The Magic and the Mummy (5 page)
Neria nodded. “Osiris was killed by his brother and chopped into 13 pieces. His wife gathered all the pieces together and used magic to bring him back to life for a little while. And then she wrapped the 13 pieces as a mummy so his spirit could go to the Afterlife.”
Thekel shook his head. “Not exactly. His wife only found 12 pieces. A crocodile had eaten one! So she replaced the lost bit with a piece of wood.” He lowered his voice. “We do it in here – if an arm falls off we replace it with a piece of wood. We wrap it in bandages and no one ever notices.”
The cat purred and looked up at the man. Neria stroked it and frowned. “So?”
“What if we lost a whole body – or a whole cat?” he whispered.
“You’d … you’d have to wrap up a whole mummy full of wood,” she breathed.
Thekel spread his hands wide, grinned and said nothing. He looked at the cat. The cat looked back.
Neria snatched the cat from the table, tucked it under her arm and ran from the tent. Everyone was fussing about the Pharaoh. No one but Thekel saw her go.
She raced across the desert, through the city gate, down the crowded street and into her house.
Neria dropped the grumbling cat into a wooden chest in her room. A moment later she was back to drop in a piece of dried fish then closed the lid.
She raced around the house and gathered up anything useful she could find – wooden spoons and even Karu’s wooden crocodile on wheels. She still needed something round, and about the size of her fist, to make the head.
Karu was playing in the garden alone. He was throwing his rag ball up in the air and catching it. “Karu!” Neria cried. “Throw me your ball.”
The little boy shook his head. “No. It’s my ball.”
“I’ll show you a wonderful game.”
“No,” he said and stuck out his bottom lip.
Neria knew she didn’t have much time. “I’ll … I’ll use magic and turn it into something wonderful!”
Karu narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“A cat! A cat like my Katkins. You’ve always wanted one.”
“You can’t do magic,” the little boy sniffed.
“Urrrrgh!” Neria cried angrily. She marched up to Karu, snatched the ball from his podgy little hand and ran.
She was racing down the road and could hear his wailing until she was half way to the city gates.
As the Eye of Horus sank in the sky the desert grew dark with purple shadows. Neria trotted back home behind her father. “You did well,” he said.
“Thank you father,” she said.
“The mummy you made from the cat Bastet was fine – for a first try.”
“Thank you father.”
“Very neat.”
They walked through the city gates. The guards saluted and closed the gates to shut out the jackals of the night. When they reached their house, Karu was waiting for them. His scowling face was streaked with mud and tears.
Father ignored him. The boy cried out, “Father, Father! Neria stole my ball – she took it and she …” Karu stopped shouting. It’s hard to shout when your big sister has a hand across your mouth.
She dragged the boy down the hall and into her room. Karu struggled all the way. There was just enough light in her room to see the chest in the corner. She took her hand away from her brother’s mouth.