In the early seventies, Tom and Alvina Wylie, newly returned from their years in Dar Es Salaam, opened a shop on West Fourth called Central Africa Imports. Tom, a veteran of World War II, had furthered his education after the war with the help of the DVA, now called Veterans Affairs, studying anthropology. After graduating, he landed a job with the National Museum of Tanzania.
The Wylies traveled out by ship, passing through the Suez Canal. Their tales about Alexandria transported me. One I recall described how they got the camel saddle.
In the suffocating heat of the dockside, hawkers bargained in singsong voices as they cranked their wares up the side of the ship on ropes for potential buyers to examine. Alvina and Tom bought a tiny folding camel saddle with a carved head and an embroidered leather cushion.
Somewhere I have a picture of my daughter, aged about three, riding that miniature camel, her favourite perch at Alvina's. By the time Yasemin was born, Alvina was a widow. Tom died shortly after they sold the shop and moved to Salt Spring Island. When I married, Alvina and my husband got on famously, and she became an honorary grandmother to our little girl.
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