Additional turn

They are getting off the bus. Germans or Swiss, I suppose. They live nearby. Getting around by microbus as I do.

Soon after, an Egyptian is getting on the microbus and hands to the driver a bag that was left on the seat. I tell the driver – once more I am sitting on the front seat – that it’s the foreigners’ bag, for sure. He stops immediately, turns and hurries back to where they got off the bus. I think they went to that direction over there. The driver goes on, searching, honking, changes the direction and surprise: the couple got attracted by the car honking and approaches the microbus in great relief.

They get their bag – the driver gets five pounds. I feel a bit ashamed about this mingy reward. But I guess the foreigners were far too surprised to react appropriately.

The driver returns to his normal itinerary and excitedly tells how recently a bag with money, mobile phone and passports were left in his bus – and how he could, hours later, hand it over to its owners. He talks about this as if it was the most common thing in the world: returning any valuables to its owner. And in fact it is, isn’t it? Even in Egypt…