Tahrir,’ Ash mouthed at her.
‘Is that so?’
He waved a reckless arm at a low pink block. ‘Egyptian Museum. Very famous, I take you soon.’
‘Can’t wait. Are we going to stop?’
‘Maybe.’
A moment later they shot out into slightly clearer air. Ruby saw branches and leaves against open sky as Ash swung the bike in a flashy circle and cut the engine to bring them coasting up against the kerb. Ruby sprang off, coughing and rubbing her eyes, and Ash locked the bike to a puny sapling rooted in the wide pavement. They were in a boulevard lined with trees. On the other side, beyond several lanes of traffic, was a low wall and then seemingly empty air.
‘Come,’ Ash commanded. He took her wrist and they darted into a gap between thundering buses.
Below and beyond the wall, there was water. It was a wide, swirling, grey-brown river and on it sailed a dozen little boats with slanting masts and graceful sails like unfurled handkerchiefs. Ruby leaned far out over the wall, looking at the vista of bridges spanning the water, towers and distant trees.
‘Nile river,’ Ash said at her side. She gazed at the ripples and reflections. Tall buildings on the opposite bank and humid grey clouds swam on the moving surface.
‘That way’ – he gestured – ‘Alexandria. Then Europe. And that way’ – he swept his left arm in a stately arc along the river – ‘Egypt.’ For Ash, it seemed, the name was enough to convey the magnificence of his country. He took her hand to emphasise the importance of what he was showing her.
‘Yeah.’
Her unwillingness to be impressed annoyed him. He began jabbing his finger towards nearby landmarks. ‘See, Cairo Tower. El Tahrir Bridge, up there 26 July Bridge. Gezira island. Sheraton Hotel.’ The last was a hideous cylinder on the tip of a tongue of land opposite.
‘No, really? Amazing.’
He jerked her wrist sharply and she stood upright, startled and defensive.
‘Watch it,’ Ruby snapped.
They faced each other, glaring. The breeze off the unfamiliar river was humid, and the sprawl of an unknown and hostile city stretched away on every side. Suddenly Ruby missed the clatter and roll of skateboarders under the concrete spans of the South Bank, and the smell of hot dogs, and all the damp, foggy chill of London. She heard Lesley’s voice and shut that off inside her head.
It was important not to piss Ash off because he was the only friend she had here.
But it was Ash who began laughing first.
‘You make a frown like a monkey,’ he told her.
She corrugated her face even more elaborately and crossed her eyes until they were both laughing. Then she nodded at the river. ‘It’s beautiful. I like the boats.’
‘One evening I take you sailing in a felucca. At sunset. Very romantic.’
‘Great. I’d rather that than the fucking museum.’
‘Ruby,’ he sighed.
‘Sorry. Gimme another brown?’
‘What?’
‘A ciggie. A cigarette, for God’s sake. I’ll buy some if you show me where, if that’s the problem.’
‘No problem,’ he said politely.
They began walking, their hands occasionally brushing together. Ruby noticed the top of a grand pillared building behind a high wall guarded by a couple of armed and uniformed men. She was surprised to see the Union flag hanging limply from a central flagpole.
‘What’s that place?’
He shrugged. ‘British embassy.’
‘Oh.’ Ruby wasn’t very interested.
They passed beneath a huge, ancient-looking tree, its trunk a mass of writhing tendrils for all the world like dun-coloured snakes. In its thick shade the air was almost cool.
‘Banyan tree.’
They stopped and looked up into the canopy of coarse leaves. Taxis cruised and honked a few feet away, a couple of passers-by glanced incuriously at them. Ash’s throat was smooth, his skin pale brown. Ruby stepped up close, put her hands behind his head and pulled his mouth down to hers. She kissed him hard, flicking her tongue between his lips.
She saw the flash of dismay and disbelief in his eyes before he stepped sharply backwards.
‘Why you do that?’ he demanded.
She had done it without thinking, just because she felt like it.
‘Didn’t you like it?’
He had liked it, of course, but it was not what he had planned.
Ash had intended to make a play for the English girl, that went without saying, but he had expected to chase her until she was cornered and when she finally gave way the triumph would all have been his. Now she had taken the initiative and he felt diminished. He had no idea what to expect next.
They were now both aware of the breadth of experience and expectation that separated them, and they were uncomfortable.
‘You have boyfriends,’ Ash said flatly.
Ruby tried to give a careless laugh, but it came out sounding harsh.
‘Yeah. What do you expect? Yes, I do. Have had.’
He nodded. ‘I see.’
She didn’t like his disapproval and tried to startle him back into sympathy with her. ‘No, you don’t. My boyfriend died. In an accident.’
Ash’s eyes were very dark brown and the whites were so white they looked blue.
‘What? Accident in a car?’
‘No. He fell. He fell off the balcony of someone’s flat. It was late at night, a party. He had been drinking and taking stuff. I didn’t see how he fell. Maybe he jumped, I don’t know. He was a bit fucked up. His name was Jas.’
Ash shook his head. This information was almost too much for him, but he took her hand gently and led her a few steps to a bench facing the river wall. They sat down with their backs to the traffic and stared at the ugly cylinder hotel across the water.
‘Did you love him, this Jas? Did he love you?’
He asked this so simply and tenderly, and his directness seemed to flick a switch in Ruby. She almost heard the click. Without any warning tears welled up in her eyes and poured down her face, scalding her cheeks as they ran.
‘Maybe. Yes. It wasn’t like you think.’
‘I think nothing,’ Ash said.
Ruby
