Cairo, Egypt 1995

“Sara, there’s someone here I would like you to meet.”

The five-year-old girl peeked around her father’s leg. She held on to the bottom of his jacket with her tiny hand. She looked where he was pointing. 

She saw a little boy who was also holding on to his own father. He was watching her too. He looked about her age. He had dark hair, black eyes, and golden brown skin.

“Sara, meet Jahi. He is Mr. Malouf’s son.” 

She stood there, silently, for a few minutes, staring at Jahi.

Jahi’s father knelt down beside his son.

“Jahi, this is Sara, Mr. Benedict’s daughter. Her father and I will be spending a lot of time together because of our work here at the museum. We thought the two of you could get to know each other.”

Jahi felt shy in front of Sara. He was used to seeing his mother and sisters, but she was different.  

He was not used to seeing a girl with such blond hair. And bright blue eyes. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two brightly wrapped pieces of candy. He held one out to her. 

Sara looked up at her father. He gave her a slight nod. She reached out and took the offered sweet. 

She watched Jahi open the other piece of candy and pop it into his mouth. She did the same with hers. 

They both smiled as the delicious honey candy melted in their mouths. 

Sara’s father winked at Mr. Malouf. Their children were becoming friends.

Cairo, Egypt 2018

An alarm sounded in the distance.

Damn, that wasn't supposed to happen. Jahi assured me he had disengaged all the alarms.

Sara grabbed the ancient jar from the pedestal and ran from the room, down a corridor of the Cairo Museum.  

Hearing running footsteps, she crawled beneath a table. It was one that held brochures, flyers, and information about the exhibits. She hoped the darkness would help hide her from the security guards.

Her heart was racing. She tried to slow down her breathing. She was afraid that the guards would hear her gasping for breath. 

The whole area seemed to light up all at once. The running men flipped every switch as they ran, looking for the source of the alarm. 

There must have been at least ten of them that passed by her.

She waited a few seconds. She didn’t think there were any more guards in the corridor. Slowly, she crawled out from under the table.

Just as she was about to stand up, she heard more footsteps. She dived back under the table hoping they wouldn’t look there. Then she could escape.

She could hear one of the guards shouting to the others. Even though she couldn’t understand what they were saying, she had a feeling that the guard had realized what had been stolen.

She hoped the guards’ attention was focused on the room where the theft had taken place. She had to try to find her way out before escape became impossible. 

Once again, she quietly crawled out from under the table. Feeling exposed in the brightly lit hallway, Sara ran to the nearest restroom.

It was only a few feet away, but it felt like she'd run a mile before she made it safely inside.

She entered one of the stalls and climbed up onto the seat. She removed the cover of the air vent in the ceiling. It was a relief to find it was large enough for her to climb through. 

Carefully wrapping the jar in a towel, she placed it in the small, black backpack that she had brought with her.

Then she placed the backpack in the crawl space, grabbed the edge, and pulled herself up. 

Replacing the cover of the vent, she moved away from the opening.

It was time to wait for a chance to get away.