morning consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage patties, hash browns, applesauce and toast.
Indy had a spoonful of eggs and sighed. “I gotta hand it to you Flame, the cook you brought along really knows his business, this breakfast is great!”
Gillian finished chewing and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I know, and not only is Kevin a great cook but he’s a very talented archaeologist.”
MacGyver was sitting to the right of Indy, he put his fork down and had a sip of his milk. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something Indy.”
Indy wiped his mouth. “Sure.”
Mac glanced at his wife. “Why do you call my wife Flame?”
The loud clanging of a fork rang out and the three men turned to see Gillian looking very anxious. “Umm Indy…don’t you dare tell him!”
The older man simply grinned. “Aww come on Flame, he is your husband after all. He is entitled to know the story behind that.”
Gillian shook her head. “No he’s not.”
Mac cleared his throat. “Hey Gill, what have we always said?”
The young woman sighed and wiped her hand across her eyes. “No secrets.”
“That’s right.” He turned to Indy. “Go ahead and tell me, despite what my wife has said I have a right to know why she has that nickname.”
Indy was finished with his breakfast and casually pushed his metal tray aside. He leaned back in his chair and started wiping his hands with his napkin.
“When I was at UCLA, it was traditional for the college to have their own version of the Olympic games. So every other year all of the sororities and fraternities would participate in this mini version of the Greek games.” He looked at Gillian, who was already flushed with embarrassment. “So one day I decided to go ahead and stay and watch all the fun. And who should I see representing the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority?”
MacGyver and Pete were sitting across from each other and they both turned and looked at Gillian.
“My wife?”
Indy nodded. “Exactly! My top student! She had on this bright red bathing suit with flames going up the sides of it. And that was the name she had chosen to participate in the game, Flame. The other girls that were playing against her were these 6 foot tall blond haired beauty queens and here is this spunky little red headed girl with the red fire bathing suit.”
MacGyver smiled at the image he got of his wife in her flaming bathing suit. “What events did she participate in?”
“Well the games weren’t exactly like the Olympic ones but they were all in good fun.”
Gillian sighed and covered her face with her hands. “That’s enough Indy, they got the idea now.”
Her old friend scoffed. “But Flame I haven’t even gotten to the best part!”
“Oh? There’s more?” Mac crossed his arms over his chest, he couldn’t wait to hear this.
Indy cleared his throat. “One of the most memorable events was wrestling, but it wasn’t your ordinary mat wrestling, it was wrestling in a giant mud pit.”
MacGyver’s mouth dropped open. “Mud wrestling?”
Pete covered his mouth, he was trying not to laugh as he looked at his friend. The young woman’s face now matched her hair.
“Yup, mud wrestling.” Indy grinned. “The contestants had to do it in bikinis. Flame’s bikini matched her bathing suit, it had bright red flames on the top and bottom.”
“Did she win?”
Indy looked at Flame’s husband. “A very good question MacGyver.” He stopped long enough to have a drink of his orange juice. “It was Flame, and three blondies in the first round of the competition. That spunky wife of yours got all three of them to say uncle without hardly getting dirty. The second round had three more girls, that one got a little dirtier but Flame managed to make them all give up. The last round was her and this tough brunette named Dynamite, she had been the game champion from the year before.”
“So what happened?”
“Well, it was a pretty tough competition, Dynamite was no pushover that’s for sure. They wrestled and fought with each other a good while before Flame managed to get her in a headlock and make her surrender.”
Indy started laughing hard. “You should have seen her Mac, she had mud all over her. They had to take the hose to her so they could put her on the pedestal to give her the trophy and crown!” He wiped his eyes. “So there is this soaking wet girl with the bright red hair and flaming bikini standing on this platform with a small sparkling crown on her head and this huge trophy.”
MacGyver laughed at the image of his totally drenched wife, he shook his head. “So ever since then you’ve called her Flame.”
“Yeah, ever since then.” Indy finally got control of himself and sighed.
Gillian got up from the table. “Well I think I’ll go take another look at that tablet, excuse me.”
She pushed her tray aside and left the mess tent. She started walking towards the tent she shared with her husband.
“Gillian wait a minute!”
She ignored the shout of her husband as she unzipped the tent and went inside of it. MacGyver chased after her and zipped the flap behind him.
“What’s the matter?”
Gillian sat down on the bed. “Did it ever occur to you that if I had wanted you to know that story I would have told you?”
MacGyver could see how totally embarrassed she really was. He crouched down in front of her so they were eyelevel with each other. “Hey now, that was a long time ago Gill. We all did silly things in our college days.”
Gillian raised an eyebrow to her husband. “Oh and I suppose you mud wrestled in a bikini with 7 women?”
Mac cleared his throat. “Well no, but I did take apart my friend’s car and reassembled it on the roof of our dormitory upside down.
Gillian shook her head slowly. “That’s hardly the same thing although I do give you points for originality.” She looked down at the ground. “I just didn’t want you to think badly of me, that’s why I never told you the story. It was not my most powerful moment.”
MacGyver touched his fingers to her chin and lifted it so he could see her face. “Now why would I do that?”
She shrugged. “Because your wife was a champion mud wrestler and even had a crown and trophy to show for it.”
He shook his head at her slowly. “Gillian that’s ridiculous, I could never think badly of you no matter what you’ve done.” He sighed and put his hands on her shoulders. “Got it?”
Gillian nodded slowly. “Got it.”
“Good.” He leaned forward pressing his nose to hers. “Although I do have one little question.”
“What?”
Mac leaned back and smiled at his wife. “Can you show me a few of those wrestling moves some time?”
Gillian raised an eyebrow. “Get a big puddle of mud and I’ll show them all to you.”
“Deal!”
They both started laughing as they touched foreheads.
The base of the rock that Indy was working on was at the western edge of the area they were in. It was beside a massive cliff. Indy and his team had carved their way into the rock. There was a tunnel that had lights strung all over it. It was only a few feet wide, Indy, Gillian, MacGyver and Pete made their way one at a time through this small tunnel. It went on for about one hundred yards into the heart of the outcrop. The walls were very close, and seemed to close around them as they walked. Finally the walls fanned out to twice its size as they made it to the end of the line, ahead of them was a massive rock.
“This is it kids, this is as far as we have gotten.” Indy stepped back. “Okay Flame, why don’t you use that little talent of yours and tell me if there is anything behind it.”
Gillian made her way to it and looked at it. The rock was odd looking, it was very round, obviously it had been carved. “This is not a natural rock formation Indy.”
“Yeah I know that, any fool can see that but you know as well as I do how Egyptians loved to play mind games. They could have easily put this here to fool us.”
Gillian sighed and nodded her head. “You’re right about that, okay.”
She put both of her hands in the middle of the rock and took a deep breath, she let it out slowly and closed her eyes. After several moments, she took her hands away from the rock and turned around to look at the three men. She smiled at them. “This rock is going to be a tough egg to crack.”
Indy smiled widely. “Is there something behind it?”
“Yeah, what exactly I couldn’t really tell but there is something back there and this rock is right in front of it.”
MacGyver put his hand on his wife’s arm. “Let me see what we’re going to need to get this rock out of the way.”
Gillian nodded and stepped aside. MacGyver stood in front of the rock and ran his hands over it. There was a tiny amount of space at the top of it. “Well if we get some crowbars I think we’ll be able to get it out of there.”
Gillian turned and looked at her husband. “Archimedes?”
Mac nodded his head. “Yeah.”
Indy put his hands on his hips, he was pondering the request. “I think we may have a few crowbars, are you sure they are going to be strong enough?”
“A lot stronger than the wood would be. I think our best bet would be to put them in the top here and pop it out, like a cork out of a bottle.”
Indy nodded. “All right, let’s do it.” He turned and touched his hand to Gillian’s shoulder. “Flame, we’re going to need some flashlights, maybe a lantern or two and my camera. Can you get all that?”
The young woman snapped a quick salute. “Yes Sir, on my way.”
“Good, we’ll get the crowbars.”
The three men and one woman all exited the tunnel. Gillian headed for Indy’s tent and the three men went off in search of crowbars.
Gillian came back to the tunnel. She had a flashlight in each of her shorts pockets and two lanterns. She had Indy’s 35mm camera hanging from its strap around her neck. She set the two lanterns down on the ground.
“I got all the stuff you asked for Indy.”
MacGyver, Indy and Pete all had crowbars, they were standing in front of the rock.
“Okay boys, this is where we see how strong we are.”
Mac lifted his crowbar and stuck in the small space at the top of the rock. Indy was on his left, Pete on his right. The two men also put the ends of their crowbars into the space.
“On the count of three.”
The three men all took a few deep breaths. MacGyver counted to three and they all started pushing in their crowbars. Gillian walked over and stood behind her husband, she crouched down and watched the bottom of the rock from between her husband and Indy. She was watching for any sign of movement.
After several seconds and grunting and straining a small dust amount of dust got kicked up. The bottom had shifted causing a tiny dust cloud. This made the young woman smile, her heart started pounding.
“It moved!”
That stopped the men, Indy was wide eyed. “It did?”
“Yeah I saw it.”
Mac looked down and saw where his wife was. “Gillian what are you doing? You shouldn’t be down there.”
“I’m just trying to see if this rock is moving, and it did. Keep trying.”
Pete wiped the sweat off of his face. “Keep trying, like it’s so easy to move a 2-ton boulder.”
The men took a minute to catch their breaths. They stuck their crowbars into the space once more and put their weight into it as they pushed. Gillian was still watching the rock, she saw it was starting to slide. “That’s it you guys, you’re doing it!”
The large rock slid about three more inches and started to teeter. Gillian gasped when she saw the way the rock was starting to tilt. She touched her husband on his leg. “Mac! It’s going to fall!”
MacGyver stopped pushing and looked at the rock. He saw the way it was starting to tip forward. “Whoa stop!” He looked at his two counter parts. “She’s right, everyone back!”
MacGyver took his crowbar and jammed it into the top of the rock hard.
The four people all stepped back and walked a little down the tunnel. They all turned around and watched, waiting for gravity to do the rest. Gillian was standing beside her husband, she reached down and took his hand. She held it in hers and gave it a squeeze, she was very excited to see what was in that chamber.
“Mac why did you put your crowbar into the top of the rock like that?”
“Just giving gravity a little helping hand.” He put his other arm around his wife’s waist.
Indy was also excited, he was biting his fingernails. “Come on, fall!”
Pete nodded, he too couldn’t wait to see what was behind the rock. “Mac, it’s not falling.”
MacGyver sighed, his friend was right. “Yeah I better give it a hand.”
He took a few steps towards it and crouched down. He picked up a discarded crowbar. Gillian was standing behind her husband. She still watching the rock, she saw it was teetering forward. She gasped and grabbed her husband under his arms.
Mac looked up at her. “Gillian what…”
The young woman pulled her husband back hard just as the large rock tipped all the way forward. It hit right where he was crouched down with a loud slam that caused the whole tunnel to shake. A large cloud of dust was kicked up, causing the air to get slightly hazy.
MacGyver was breathing hard. The edge of the huge rock was less than an inch from where his wife had pulled him. If she had taken any longer to do that she wouldn’t have gotten him far enough out of the way.
He swallowed hard and turned around to look at her. She was breathing hard too, her face just as frightened as his was. “Thanks Eagle Eyes.”
Gillian still had her hands under his arms. She moved around him and hugged him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, thanks to you.” He hugged his wife and kissed her on the head.
Pete crouched beside his friend and touched his shoulder. “Are you all right Mac?”
“Fine.”
Pete shook his head and sighed. “You were almost a pancake.” He turned and looked at the massive rock. “That would have been most unpleasant.”
“Pete please.” Gillian let go of her husband and stood up. She took her husband’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s not talk about the invention of a new dish to serve at dinner time.”
Pete
creased his brow. “New dish?
Gillian grinned and winked at her husband. “Yeah, a Pita Mac. I could have
used my husband to make an alfalfa and avocado pita.”
Mac narrowed his eyes at his wife. “Oh very funny.”
Indy chuckled and patted Gillian on the back. “Good job Flame, nice fast reflexes.”
“Thanks.” The young woman reached behind her and took a flashlight out of her back pocket. She was looking at the dark hole behind the rock. “Well now that the rock is out of the way. Let’s go see what we’ve found.”
The four people started walking towards the fallen rock.
Gillian took a flashlight out of her pocket. She stepped on top of the rock. She poked her head in and turned on the flashlight. The walls were covered from top to bottom with hieroglyphics.
“All I see are wall to wall symbols.”
MacGyver, Indy and Pete were right behind her. The three men poked their heads in and looked around at the walls. Mac had his hands on his wife’s waist. “Well, go on in Gill.”
She turned around and looked down at Indy. “Do you mind Indy?”
Indy smiled at her and shook his head. “No, go ahead.”
Gillian smiled and leaned down, kissing her friend on the cheek for the privilege of being the first to go inside the chamber. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Gillian bent down and ducked under the hole. She stepped into the room and shined her light around the beige walls. The air was rather musty and smelled of dust. The walls were nothing but writing, not one picture. “Come on in guys.”
Indy was next, he had his camera around his neck and a lantern in his hands. He lit the wick and turned it up so the small room would fill with light. “Wow!” He raised the camera and started taking pictures.
MacGyver was next, he stood up and looked at all of the symbols. “Amazing.”
Pete was the last one in, he had the other lantern in his hand. “So what does all this say?”
Gillian started at one end of the room and started reading. Her lips were moving as she reached out and touched the symbols. “It’s a continuation of the story on the tablet Indy.” She glided her fingers along the carvings. “The One who sees all….The Seer of Dreams…The One who knows of things to come.”
The young woman sighed and shook her head. “No mention of a name.”
Indy was snapping pictures. He stopped and lowered the camera. He started reading the walls. “You’re right.”
Mac was standing beside his wife touching the symbols, they were very detailed. “That’s pretty unusual right? Didn’t most tombs have the name of who they belonged to carved all over them?”
“Usually yeah. I just don’t understand why we have 4 walls that are covered with hieroglyphics but not one mention of a name. It doesn’t even say if this is a man or a woman.”
Indy nodded as he took a small brush out of his pocket and brushed some thick dust off of some of the carvings. “I don’t understand it either Flame. It’s like this person’s identity has to be kept secret.”
Gillian read something on the bottom of the middle wall. She went over to it and touched it. “There’s something here about the tomb itself.” She scanned the small carving closely. “To enter the tomb of the One, you must have the favor of…” She squinted her eyes. “She that has been smiled upon by the Gods and will rule among them.” The young woman’s mouth dropped open and she looked at her friend. “I don’t believe it.”
Indy went to her and read the same thing she did. He creased his brow. “She that has been smiled upon by the Gods and will rule among them?”
Gillian nodded. “I know that phrase.” She turned and looked at her husband. “Mac? Do you remember that dagger I brought back with me on my first assignment?”
MacGyver thought about it and his eyes grew wide. “Cleopatra’s Dagger?” He snapped his fingers. “Wasn’t that the phrase carved on the handle?”
“Yes.” She turned back to the wall and moved close to it. She took a deep breath and blew on the wall. She brushed the wall with her hand and revealed a slot. “We need that dagger to get into this tomb.”
Pete was standing out his friends’ olive green tent. “Mac? Gillian?”
“Yeah Pete come on in!”
It was the voice of MacGyver, Pete unzipped the flaps and stepped inside the mini porch. He parted the second set of flaps and walked in.
MacGyver and Gillian were sitting on their bed. They both had their shoes off and were going over the photos Indy had taken of the inside of the chamber. Gillian was trying to see if there was anything she had missed. She put down the enlarged photos.
“Hey Pete, what did Sandra say?”
Pete sat down in one of the lawn chairs and sighed. “Sandra said she would get Cleopatra’s dagger out of the safe downstairs and overnight it. It should be here the day after tomorrow with the time difference.”
MacGyver was also going over the photos. He had a magnifying glass in his hands. “So we are free for the next two days. What are we going to do?”
Gillian turned to her husband and smiled. “How about we take in a few sights? We can go check out the local marketplace. Indy said it’s just like being back in ancient times.”
“Yeah we can do that, any other ideas?”
The young woman grinned. “Well…” She was smiling like a Cheshire cat. It made him suspicious immediately. He narrowed his eyes at his wife.
“What?”
Gillian leaned over close to her husband and stretched out. She was up on one elbow. She smiled and started running her hand up and down her husband’s left thigh. There a small line in the center of it. It was one of a set of healing bullet wounds that was on the front and back of his leg. “I was just sort of thinking that maybe we could borrow Indy’s SUV and go on a trip.”
MacGyver looked down and watched his wife’s fingers trace over his thigh. He could tell she was buttering him up. “A trip to where?”
Gillian cleared her throat. “Giza.”
Mac sighed and tilted his head back. He flopped back onto the bed and covered his face with his hands. “Giza? As in over 300 miles away Giza?”
Pete got up from the chair and checked his watch. “Well I’m going to go relax in my tent with a good book. I’ll be back to get you both at dinnertime.” He walked out of the flaps and zipped them as he left.
“Later Pete.”
“Bye Pete.”
Gillian was glad Pete had left, it gave her a chance to have a more animated discussion with her husband. She sat up and climbed on top of him, straddling his waist. “Come on Mac, it’ll be fun.”
MacGyver uncovered his face and looked up at his wife. “It’s a 300 mile trek across the desert.”
His wife leaned forward and touched her nose to her husband’s. “We have an SUV at our disposal, a map of Egypt, plenty of pounds and someone that speaks Arabic. What more do we need?”
“How about a CAT scan?”
Gillian scowled.” But I thought you would want to go see the Pyramids and the Sphinx?”
“I do Gillian I really do but we just got here and it took us forever by plane and car. I really don’t want to go back on the road so soon.”
The young woman sighed. “But who knows when we will get another chance! Once we break into that tomb that’s the end of our free time.” She was gazing at him with those big dark eyes and long eyelashes of hers.
MacGyver groaned and wiped his hand down his face. “Oh all right! We’ll go to Giza!”
Gillian smiled widely and started kissing her husband. “Thank you! Thank you! I promise it will be worth it! We’ll pack a picnic lunch and eat right there next to the pyramids!”
Mac put his arms around Gillian’s waist and shook his head. “You know, one of these days I’m going to have to learn to say no to you.”
The young woman grinned and stretched out on top of her husband. She kissed him deeply. “Yeah but if you do that, we won’t have nearly as much fun.” Her lips pressed to his once more, and brushed them against his neck.
Mac closed his eyes and sighed. “On second thought…maybe you’re right.”
Gillian kissed him again, moving her mouth against his slowly. She slid off of him and ended up beside him. She ran her hand down his t-shirt. Her hands slipping under it and sliding it up his chest. The first thing she saw a thin pink line under his collarbone on the left side of his upper chest. The still healing scar was barely visible in the bright light of the tent. She gently ran her fingers over it before leaning over and kissing it gently.
“You know, when you got shot I wasn’t so sure we were going to make it here.”
“I wasn’t so sure myself.” He put his hand over the one touching his scar. “But we made it through all that.”
“Yeah we did and we’re here.”
MacGyver nodded his head. “I do want to see the sights with you. Let’s take one of those steamboat rides down the Nile while we’re there.”
Gillian grinned at her husband. “You mean it?”
“I mean it.” Mac flipped them over and was looking down at his wife. He sat up and lifted his t-shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor.
The couple had borrowed Indy’s red SUV. They had gotten up at 5 am, had a light breakfast and were on the road. Kevin had packed them a picnic lunch and had put it in a blue backpack that was currently between Gillian’s feet. The young woman had dressed in khaki shorts and a deep purple tank top. She had put her hair in a French braid. MacGyver was beside her, doing the driving. He had his sunglasses on, despite how early it was the sun was already blazingly bright. He also had on khaki shorts but with a light green muscle shirt. He turned and glanced at his wife. She had a small smile on her face.
“What?” Mac focused his attention straight ahead. “Why are you smiling like that?”
Gillian turned and looked at him, moving her hand to rest on his leg. “I guess I’m still amazed that we’re actually in Egypt. Seems so hard to believe, I’ve been dreaming of this place since I was a little girl.”
“Well we are here, just look around. Sand on the left, the Nile on the right, we’re going to be at Giza in a few hours to look at the 7th wonder of the world.” He reached down and patted her hand.
Gillian sighed as she looked out her window. The bank of the Nile was right there beside them. “You know, I used to wonder what it was like go sail down the Nile.”
“You’ll know this afternoon when we take that steamboat ride.”
“I know but when I was a little girl I used to imagine what it was like to be Cleopatra. I had this book about Egypt and it talked about her. How beautiful she was, how powerful, I could imagine her on her big barge, floating down the Nile.” She turned and looked at her husband. “Silly isn’t it?”
Mac briefly looked at his wife. “No, it’s not.” He grinned at her. “I don’t think it’s silly at all.”
She shook her head and leaned sideways, kissing her husband on the cheek. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Gillian sat back in her seat and reached down between her feet. She picked the back pack up and unzipped it. She brought out a zip lock bag that had two bagels with cream cheese on it. “Want some?”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
Mac lowered his shades and looked at the clear bag. “What kind of bagels are those?”
Gillian grinned. “Well I took you into consideration when I ordered the food for this expedition.”
“Meaning what?”
The young woman smiled. “I ordered half a case of jalapeno bagels.”
MacGyver smiled. “Really? You did?”
“Yep, sure did.” She took out a half slice of one bagel and handed it to her husband.
He took it from her hand had a bite. He closed his eyes and sighed at the small hint of spice. “Yeah that’s jalapeno all right.” He gave her a wink. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Gillian got the other half out and took a bite. She pulled out a bottle of orange juice and set it in the drink holder.
MacGyver followed the signs that his wife translated all the way into the city.
“So where do you think the Pyramids are?”
Gillian got the map out of the glove box and opened it. “According to Indy’s map, there is a marketplace in the city and the pyramids aren’t too far from it.”
Mac took off his sunglasses and put tucked them into the front of his muscle shirt. “Let me see that.” Gillian handed her husband the map.
“Yeah you’re right, it’s just outside Cairo.” Mac folded up the map and gave it back to his wife. He put his shades back on and started the all terrain vehicle. “Let’s go find the marketplace.”
They got to a crowded marketplace in the middle of Cairo. That part of the city was the older section and there were multicolored adobe houses of all shapes, sizes and colors lining the dusty streets. MacGyver found a few other cars in a small roped off lot and parked the SUV. This lot was right near a set of massive wooden gates. The warm air was perfumed with exotic spices, oils and roasting lamb that filled the couple’s lungs as they opened the SUV’s doors.
Gillian unzipped her fanny pack and slipped on her sunglasses as she walked around the front of the SUV. She took her husband’s hand and the two of them walked through the gates.
The street was crowded, filled with people all chattering away with one another. There were at least 6 rows filled with vendors, all wanting everyone to see the high quality goods they offered. The two Americans were highly visible as they weaved in and out of the crowd.
“Indy was right about this place Gill.” MacGyver kept a fairly tight grip on his wife’s hand. The last thing he wanted was to lose track of her in the crowd.
Gillian turned back to talk to her husband. “Wild isn’t it? Like being back in ancient times, all that’s missing is a Pharaoh sitting on his throne looking down on all of us.”
“See anything you might want to look at?” He was slightly shouting so his wife could hear him.
Gillian was looking around, she spotted a stand full of jewelry. “How about we start there?”
The little wooden stand was in the center of an area that consisted mostly of clothes. There were dresses and long linen shirts and pants hanging everywhere.
“Sure if that’s where you want to go.”
MacGyver was looking around as he and his wife made their way over to the stand. Behind the wooden counter was a fairly young looking man. He appeared to be in his late teens. He had black hair and coal black eyes that were sharp in their gaze. He had on a light grey bisht, it was a loose fitting robe made of cotton. There was a white cotton dress under it called a thob. The young man was watching as the red haired woman walked towards him. He was leaning against the counter but straightened up at her approach.
The little booth had a variety of gold and silver jewelry. There were necklaces, bracelets, charms and rings of various Egyptian gods. All of the precious metals lying against a large square of black velvet in front of the young man.
Gillian was standing in front of the booth. She was leaning over looking at all of the beautiful jewelry. She smiled as she studied the intricate details on each piece.
The young merchant cleared his throat and got her attention. “Does something interest you?”
MacGyver was standing beside his wife. He heard the young man speak to her. He looked at Gillian, silently asking her what he had said.
Gillian’s eyes focused on the young man. She turned her head slightly to acknowledge her husband’s gaze.
“He asked me if I’m interested in anything.”
Mac lifted his head a little in the air. “Oh….” He reached down and ran his fingers over some of the silver charms he saw. “Are you?”
“Yeah actually I am.” She picked up a small gold ring. It had a large eye on it. “This is the eye of Horus. It means healing and protection.”
Gillian showed it to the young man. “Horus…did you make this?”
The teenager’s dark eyes grew wide. He hadn’t expected this red haired woman to be able to speak his native tongue. His passive expression dissipated, blooming instead into a smile. “You speak well, where did you learn Arabic?”
“College.”
The young man looked at her husband. “You both are Americans?”
Gillian gave him a nod. “We’re from California. We’re here touring Luxor.” She tried the ring on her middle left finger. “Do you like it Mac?”
MacGyver lifted her hand and touched the ring. “It’s nice.” He picked up a sterling silver charm with the same eye symbol. “But I prefer a charm.” He pulled out the front of his muscle shirt and stuck his hand in. He brought out his long silver chain. “What do you think? Room for one more?”
Mac already had his round jade pendant and his silver medal dog tag on the chain.
Gillian took the small charm from him. It was the size of a dime. “Yeah, there’s plenty of room. It’s not very big.” She unzipped her fanny pack. “How much for the ring and the charm?”
The young man looked at the couple closely. “I’ll let you have them for 20 American dollars.” He said it in English and MacGyver and Gillian both looked at each other and started to laugh.
Mac shook his head and smiled. “You speak English.”
“Cairo is a big place for tourists, it helps.” He had a thick accent but not enough of one to make him hard to understand. He stuck out his hand. “My name is Fehre.”
MacGyver shook it. “MacGyver, this is my wife Gillian.”
Gillian took the young man’s hand and shook it. “Did I surprise you by knowing your language?”
Fehre nodded. “Yes you did. I didn’t expect it.”
Gillian pulled two 100 pound bills out of her fanny pack and handed it to him. “Will this cover everything?”
The young man’s eyes grew wide. “This is more than enough, too much.” He tried to give one back but Gillian put her hand up, refusing to do so.
“Your jewelry is beautiful, worth more than 20 dollars. Take them.”
Fehre smiled and tucked them into his pocket. He reached out and took her hand, extending it out. He picked up a gold bracelet with the same eye symbol. He put it around her wrist, fastening it. “There, let the Gods watch over you and keep your safe.”
Gillian flicked her wrist, seeing the way the gold shined in the bright sun. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Fehre took MacGyver’s charm and put it in a small plastic bag. He handed it to the blond man. “May you both have a pleasant stay in my country.”
It took the two Americans two hours to cover the marketplace. They had found many unique gifts to take home with them. Mac had bought himself two linen shirts. One of the shirts was white, the other a pale blue. They had draw string lacing in the front of them. Gillian had found a small wooden chest and a leather jewelry box. Both items had hieroglyphics carved into them.
The couple also found out more detailed directions on how to get to the pyramids. They loaded everything into the back of the SUV and headed to Giza. The ancient city was located on the west bank of the Nile and not only had the three pyramids but the Sphinx as well. The couple was going to see one of the most famous architectural marvels on the whole planet.
The seventh wonder of the world was the Great Pyramid, Khufu. It was one of three pyramids located on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo. The Khufu pyramid was 451 feet high and weighed 2 and a half tons. It was the largest of the three pyramids on the plateau.
“Oh wow!”
The three high stoned structures suddenly appeared before the couple as they drove up a narrow paved road. They went up a slight hill, onto the west side of the plateau. The back of the three pyramids were standing there, towering over everything.
Gillian felt her mouth go dry as she stared at them. They were even more magnificent then she had imagined. All she could do was sit and gawk at them.
MacGyver pulled the SUV off the side of the little road and parked the vehicle. They were parked to the closest pyramid. The pyramid of Khafre, with its slightly lighter top that was marked with a line that made it look almost removable. He shut off the engine and took off his sunglasses, looking at the giant tan structure that was only a few yards away. “Incredible.”
Gillian nodded slightly. “Yeah…it is.” She snapped out of her stupor and bent down to pick up the backpack at her feet. She reached behind her husband’s seat and picked up a 35 mm camera. It belonged to Indy but she had managed to sweet talk him into letting her borrow it for the trip. Her heart was racing as she looked at all three of the pyramids. “Come on, let’s go take a look.”
Gillian was standing beside the western face of the Khafre. There were large chunks of large granite scattered at her feet. She crouched down and gently touched some of the dark pieces of stone. The wind kicked up, blowing a little bit of sand around her legs.
MacGyver had the camera, he had taken a few pictures of the three pyramids. The rocky ground crunched under his hiking boots as he stood over his wife.
“Gill?”
He bent down and put a hand on her back. “You okay?”
Gillian nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m just amazed.”
“Me too.”
The base of the pyramid was only a few feet away. Gillian stood up and went over to it, she climbed up a few of the steps. The only place that could be climbed on the pyramid was the lower section.
“Careful now, some of those bricks look unstable.”
MacGyver stuck out his hand and his wife took it as she went a couple more steps. “Relax, these things have been here for 2 thousand years. I doubt me standing on them is going to make them suddenly crumble.”
“You never know.”
Gillian smiled and tugged at her husband’s hand. “Come on.”
Mac put the camera around his neck. He looked down and began to walk up the light colored bricks. The couple only went a few feet more and turned around. They could see the east side of the plateau; the Sphinx and his broken, smashed temples were right in front of them.
Gillian shielded her eyes from the bright afternoon sun as she looked out across the plateau. “Unbelievable.”
MacGyver was on the step below her, he nodded his head in agreement. Gillian had her hand on his right shoulder, he placed his hand on top of hers. “Well, shall we go take a closer look at the Sphinx?”
“Yeah.” Gillian looked down and started to walk back down to the ground.
The couple was standing between the two huge tan paws of the Sphinx. They were long and stretched out far in front of the battered and beaten up statue. There was a stone table in between the two granite paws. Gillian put her hand on the left paw as she walked along it to the center. The stones were rough and scraped the palm of her hand a little. MacGyver was looking up at the face of the Sphinx.
“He’s seen better days. What happened to the nose?”
“The Turks did that. They shot the nose off.” She slightly shrugged her shoulders. “Supposedly, no one really knows for sure.”
MacGyver shook his head as he followed his wife in between the two paws. “Nice.” He took off his sunglasses and looked at the rather ancient looking stone. It had hieroglyphics carved into it. “What’s it say?”
Gillian crouched down ran her hands along the symbols. “The stela talks about Thutmosis I, he was the son of the Pharaoh Amenhotep II. One day he fell asleep under the face of the Sphinx. He said he had a dream in which the guardian of the Sphinx, Horemakhet talked to him. The god promised him that if he would unbury the Sphinx from the sand, he would be king of Egypt one day. At that time the statue was buried in sand clear up to the neck.”
Mac nodded his head as he bent over and studied the story carefully. “Did he?”
“Yeah he did. He became Pharaoh a short time later after the sand was cleared away.”
“Wow, that was some dream.”
Gillian straightened up and brushed off her hands. “Many believed the dream was just something made up to validate Thutmosis’ right to be Pharaoh.”
“Not the strongest King huh?”
“Not really no, his hold on the throne was shaky at best.”
Gillian took the camera from around her husband’s neck and started taking photos of the stone and Sphinx.
The spot the couple chose to have their picnic was right near the base of the Khafre pyramid. They had cleared away a few of the granite chunks and spread out a blanket. They stuck an umbrella in the sand and created a nice shady area to eat lunch in. Gillian sat down on the tan blanket and picked up her blue backpack. She crossed her legs under her Indian style and unzipped the bag.
“Okay, let’s see what we got here.”
MacGyver was still adjusting the umbrella. When he got the whole blanket area shady he sat down beside his wife and took off his shades.
“There we go, nice and shady.”
The blue backpack contained a small portable cooler. Gillian took it out of the bag and opened it. It had two medium sized bottles of water that had been frozen solid. In between the two bottles was two small sub sandwiches wrapped in plastic wrap, and a small container of potato salad.
Mac leaned over and was peering into the small grey cooler. “So what did Kevin make for us?”
Gillian picked up the sandwiches, they were slightly wet from the defrosting bottles. “Looks like ham and cheese subs.” She handed one to her husband. “You know that was a good idea you had Mac. Freezing the bottles like that so our lunch wouldn’t spoil.”
MacGyver took the sandwich from his wife and started unwrapping it. “Well that way we can have some nice cold water and we won’t get sick from bad mayonnaise.”
Gillian took the container of potato salad out and found a zip lock bag in the back pack. It had napkins, two forks and a knife. “Yeah it’s not that hot but still warm enough to spoil mayonnaise.” She opened the container and set it down between them. She stuck the two forks into the salad.
Mac unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite out of it. He got a bottle of water out of the cooler, it was still partially frozen. There were chunks of ice in the water as he unscrewed the cap and had a drink of it. “Here, have some.”
Gillian was eating her sandwich, she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Thanks.” She had a sip of the cool water. It was refreshing and she wiped some of the condensation off of the bottle and patted her cheeks with it. “That’s better.” She stretched out her arms and looked down at her legs. “I think our sunscreen died, I’m browner than I was before we got here.”
MacGyver set his sandwich down on the container lid and had a bite of the potato salad. “Yeah you are.”
“So are you.” Gillian was looking at her husband’s hair. “I think you’re blonder too.”
“We haven’t been here long enough.” He nonchalantly ran his fingers through his hair.
Gillian started to laugh. “Yeah but don’t forget the sun out here isn’t wimpy like it is in California. Here it’s pretty blazing, like it was in Santa Fe. You got some platinum streaks from a month there remember?”
A small smile came to MacGyver’s face. “Yeah I remember, the Grapevine asked me if I had that done.”
“And what did you tell them?” Gillian had another bite of her sandwich.
“I told them Santa Fe did it. They didn’t believe me.”
“I’m not surprised.” She picked a fork up with some salad on it and fed it to her husband. “I thought you looked good with those platinum streaks.”
Mac smiled at his wife and touched the end of her nose. “We’ll see if the sun will make me totally platinum headed by the time we leave.”
“Okay, we’ll see.” She finished her sandwich and had a bite of potato salad. She looked out at the desert around them and sighed. “This is a perfect place for a picnic.”
“It’s a nice spot.” Mac had another drink of water. “Not many people can say they ate lunch on the Giza plateau.”
“No, they can’t.” Gillian lifted her head and leaned slightly. She looked up at the bright blue sky. “Well Dad, I made it to Egypt.”
MacGyver watched his wife. He watched her expression turn solemn. He reached down and touched her knee. “Want to tell me about it?”
Gillian sighed and turned towards her husband. “My father and I were going to come to Egypt after I got back from that NYU study. He and I were going to do the whole tourist bit. It was going to be my high school graduation present.”
Mac moved closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He leaned her towards him. “So that’s why it’s taken you so long to finally come here.”
Gillian closed her eyes briefly as she touched her head to her husband’s. “I didn’t want to come here by myself or with just anyone.”
MacGyver smiled as he rubbed his hand down her arm. “I know I’m not a very good substitute for your father.”
The young woman lifted her head and looked at her husband. “I don’t want you to be.” She put hands on both sides of his face. “I wanted someone special to share this place with Mac, not to replace my father.” She caressed his cheeks gently. “It’s been a long time to wait but my wish finally came true.”
Mac said nothing, he only smiled widely at his wife.
Gillian set her sandy hiking boots and socks down on the small wooden table. She sighed heavily as she flopped face down onto the air mattress. MacGyver was behind her, carrying their marketplace treasures. He set their small wooden chest and jewelry box on top of their trunk. He stepped back out onto the little porch area and took off his boots and socks. He came back in and set his shoes besides his wife’s. He stood over the bed looking down at her.
“Tired?”
“Yeah.” She had her face buried in the light blanket that covered their bed.
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