Dangerous Mangos

Right beside Sylvia’s house was an Egyptian primary school. It was one of the free schools open to the poorer children. Every morning they would line up in thier plain undyed canvas uniforms to chant verses and count to 10 outside in the courtyard to the beat of drums.

The school building was in a sorry state. The plaster crumbled, windows were broken, paint peeled off, and the floor tiles were cracked and broken. A huge roughly built brick wall separated the school from Sylvia’s yard. It was partially plastered over on the street side.

The school yard however boasted 3 mango trees of what Sylvia called “Indian” Mangos. These mangos were red and were much smaller than the large yellow “African” mangos that grew in my back yard. Sylvia said they had a better flavor and were sweeter too. Sylvia and I would lie in the grass in the shade of the wall on Friday afternoons gazing up at the tree thinking “are they ripe yet”, wishing that maybe one of them from a branch that hung over a wall would fall into the yard.

One afternoon we noticed that the mangos that hung over the yard were gone. The School’s Bo’ab (gate guard) had removed them. We were furious. We had counted those mangos as ours!
The gate guard never let anyone get the mangos. He sold them at the market for profit. No one was allowed to touch “his” mangos.
The rest of the tree was filled with a huge harvest of juicy ripe mangos. We decided that we were going to get some.

At 2 pm I ran to get Rowiyya and Rhowida before they decided to take a nap from the apartment above Sylvias house. And the 3 of us flew to the back section of Sylvia’s garden which was enclosed. No one could see us. Sylvia was already there with plastic carriers.
“Auntie is sleeping and the Bo’ab has left for “The balad” (town) she said.
“Great! There is no one to stop us now!” I laughed. Rowiyya and Rhowida, who could not climb stayed on the ground while Sylvia and I climbed the 7 foot wall, and jumped from the wall to the lowest branch of the Mango tree.

We were only going to take a few and get out of there, but there were so many. Each fruit looked and smelled better than the rest. We just grabbed the fruit and tossed it down to the sisters, who put then in the plastic carriers. When the carriers were full she hid them and found an empty box to collect the mangos in.

I was climbing higher and higher, when I noticed there was a strange quietness around me. WissssssssssssThwack Something nearly hit me, but hit the branch instead. I turned and there on the next branch was the angry face of the bo’ab who was trying to hit me with his bamboo cane. I looked down and saw everyone making come on signs from around the side of Sylvia’s house. I jumped to the next branch, not even caring at this point if I missed the branch or not. The tree was on my side as its branches caught on the bo’abs galabiyya preventing him from moving as fast. I noticed that somehow the sisters managed to get the box of mangos hidden as well. We only had to escape. I swung faster and faster down the branches, not caring that my face was cut, or my arms scraped. I only concentrated on getting out of the tree and dodging the wildly hitting cane that narrowly missed me yet again.
The bo’ab was shouting curses at me by the time I got to the branch over Sylvia’s wall. I leaped off the branch and hit the ground. Pain raced up my legs. I fell to the ground in agony. I looked up and saw that the bo’ab was almost at the branch. I forced myself to get up and tried to run. I hobbled around the corner where Sylvia waited and she helped me hide in the hedges. We crawled along to a place where the concrete was broken and it tilted slightly. There we were completely hidden from above. Rowiyya was already there but there was no sight of Rhowida.  We remained silent but our breathing sounded very loud and I could even hear the beating of my heart.

We could hear the bo’ab above us; we held our breath. He was yelling and hitting the hedges. He stopped along the street and asked passersby if they saw a running girl. Singular.  Full stop as Syliva would say.  Then I knew why the others hid and did not help me when I was in the tree…they had not been seen….only I had.

We waited. Sylvia wanted to get out but I would not let her. I knew that bo’ab must be waiting just as patiently for us to come out as we were anxiously waiting to get out. Minutes went by.

I heard a greeting called out. Salem had greeted someone. The bo’ab answered. He was right above us. The saving grace of our hiding place was also a problem. He could not see us…we could not see him.
Salem came over and talked to the bo’ab for a while. We lay there. Sweat was rolling off our faces but we dared not wipe it off. Salem and the bo’ab walked to the street. Their voices could be heard from far away.

Sylvia crawled out of the hedges and looked. She bent down. “They are standing at the end of the walkway beside the street”
We all crawled out. Fresh air was wonderful. We walked hunched over and very carefully so we would not be seen. My legs burned and my feet still hurt, but I managed. Sylvia and I picked up the box full of mangos.

We snuck around the hedges to my back yard, keeping an eye on Salem and the Bo’ab. Finally Salem left and the bo’ab went back to searching the hedges along the street. We climbed up the garage to our fort and sat in the shade of the jacaranda tree complete hidden by the trees full branches.
We had tons of mangos. Sylvia began dividing them up between us when Salem appeared in the tree behind us.
“I knew that you were here” he laughed. “mazmazelle, he would have beaten you if he had caught you” he warned and laughed at the same time.
Salem swung over onto the garage and joined us. Sylvia started her count again this time giving Salem a share of the spoils. After all he was our “get away man”

They were the best mangos I had ever eaten.