The Bystander

Hassan turned east, away from the road to Shisur. The road began to descend and Hassan slowed. The road was blacktop, but full of pot holes. To their right was a rocky ridge peaking up above the sand dunes. Hassan said there was a cave on the side of the sand ridge and where some Bedouin believed was the real tomb of Hud.

“Many local Bedouins think Hud’s tomb is here, and the cave we were in was where the locals lived.”

“How far?” asked Amy.

“Just up the next ridge. If it’s opened,” said Hassan, “we might walk in, but many of these tombs have been sealed shut. The Bedouins seal them to keep the evil spirits, the djinns, inside.”

Skip was squinting up the ridge as if he could already see the tomb.

“The Bedouins who live here believe the spirits are just as old as the Nabataeans who lived in the first century BC. Their dead are buried at Madain Saleh near the Jordanian border.”

“Interesting,” said Amy. “I may never see those ruins, but I’m finding all these buried ridges in the desert fascinating. No tourists are here, for sure.”