I knew Melissa worked in New York City. But something about working in the World Trade Center just didn't seem right to me. But Gram was convinced it was the World Trade Center, and she was understandably upset.
Erin would know. She and Melissa are close. Melissa and me, well, we never developed that sibling bond. Maybe because we're almost the exact same age -- born only about two weeks apart-- what can I say, my father was a busy beaver nine months before Melissa & I came into the world. But I digress...
I didn't have Erin's phone number with me, and I searched Gram's purse for her little black address book, to no avail. I couldn't call my grandmother in Cleveland to ask, because for some reason unknown to me, my grandparents in Cleveland never knew about Melissa's existence. Some family things are just weird that way.
I convinced Gram that Melissa must be alright (okay, I won't leave you hanging-on any further in suspense -- it will come out in the story later, but Melissa did NOT work in the World Trade Center!! She is fine.). We went to bed. I don't know if Gram slept or not, but I practically passed out from nervous exhaustion.
We woke the next morning to a smoke-filled room.

The hotel we were in is called the Mena House Oberoi Hotel, which is in Giza, a suburb of Cairo. You might recognize Giza from the name Giza Plateau, which is where the three great pyramids are located. As you can see from this tiny photo of Mena House, you can actually see the great pyramids from the grounds of the hotel. Incredible! The main lobby and meeting rooms of the Mena House are in the original building, which was originally a hunting palace for Muslim princes, but the bulk of the hotel rooms were in large sprawling wings. Our room was in one of these far wings, and our room faced out over the golf course on the opposite side of the building from the pyramids. I had a great view of Cairo traffic jams from our balcony.
The grounds of Mena House were wondrous. Lush grass, shrubbery, and palm trees along with the fabulous pool created an oasis feel. There was a life-size chess set next to the tennis courts -- it was amazing! But the most wondrous part was being able to look up as you walked towards the main building and see the Great Pyramid! Breath-taking!!!
Back in our smoke filled room, panic gripped me. After what we'd seen on the BBC last night, I imagined World War III or Armageddon -- hell, I don't know what I was thinking, I just thought the hotel was on fire!
I dragged Gram out into the hall. Other people -- all strangers to us at that point, because we hadn't met anyone from the tour yet -- were running down the hall, banging on doors to wake people up. Smoke filled the corridor. People went towards the elevator, but I yelled NO, not in a fire, and I maneuvered them towards the stairs. Remember, all the other tourists from our group that I'd seen up to that point were all retirees. I was at least half the age of these people, so I bounded down the stairs to see what was the matter. I reached the service desk of the wing of our hotel. The people behind the counter looked up at me, smiling at me huffing for breath in my pajamas. It turns out there was NO emergency; they calmly told me that a new mud brick building had been built just on the other side of the hotel compound's wall -- and this wing was near the wall -- and when you build a mud brick building, you fill it with palm fronds and trash and burn this "filling" to fire the bricks and make them hard. Well, fine. It was just a normal everyday fill the hotel with smoke kind of thing. Easy for them to say. They didn't have to meet a horde of panicking geriatrics coming down the stairs. I got everyone back to their rooms with no broken hips, and this was how our first full day in Egypt started.
I needed some coffee!!!