Reincarnation Chapter Three

Now this dinner meeting with the friend of friends, I call her Layla, began my first real exploration of the idea that past lives existed and I meant to have a closer look to decide for myself if there was anything to it.

There began, by lunches, meetings, telephone conversations and the like the mutual effort on both of our parts to get to the bottom of the personal mystery of how in the world could we both have shared memories.

It could be, I thought, then mutual hypnosis; could be we both were inventing memories and agreeing to the others simply as way of getting to know one another. Could be I guess. But let me tell you the story and you can decide for your self...

Well first of all me in that other life. Rachma my name. Recollections came in pieces from conversations with Layla and my own. But she had an uncanny way of not only remembering some of the same events in Rachma's life but also had the ability to refresh if not correct some of the ones I put forth.

It was not a love affair which had transpired. She was Nubian slave girl brought south after a raid into Nubia, skin dark as coal and dark eyes so beautiful that they appeared to glow. We both agreed that she was very young when she arrived at the gang possibly as young as 15. She was a wild creature, defiant, angry, obsessed with her missing parents and determined to escape and find them and then all would go back home to Nubia.

Needless to say she hated us Egyptians.

I remember my first meeting with her only vaguely, but Layla did remember and filled in her memory of it.

Apparently I was a busy man and only gave her a passing consideration but I do remember that I noticed her beauty and had made the decision to take her into my home as a house girl but only after she had spent a few weeks on gang. My thought was to break that wild spirit down such that she would appreciate the softer existence I would offer her as a house-girl.

I paid my under-man in beer to look after her on the gang to make sure that no one touched her sexually, and no one harmed her. Unconsciously I had already made the decision she was to be Rachma's woman and that all on the gang had been notified as such.

I went to supervise the gang work everyday of course, and kept an eye on her without her knowing, pretending no interest in her at all. I saw she, after a week, was the same, glaring at me when I passed, defiant with my underlings but she had a strong little body carrying heavy loads of water to be distributed among the other slaves and gang members.

All of the workers were not the same, those working on the pyramids. There were houses built all around the construction areas which housed the workers, Some of the workers were craftsmen, carvers and ornamentors. They lived in their own little neighborhoods a short distance from the pyramid and as far as I could remember, they worked directly under the architect and some of the Pharoahs representatives.

We did not necessarily envy these folks since some of them were there to decorate the Pharaoh's burial chamber, and some were working passage way decorations depicting his life and would likely be buried with the Pharoah as well.

But this was not the fate of most, since their skills, of writing, carving, religious depictions and of the life of Pharoah were too scarce to be sacrificed at the death of Pharaoh.

I remember most of them came back at night threw off their garments, took their payments in beer, gambled, drank and caroused with the women. There was a different custom I seemed to remember in that sex was very casual, recreational and common.

All of this could of course, be chaulked up to my making it up, my imagination, or maybe even seeing such scenes on television. After all there was a huge Egyptian mania in the United States in the 20's and 30's which had huge cultural impact from the movies, to fashion, to furniture. I could have easily picked up all of these impressions form childhood exposure through my parents.

But, be all of that as it may, it was fascinating to me to go through a lot of this with Layla, she adding her own impressions.

The crafts people were one group.

Another group were basically Egyptian farmers coming in in the offseason to work on the pyramid paying their taxes in labor. They also, in my memory banks had another attraction, some of them brought drugs processed from plants, cocaine, I seem to remember, and they sold their products in the market which existed among the neighborhoods, There was a market because thousands of people had to be feed each day and goods were naturally being bought and sold.

This was a thriving small city. I was never sure of exactly how many because the population changed as new groups came in and other groups rotated out, especially the farmers who often left to tend their crops.

Mind boggling, I know. But all this was not the half of it.

More tomorow.