Mummy Dearest Read Online Free

yet to see a female one), all dressed in white coats and red fezzes, nodded at us as we went outside.
    Within the walls of the hotel compound was a walkway lined with shops. Caron and Inez paused at a window filled with T-shirts and hats, while I went into a tiny bank branch and armed myself with a thick stack of Egyptian pound notes. I caught up with the girls at a shop selling scarves and perfume.
    “This stuff is so expensive,” Caron said morosely. “Some of the T-shirts are eighty pounds. There are some cute sandals for a hundred pounds. I know Peter wants us to buy things, but this is ridiculous.”
    “Divide by five for dollars,” I said. “Before you get too carried away with these shops, let’s look into some local ones. There’s a mall of sorts just past the corner.”
    “A mall?” echoed Inez.
    “More like an alley,” I said. “The man at the bank told me about it. This is a tourist area, so the prices will still be on the high side. We might as well have a look, though.” I did not add that we would pass by a bookstore on the way. It’s an addiction that cannot be easily explained and can rarely be overcome.
    The temperature was warm but comfortable, as promised by the guidebook. We strolled along the side of the corniche, ignoring the carriage drivers and shoeshine boys clamoring for our attention. Shop owners came out and begged us to consider their offerings, which were, of course, available at the best prices in Luxor. Inside a newsstand, two boys were playing a game on a computer. An ancient man shaped like a pear sat on a folding stool, scowling at his Arabic newspaper and puffing on a water pipe. Many of the men wore long white robes and some had sweat-stained cloths tied around their heads. A gaggle of schoolgirls passed us, wearing dark scarves and long skirts but also sandals adorned with plastic flowers and glass beads.
    A sandwich board announced the so-called mall. We turned into the passageway crowded with souvenir shops and racks of T-shirts. I looked around curiously as the girls cooed over plush toy camels and plastic sphinxes. I had managed to walk by the bookstore without a whimper, but I could feel its seductive allure. I decided I could interest the girls in postcards on our way back to the hotel. I drifted away from the T-shirt racks and began to look at jewelry in a window. I needed to take back a gift for Sergeant Jorgeson and his wife, who’d hosted our wedding in their garden, and one for Luanne Bradshaw, my best friend and confidante. I needed to find something that was either hysterically tacky or incredibly tasteful for her. A piece of antique jewelry might fit either category.
    Caron caught my elbow and dragged me into a tiny shop overpowered with shelves of tablecloths and tea towels. “Mother,” she whispered, “I think we’re being followed.”
    “I’m sure we are, dear. We’re tourists. We might as wellhave bull’s-eyes pinned on our backs proclaiming us to be rich and foolish.”
    “No, I saw him at the hotel, too. He was sitting near the exit, pretending to read a newspaper.”
    “Maybe he
was
reading a newspaper,” I said.
    “He looked right at us when we walked by him.”
    I grinned. “He may be planning on making an offer for you. How many camels are you worth? A hundred? Should I hold out for more?”
    Caron’s lower lip shot out. “You are So Not Funny. What if he’s trying to figure out how to kidnap us?”
    Inez scuttled into the shop and began to wheeze. “He spoke to me,” she said between gasps. “I was looking at this really cute puppet when he brushed against me and said,
‘Ahlan wa-sahlan.’
I think that’s what he said, anyway. I almost screamed.”
    I frowned. “Any idea what it meant?”
    She gulped. “If I heard it right, it means ‘hello.’”
    “And then …?” I said.
    “He turned away and said something to the owner, who laughed and said something back. I know they were talking about me.”
    “What are you going