Fatma: come on brother, dig hard, dig hard. We must find the treasure!

 

Hameed: I hope we will. That way our poor father will rest in peace

 

Fatma: (sighing) Oh yes when I think that our father spent twenty long years of his short life looking for treasures , digging for treasures only to find his death on a voyage to Zanzibar!

Hameed Yes, it was a sad death. But we thank God that he'd left a copy of the treasure map with our mother. Otherwise, his dreams would have drowned with him at  the bottom of the sea!

(Pausing digging) The thing that troubles me Fatma is that our grandfather was a treasure hunter too and that he died without finding any treasures except a small jar of silver coins he'd found beneath the walls of his garden…

 

Fatma: and that was the starting point of his career as treasure hunter. Yes, but I still don't see what exactly troubles you

Hameed: see, Fatma, sometimes, I say to myself isn't that business of hunting treasures a… waste of time and energy, after all?

Fatma: (shocked) what? How dare you say such a thing? Haven't you sworn to find the treasure your father died for?

Hameed: Yes I did and I will, but you see it's only a feeling I sometimes have.

 

Fatma: Just think Hameed that, according to the accounts of eye-witnesses, this treasure is fabulous. We will build a palace for ourselves and our mother and have dozens of servants and maids. We will buy Luxurious clothes and cars and of course we will build a hospital bearing the name of our father.

Hameed: Oh yes it is a wonderful dream

 

Fatma: come on let's dig to make our dream come true

 

Enter Sheikh Abdelaziz

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Good morning young people.

 

Hameed : Good morning sir, welcome

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Let me introduce myself. I am Sheikh Abdelaziz. I am a tradesman, a poet and the Sheikh of …   I have lived on this island for 40 years. Who are you and where are you from?

 

Hameed and Fatma stop digging

 

Hameed: My name is Hameed Said Ali Al Blushee and this is my sister Fatma. We are from Salala, Oman

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Good heavens! This means that you are Said's children! Oh my God what a coincidence!

Hameed and Fatma: you know our father?

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Oh yes, I do.  In fact, I knew him before he married. He used to stay in my house for several days when he toured the island in search of treasures. By the way, I knew your grandfather Ali, as well!

 

Hameed: really? I bet you are a treasure hunter too!

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Well, I used to be. In fact I was once a partner to your grandfather in a treasure hunting expedition and your father was with us. He was twenty or so at the time.

 

Hameed: Oh How exciting to meet you! Please sit down Sheikh AbdelAziz. Fatma, bring the coffee tray, please.

 

 (Hameed serves the coffee)

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Well, I can see that you're digging for treasures too!

 

Fatma: yes, we are and we're determined to find a fabulous treasure hidden somewhere here- a treasure our father died for.

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: I see

 

Hameed: Excuse me Sheikh AbdelAziz, You said a moment ago that you used to be a treasure hunter. May I ask why you stopped being a treasure hunter?

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Because I realized there were no treasures!

 

Hameed : you mean that my father wasted his life looking for something that didn't exist? And my grandfather had done the same before him?

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Exactly! And what makes it really tragic is that the real treasure actually exists and it was within their reach, but, like camels carrying water on their backs in the midst of the desert, they spent their lives looking for water and died of thirst! And as far as I know, none of them ever found a treasure, did they?

 

Hammed: well, to tell the truth, no, except a jar of silver coins my grandfather said he'd found beneath the wall of his garden.

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: That jar was not a treasure. It was your great-grandfather's savings left beneath that wall and dug out by Said upon intelligence he'd received from his mother.

 

Fatma: but my grandfather always said it was a treasure

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: what else could he say having failed to find a single treasure?

Hammed: So you mean that there are no treasures here?

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Neither here nor anywhere else! And that's why I think you two are wasting your time. Listen to me, young people. You are my friend Ali's grandchildren and I'm so glad to have met you .I hope you'll listen to my advice. Be wiser than your father. Forget about treasures! You're looking for a mirage. But if you insist on finding a treasure, I'm willing to reveal to you the way to the greatest treasure you can dream of, a treasure that surpasses all the treasures in history.

 

Hameed : Really?  But you've just said there are no treasures.

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Well, what I mean by treasure is not a big box full with gold and jewels. The treasure I am talking about is not of this kind…

 

Hameed : Whatever it is, why would you share the secret with us?

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Well, in reality there is no secret.  And the treasure I am talking about is not one but many. In fact, there are as many treasures as you wish. Besides, it is so easy to find; you only have to want it and once you've found it you'll never fear poverty!

 

Hameed : It sounds so exciting!

 

Fatma: But Sheikh AbdelAziz what you are saying is really hard to believe!

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: just let me finish please and you'll realize that what I am saying is the truth.  Just think that it would take 5000 years to count the items in this treasure!

 

Hameed : What? 5000 years? Are you joking?

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: I'll tell you something more amazing: this treasure is renewable, in fact inexhaustible. You can spend from it huge amounts but the more you spend the richer it is! Let me tell you something else. You know how far this treasure can travel if you set one piece of it next to the other? Believe it or not, 10.000 kilometers!

 

Fatma: This sounds like science fiction! But how come my father and grandfather, who were professional treasure hunters, never said a word about it?

Sheikh AbdelAziz: That's quite simple your father never knew about this treasure or rather didn’t want to know about it because I told him about it. As for your grandfather, he never suspected its existence because until his death both he and I still believed in treasures.

Hameed : Then, please tell us about it. What is it? Where is it?

 

AbdelAziz: You shouldn't say what is it, but who is it, because the treasure is you and it is in you!

 

Hameed : What? What do you mean?

 

Sheikh AbdelAziz: The treasure I am talking about is the unlimited brain power in you, in me and in every human being. The 5000 years I mentioned earlier is the amount of time it’d take to count our brain cells; the 10000 kilometers is the length of our neuron connections.

Come on throw away those ridiculous shovels and pickaxes and come to my house where I will show you how you'll find that wonderful treasure. Come on, kids, follow me and you'll be the richest people in the world.

 

Hameed throws his tools and walks behind Sheikh AbdelAziz. Fatma still hesitates

 

Fatma: but Hameed what about our promise? It is our father and we must keep our word!

Sheikh AbdelAziz: Leave your poor father in peace, my daughter. Do you want to waste your precious life just like he did? And then by listening to me you'll find the treasure, the real treasure, please trust me! It is your interest I am seeking.

 

Hameed: Come on sister. We should trust Sheikh AbdelAziz. I am sure he is a truthful man. And he is our grandfather's friend, after all!

 

(Fatma throws her shovel and follows them. Sheikh AbdelAziz chants. They exit)

 

 

Deeper than the ocean

Higher than the mountain

Are the treasures in you and me

All ready to yield their beauty

 

Not on a distant land

Not in the depths of the earth

Not on a remote island

But in us are treasures and wealth

 

Let treasure hunters understand

That the more they seek them out

The further from treasures they are

As these lie so near at hand

 

So let's all reach out for them

And dig hard to bring them to light.