NOVEMBER 4, 1879
Today is my fourteenth birthday, so happy birthday to ME. Father called me into his room this morning and told me he wanted to give me a special gift. He handed me a book and said, “Panya, this is the greatest book I ever read.”
I opened the book and was surprised to find that all the pages were BLANK! No words. No pictures. I thought he was playing a joke on me.
Father smiled and said someday this WILL BE the greatest book he ever read—after I write it. That is the book I am writing these words in now. Perhaps someday, someone will read it.
Father said he gave me this book because I am a very opinionated young lady, which I must admit is true. My name Panya means “mouse,” but I am ANYTHING but a mouse. I care deeply about things, and I am not ashamed to express my feelings. But father says that sometimes I get angry and lash out at people, which is true, I suppose. I still did not understand why he gave me this book.
Then he started talking about locomotives. Father explained that in a locomotive, water is heated in a boiler. That creates steam in the engine, which makes the locomotive move forward. But if it gets TOO hot and there is TOO much steam, the boiler can explode. So the engineer will open something they call a “blow-off valve” to release some of the steam and ease the pressure on the engine.
“What does that have to do with me?” I asked.
Father said that when I am angry I become full of pent-up emotion, the same way the boiler on a locomotive becomes full of steam. He said that instead of acting out my anger, I should write my thoughts down in this book. That way I will have the chance to think things over before I lash out with words or actions. He said writing in this book could be my way to blow off steam.
I think father is a very smart man and I will follow his advice, even if he did compare me to a locomotive.
NOVEMBER 5, 1879
A group of Americans were at the Alexandria port today. All men. I had never seen an American before. They look like regular people, except they wear strange clothes and silly hats.
They are probably tourists. Americans are fascinated by Egypt. I suppose it is because the United States is a young nation, barely a hundred years old. Egypt has been around for THOUSANDS of years. Tourists want to come and see our pyramids and our Sphinx near Cairo. They want to witness the ancient world with their own eyes, as if they can’t believe these things truly exist.
With my own eyes, I look upon these American men with distrust. They must have wives and families. Why would they come here and leave them at home? What are they doing in Egypt?
NOVEMBER 6, 1879
There are rumors swirling around about the Americans I saw yesterday. Some of my schoolmates say the Americans are planning to build a canal in Panama. So they want to examine our beautiful Suez Canal, which opened ten years ago. But it would take two days to walk to Suez from here, so why are they spending so much time in Alexandria?
Others say the Americans are searching for the tomb of King Tutankhamun. He took the throne when he was just a boy and ruled Egypt from 1332 to 1323 BCE. Tutankhamun died when he was not even twenty years old. Many archeologists have searched for his tomb, but so far it has not been found.
Still others say the Americans are here to steal our treasures. The tourists come to see statues and artifacts of the ancient world. Then they take them home and put them in their private collections, or in museums. I believe we should keep our treasures in Egypt. If foreigners want treasures so badly, they should create their own.
Cleopatra’s Needle in Alexandria, Egypt, 1879.
NOVEMBER 7, 1879
Finally I discovered the true reason why the Americans have come to Egypt. Yes, they want to steal something. But apparently it is something none of us had even considered—Cleopatra’s Needle! The grand obelisk has been standing on the shore here for many centuries, since 12 BCE. My friends just call it “Cleo.”
During the Roman Empire, Cleo was brought to Alexandria and placed at the entrance to a temple honoring Julius Caesar. Cleopatra had built the temple, so people started calling it Cleopatra’s Needle even though she had died long before the obelisk arrived. The temple is long gone, like so many treasures from the ancient world.
I am heartbroken and angry. Cleo is part of Alexandria, greeting ships in the harbor from near and far. The Americans want to steal one of our landmarks. It was stated as such in the newspaper, so it is now official. The rumor is that the Americans are going to bring Cleo to Washington, Philadelphia, or New York City.
NOVEMBER 8, 1879
The situation with Cleo is even worse than I thought. The Americans are NOT stealing it. We are GIVING it to them! I can hardly believe I just wrote those words, or that they are true. I am FURIOUS.
Father told me he has been expecting this to happen ever since June, when Ismail Pasha, the khedive of Egypt, abdicated the throne and his son Mehmet Tewfik Pasha became the new khedive. Before he left, Khedive Ismail made an agreement with the Americans allowing them to remove Cleo and take it to the United States.
Why would he DO such a thing? We are all asking ourselves that question. It has to be money. That is what I think. Khedive Ismail spent a fortune building the Suez Canal and other projects. I know this because I read the newspaper. That is why I am smart.
Our nation’s crops are failing this year, so there is little grain to sell to other nations. As a result, our government cannot pay its debts. I bet that Khedive Ismail told the Americans they could have Cleo because that will increase trade and tourism with the United States.
The old saying goes that the love of money is the root of all evil, and I believe that to be true. This is a sad day for Egypt. A sad day for the WORLD.
Khedive Ismail, ruler of Egypt.
NOVEMBER 10, 1879
Father told me that Americans have been snooping around Cleo for a long time. Twelve years ago, when I was a baby, a book writer named Mark Twain visited Alexandria. And just last February the former American President Ulysses S. Grant was here. I thought he was just a tourist seeing the sights. Perhaps President Grant had ANOTHER reason to be here. Perhaps he was sent here to convince Khedive Ismail to give up Cleo.
Americans cannot be trusted. When they want something, they just take it. That is how they formed their country, after all. Native people lived where the United States is today, and the Americans took their land away. The only difference here is that our government is actually GIVING the Americans our obelisk. How foolish people in power can be.
NOVEMBER 12, 1879
This will not be the first time another nation has come to Egypt and left with an obelisk as a souvenir. France took one of our obelisks in 1833. Just two years ago, England took another one. We only have a small number of obelisks in all of Egypt. What will we have left to give to foreigners when all of our obelisks are gone?
The good news is that most people believe the Americans are going to fail in their mission. Men are even betting on it in the streets. I agree that the Americans will fail. You don’t just pick up an obelisk and put it in your pocket. Cleo weighs many tons. It will not be easy to move. It took the French twenty-five years before they moved their obelisk to Paris. It took the British SEVENTY-FIVE years to move their obelisk to London. Six Englishmen drowned while they were moving it.
And that was just to sail the obelisk across the Mediterranean Sea. The Americans will have to move Cleo all the way across the Atlantic OCEAN. It will probably take them a hundred years, if they can do it at all. I say it is an impossible task. It cannot be done. Shame on anyone who tries.
NOVEMBER 14, 1879
I cried today. The American flag was raised atop Cleo. They have claimed it. It belongs to them now.
