Mandine held the book between her fingertips, her perception of it shifting. It now seemed far more valuable and mysterious than before. She recalled the words from the letter she had received earlier: "A book of great historical value." Mandine wondered why the book had not been sent to an official institution, where its real history could be examined and perhaps shared with the world. It occurred to her that the sender might be one of those individuals obsessed with history, roaming the world in search of its hidden truths. Yet, his interest didn't seem to lie in money. "Maybe he was a rich person," she whispered, "Maybe he was looking for fame by writing about this story in a newspaper." With that thought, she opened the book.
She flipped through its pages quickly, not really reading, until she reached the last page. Her eyes stopped there, as the page was written in a language she had never encountered before. The script was completely unfamiliar to her. Despite her extensive knowledge of ancient writings from her university studies, Mandine couldn't find a single letter she recognized. Could it be one of the underrated languages spoken by only a few hundred people, she wondered.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, interrupting her thoughts. She put the book aside and went to open it, finding Adam standing there with some gifts in his hands. He explained they were for the little girl he had met the day before.
"I'm a little late," Adam said, "The traffic on the streets of Cairo is unbearable."
"That's Egypt," Mandine replied with a smile, closing the door behind him and leading him to the reception hall. "Get used to it, there are millions of people living in this city."
"Where's Catherine?" Adam asked.
"Uh, she's not here," Mandine responded. "She's gone to drop Sarah off at school. She'll be back any minute now." Then she added, "I'll be back in a few minutes," and disappeared.
Adam looked at his gifts with a disappointed expression. He had promised Sarah he would bring her some presents, and he was eager to see her joy when she opened them. With a sigh, he set the gifts aside and took a seat. He was a young man in his mid-twenties with wavy hair and a pure British accent. Though from an Egyptian Catholic family, Adam had grown up in European culture. He had tried to learn Arabic, but gave up, saying that learning it was like trying to solve an Einstein problem.
A few minutes later, Mandine returned with a book and a piece of paper in her hands. She sat down and began to tell him about the letter she had received that morning. Adam's reaction was as surprised as hers had been.
"But we didn't mention your name in our letters, and we didn't even tell him that we were visiting Egypt. How could he know all that?" Adam asked, his voice filled with confusion.
"Not only that, but what surprised me is that he knew where I was staying. I didn't mention it to anyone. I didn't even decide between renting a hotel apartment and staying here until yesterday, after Catherine insisted on me staying with her during my time in Egypt, on the pretext that she was lonely and that we hadn't met in years."
They both sat in silence, lost in their thoughts, before Mandine broke the stillness, holding the book in her hands.
"I started reading it already," Mandine said as she flipped through the pages. When she reached the end, she continued, "And this page caught my attention. Look, the whole book is written in Arabic, but the writing on the last page is in another language. It's completely incomprehensible."
She handed the book to Adam.
"I've never seen this language before," he said, looking at it with narrowed eyes. "See, it doesn't look like any language we know. We have to figure out what era it's from, maybe we can date this book."
"I read the first few pages when I got it," Adam continued, "and even though the translation was a bit rough, reading this book is like reading a novel."
Mandine agreed. "That's exactly right. Whoever wrote it is very skilled at immersing the reader in the details and making you live the experience of the boy, Abu Bakr. He takes you on a journey through the arid desert until you almost feel its sea." She paused, then said, "I think I need to speed up the reading."
"Why don't we visit one of the history professors here at one of the universities?" Adam suggested. "Egypt has more history professors than any other country, given that it contains one of the most important civilizations in the world."
Mandine immediately agreed. They both needed to understand the history of this writing and what language it was in. Adam promised he would arrange a meeting with one of the professors the following day, if possible. After saying their goodbyes, Adam left.
Within moments, Mandine was alone with the book again. She picked it up with more eagerness this time, flipping through its pages, hungry for the answers it might hold.