recollections
A panga knife
5/6

We arrive at about five metres from the entrance to the hotel, when a car draws up beside us. The driver stays inside, with the engine running. Out come two men, one carrying a panga knife, which is a very long slightly curved knife mainly used, I think, to harvest maize, and the other with a submachine gun. They seem nervous, but aggressive. The only word they utter is ‘Money’. I have no money, just a credit card. Leïla screams, but has the presence of mind to hold out her handbag, which in fact contains very little of anything. They take it, not noticing the valuable golden broach which Leïla is wearing, and one robber turns to me. He rips open my shirt from the throat with a strong movement, perhaps in case I am wearing a gold necklace or medallion. But this is not so.

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