THE GOLDEN SCARAB

Do scarab beetles really eat the flesh of people? Are intruders cursed when they dare trespass in the sacred burial place of a pharaoh? Is Egypt the land of mystery as the movies have described?

Images of pharaohs, mummies, pyramids, and tombs filled Jed Collins's mind. There were so many questions he wanted answers for to remove any misgivings he had about life in ancient Egypt. His parents had always said, "Do not believe everything you see in movies, but yes, Egypt is full of mystery. You will love it as much as we do."

As he settled into his seat of the passenger jet, he knew that he would soon find out for himself what the land of the pharaohs was really like. He was really looking forward to it. Jed hoped he would be regarded as a valuable member of his parents' team, which excavated ancient sites in Egypt. Acceptance at school had always been difficult, so he definitely lacked confidence. His self-esteem was now at an all-time low. Maybe it was his red hair and freckles that made it difficult for him to make friends. Maybe he was considered a geek because he liked books, not sports.

"It's a long flight to Egypt, Jed," his mother said. "Just relax."

Relax? Impossible! Jed fidgeted constantly in the cramped seating of the aircraft. Even the constant drone of the jet's engines could not dull his mind.

Jed Collins's parents, John and Carla, were archaeologists keenly interested in helping to uncover the history of ancient Egypt. Every year they would undertake the exhausting but rewarding task of excavating possible sites in the western desert alongside the Nile River. Egypt's mild winter was the best time for locating a lost tomb. Jed was accompanying his parents on a dig in Egypt for the very first time. Now after he had turned fourteen, he was considered old enough to assist in this very demanding mission. It was an understatement to say that he was feeling eager. Reading his parents' books and listening to them talk about their discoveries in that historic land was fascinating. Now Jed could actually assist in the search for a royal tomb, the tomb of a forgotten Egyptian prince.

Jed finally dropped off to sleep in the last hours of the flight. As the jet approached the Cairo International Airport, his mother gently shook him to prepare for the landing.

"I'm awake. I'm awake." Jed jerked upright in his seat. "I heard you calling me. What did you want?"

"No, Jed, I didn't call you. You must have been dreaming," his mother replied.

"But, Mom, I heard my name over and over! I heard it clearly."

Curiosity about his unusual experience instantly disappeared as the jet approached the runway. With his face as close to the window as he could get, Jed tried to locate the only existing wonder from the ancient world, the Great Pyramid. Unfortunately the jet's approach path to the airport's runway prevented any view from where he was sitting. He was very disappointed to not see the man-made mountain of stone looming above the sand of the Giza Plateau. However, goose bumps spread over his skin just by the very thought that his adventure was about to begin.

Jed, his parents, and Peter Andrews, another member of the exploration team, gathered their belongings from the luggage area of the airport terminal. Peter was a student from the university where Jed's parents worked. He was assisting the team as part of his fieldwork for his studies in Egyptology. They impatiently passed through customs and quickly arranged with waiting government officials to continue their trip.

Ahmed Shafar, a native Egyptian and internationally respected master Egyptologist, had been waiting at the airport. He had been responsible for organizing the transport and provisions for the expedition. Ahmed greeted the group and welcomed Jed to Egypt. The rest of the trip would now be via four-wheel-drive vehicles venturing south along the Nile River. Then they would head west to their destination in the desert.

Filled with hope for a successful mission, the team set off on their long journey along the palm tree–lined roads near the Nile River, first passing the towering pyramids. Jed could not keep his eyes off those grand structures, causing a painful cramp in his neck. He watched them until they disappeared in the distance.

Their trip led them alongside patchwork pastures of onions, carrots, cotton, wheat, sugarcane, corn, and potatoes crisscrossed with irrigation canals from the Nile. As the vehicles crawled through dusty, mud-brick villages, the drivers were careful to avoid hitting the chickens and goats roaming the narrow streets, and especially the children playing. The traffic itself had changed from the unbelievable chaos of horn-honking vehicles in Cairo to bicycles and donkey-drawn carts. Sometimes the bulky bodies of water buffalo would block the vehicles' passage on narrow bends of the road.

As the small convoy drove deeper to the south, the ever-increasing simple lifestyle of the friendly villagers gave Jed the impression that he was moving through a time tunnel and into an era of long ago.

Before they headed for the isolation of the western desert, it was necessary for the team to stock up with extra fuel and fresh food. Fortunately their travel plan coincided with a local market day at one of the larger villages. Hundreds of people had come to sell and buy vegetables, fruits, grains, meat, crafts, and live animals.

Jed jumped from the four-wheel-drive vehicle to stretch his legs and look around. He was eager to explore. He wandered through the crowd of jostling people, looking with curiosity at the vast range of goods for sale at the market. The noisy scene seemed like a movie set featuring an old-time bazaar. Jed was amused to witness the buyers and merchants loudly haggling over the price of goods, the custom for Egyptian traders.

"Boy! Red hair! Over here!"

Jed looked around.

A trader sitting amongst brass ornaments in his market stall beckoned Jed towards him. "Come! Buy souvenir."

"No, thanks," Jed replied as he slowly turned in all directions to decide which way to go. I hate it when people refer to my red hair, he thought.

"Red hair, buy gift for mother!" the trader yelled loudly in an effort to be heard above the noisy crowd.

Jed waved a no-thank-you sign, tucked his red hair out of sight under his cap, and walked on.

Flashes of light drew Jed's attention to a small stall at the end of a quieter lane in the marketplace. Hanging chains of crystals were sparkling in the sunshine, creating a dazzling display. Brightly coloured, striped rugs slung over the top of the stall provided just enough protection from the sun for any potential buyer to have some shade. Instantly curious, Jed turned down the narrow walkway, which seemed so peaceful in comparison to the main market area.

Featured at the stall was a range of jewellery with colourful gemstones, rings, bracelets, and pendants neatly arranged on purple cloth. Jed was tempted to buy something for his mother's birthday in two weeks. He had been saving for his Egyptian adventure for months and could certainly afford to buy a birthday gift. Thankfully the persistent brassware merchant had reminded Jed about that special day. One piece stirred Jed's interest. He bent forward to get a closer look at a gold ring fashioned into a scarab with turquoise wings.

"How much is this ring, please?" he asked.

The elderly woman selling the items smiled warmly and spoke with a gentle voice in surprisingly good English. "The ring is beautiful, isn't it? The ancient beetle was very sacred to our people. It symbolized rebirth. Interesting, don't you think? Unfortunately the ring is not for sale. Only for display. Do you like anything else?"

"No, not really," Jed answered. "I only like this ring."

"I am so sorry. I cannot help you, because it is not mine to sell. Since I cannot satisfy your wish to buy this ring, let me look at your hand, young man. Your hand reveals all. Maybe I can give some valuable information for you instead."

A blue scarf framed the woman's heavily wrinkled face, hinting of a long and hard life, but her black eyes appeared warm and caring. She leaned over the display and gently grasped his left hand to examine his palm. Jed was unwilling to allow the woman to inspect his hand and pulled back. He felt a little foolish and looked around to see if anyone was watching. The old woman's grip was surprisingly strong. She would not release his hand.

Jed finally surrendered by relaxing his clenched fingers to expose his now sweaty palm. A look of shock became evident on her face. She gasped and instantly placed her hand on her chest as though she had lost her breath or was having a heart attack.

After a short period of silence her serious expression changed to a huge smile. She whispered something to Jed that made him feel uneasy. "Green eyes, you make me happy. At last you have come. The ring you are admiring is meant for you after all. Do you remember what I said about the ancient scarab?"

Jed grinned but was puzzled by the comment. He was convinced that the old woman was now only trying to persuade him to buy the ring. Previously Jed was interested in the purchase. Now he felt suspicious of the old woman's possible intention. He was definitely not going to be tricked into a purchase of an expensive item.

"I am just browsing now," he said, appearing not to be interested.

This is just a trick to buy the ring, he thought. He was not going to fall for that, even though the old jewellery seller seemed trustworthy.

The old woman continued as if she had not heard Jed's reply. "This ring has been in my family for thousands of years. For some unknown reason I had to place it in my collection this morning. I know why I had to do this now. I must have sensed your arrival. You are the owner of this special ring."

Jed could not believe this unusual approach to secure a sale.

"I think you have made a big mistake. I have never owned anything like this."

"Take it. Our family has kept it safe while we waited for your return."

"My return? What do you mean?"

Jed was now becoming frustrated with the strange behaviour of the old woman but did not want to seem poorly mannered.

"I cannot take this without paying for it," Jed said firmly.

Once again the old woman urged Jed to take the ring, "This is yours. Believe me!"

"How can it be mine if I have never met you before? This is the first time I have been in Egypt," Jed said, sounding confused.

The old woman pressed the ring into his hand and closed his fingers around it. With a smile on her wrinkled face, she turned to assist another customer. Jed wondered how he was going to explain this to his parents. He was unsure of what to do next. Jed examined the ring. It was quite heavy, and it had unusual markings engraved into the gold underneath the scarab. Hieroglyphs, he thought. He hesitantly placed the ring on his finger. Although it slipped on easily, it would not come off. He tugged at the ring with all his strength and twisted it around the knuckle. It would not budge.

"Excuse me. Sorry for interrupting you, but I can't get this ring off!"

The old woman did not take much notice as she continued to serve her customer. Jed felt so worried about not being able to remove the ring that his hands began to shake.

"I truly cannot get it off. Can you help me, please?"

The old woman turned to him with a large smile and reassured him this was not a problem because the ring was really his.

"The ring was never mine. It is yours! Now be off with you!" the jewellery seller demanded as she directed Jed away with the wave of her hand.

Giving in to the old woman's wishes, Jed shrugged his shoulders and hurried away. He wanted to explain the unusual encounter to his mother, who was purchasing fresh fruit at a nearby stall. Her red hair made her easily recognizable from the customers loudly negotiating deals at the stall.

"Mom, I've got to talk to you, please."

"Just a minute, Jed. I'm thinking," she replied as she considered what fruit to buy.

"It's urgent! I need to show you something."

Carla turned to her son to find out the reason for his impatience.

"Mom, look at this ring! An old woman from one of the stalls down there insisted on giving it to me. I said I couldn't accept it. She refused to listen to me. What should I do?"

"Well, it certainly does look too expensive to be just given away. We must return it," Carla reasoned.

Carla paid for the fruit and followed Jed back to the stall to speak to the woman. Nothing was there. The old woman as well as the stall had gone. Jed could not believe she could pack up so quickly and disappear.

"How odd, Jed. There is nothing here. Are you sure this is where you came? Well, we cannot do anything about it now. We need to complete our journey before it gets dark."

Jed was mystified by the disappearance of the old woman, so he did not tell his mother the odd things she had said to him. He was sure his mother would regard it as nonsense anyway. Jed examined the ring on his finger. The gold ring had signs of wear, but it was obviously valuable, perhaps even priceless, if its age was truly that indicated by the jewellery seller. Jed considered the strange encounter to be just one of those difficult-to-explain events that must happen frequently in this ancient land. Yet the uneasy feeling would not disappear. Still bewildered by the disappearance of the old woman as well as his new possession, Jed climbed back into the four-wheel-drive vehicle to complete the road trip to their destination. His parents hoped to be successful in locating another royal tomb in that desolate place.

During their last excavation Jed's parents had unearthed a clay tablet in the buried ruins of a village for workers. They were responsible for constructing royal tombs in the secluded desert valleys for the Egyptian pharaohs and their queens. The rare fragment of ancient writing was amongst a heap of broken pottery scattered at the rear wall of the village. It may have been in the workers' rubbish dump, but it was a treasure chest for Egyptologists like his parents and Ahmed. A brief reference to the existence of a Prince Djedefre had been found on the tablet. The part that held the king's name had been broken off, but important writing remained. The hieroglyphs had been interpreted as "Djedefre, beloved son of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt ... and Great Royal Wife Tete." It was enough, however, to spark his parents' curiosity because the name of the prince's mother was the same as a royal mummy they had previously discovered.

Two years earlier Jed's parents had been fortunate to locate the buried tomb of an Egyptian royal named Queen Tete. The well-preserved mummy found deep in a desert pit could now be identified as the mother of the prince referred to on the clay tablet. Overjoyed by their most recent find, they were hopeful to fill in some gaps in this little known part of Egyptian history. The team was optimistic that the prince's burial place might be located near his mother's, and with some good luck, it would still be untouched. The team, however, could not waste any precious time available to them to search for this forgotten tomb, a tomb that only they believed might exist. The main reason for their rush was to complete work before the arrival of the scorching heat of the Egyptian summer. Jed was also anxious to begin the quest for this forgotten three-thousand-year-old tomb. Successful contribution to this task would be a personal achievement.

Jed adjusted his travel pillow and closed his eyes to try to catch up on the sleep that he had missed while he was on his flight to Egypt. Eventually he fell into a strange sleep that was in time interrupted by his mother making him aware that their journey was about to end.

"I heard my name being called again. It was so eerie."

"Still dreaming?" his mother replied.

Finally the vehicles approached the remote, winding valley carved in the plateau by centuries of rare flash floods. Jed's parents had considered this secluded valley to have many possibilities for secret burial places, especially after finding Queen Tete's burial pit here. Jed remembered his father saying that widespread tomb robbing had persuaded royalty to seek isolated locations for their final resting places.

Jed wearily dropped from his vehicle to check over the new landscape. The yellowish brown-coloured cliffs of the valley shimmered as the late afternoon sunshine interacted with the rising layers of hot air. He immediately noticed the unnatural silence of this dry wasteland. There were no animals, no plants, and certainly no other people. Not even a grain of sand stirred in the stillness.