As I approached the soldier boys on the entry to the Army base both of them were looking at me as if they've never seen the human being before, until it suddenly dawned on me - a complete stranger, European, blonde,- which is very unusual in Egypt, dressed in white shorts and white shirt, coming up the security gates in the part of town where foreigner is very rarely seen, not to mentioned at the early hours of the morning
Usual greetings in arabic exchanged ( at least I could say "Good evening " or " Good morning",- that's when the book " Speak arabic in two days", bought from the stall back in Manchester came handy,- and the soldiers are all smiles,- the darker of the two had hands like shovels and feet size 13 or may be more - he looked like a well built bull from a village somewhere in the Nubian desert
"How do I get back to Luxor centre? " - I tried to ask him, then slowly realizing that the boy did not speak a word of English and thinking to myself - " it's going to be a very difficult, if not impossible task to try and get my way back to the Hotel "
The other soldier boy, not as dark and not as well built then moved out of the entry point and I could clearly see his face - high chiselled cheek bones, perfect olive skin and large almond shaped eyes- I couldn't take my eyes off his face instantly as he reflected a typical perfectly shaped face, so often seen on the pictures depicting Ancient Egypt with their warrior looks and superbly held posture
I was that very second instantly in love ( or was it simple lust for the pretty soldier boy? I couldn't tell )
"You want smoke"? - the almond eyes asked me and flashed his brilliant white teeth at me
" OK " - this was the second smoke offer of the day and I was getting used to this display of their hospitality - simple but very effective way to show that there is nothing to fear and there are simple things in life, which we can all share and enjoy
The almond eyes reached into his fatigue trouser pocket and pushed something down inside his trousers, looking at me intently all the time - it caught my attention immediately - it looked long and hard and was already tenting out his camo uniform making me hot and bothered. Imagine my predicament - middle of the night. Army post in the foreign country and long concrete walls all the way down the perimeter of the base with Kalashnikov rifled armed soldiers staring at you from the guarding points
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