The Phantom and the Fisherman (4 page)
“Now
you’re
calling me “old”, you young monkey,” Maiarch moaned.
Ahmose nodded slowly. “So, what does he want?”
“The best way to find out is to ask him,” Menes said.
Ahmose’s mouth fell open. “You think a thief will stop and chat?”
“He will if we’ve captured him. If we make him talk,” Menes said. “We’ll be here tonight. We’ll grab him and force him to talk.”
“He’s stronger than an ox,” Ahmose reminded him.
“Big enough to crush a crocodile,” Maiarch added.
“Don’t worry,” Menes told them. “I have a fool-proof plan.”
“Better than your hopeless, useless, worthless scrap of parchment?” the old woman asked.
“Much better.”
“What’s the plan?” Ahmose asked.
“I’ll tell you after school,” Menes promised.
At the end of the afternoon Menes raced through the city, over the fields and down to the small house of baked mud at the edge of the Nile.
His father was trying to patch his old boat with reeds while his younger sisters worked on mending the nets.
His mother was pouring beer from a large stone jar – straining it through a linen cloth into a bowl. “What’s wrong with your back?” she asked when she saw her son’s red and purple marks.
He shrugged, “Master Meshwesh beat me for talking.”
“I know teachers are told to beat bad boys,” she sighed, “but Meshwesh seems to enjoy it. Let me get you some beer and bread for dinner.”
“I’ll have this,” Menes said, reaching for the bowl.
“No you won’t!” his father cried. “That is extra strong beer. It’s for the Festival of Opet tonight. I’ve been waiting for weeks to taste that beer. That would knock out an ox, that beer!”
“Would it?” Menes murmured. He took the jug of weak beer and swallowed hungrily.
His mother smiled. “You are a growing boy. You enjoy your food. I wish we had more.”
He would have had more if Meshwesh hadn’t stolen his lunch.
“Sorry, no fresh fish today,” his father said. “I’d be crocodile-food if I tried to go out in this,” he added and gave the old boat a kick.
“Never mind,” Menes’ mother told his father. “Tonight you can join the Festival of Opet. Forget your cares for a while. Are you coming to the temple with us, Menes?”
The boy licked the last crumb from his fingers and said, “No. I am going to make us rich tonight. I’m going to buy father a new boat.”
His mother laughed. “You’re a good boy. That would be nice.” But he could tell she didn’t believe him.
As darkness fell his father and mother went into the house to put on their ragged clothes, but the best they had. Menes poured the strong beer into a flask and replaced it with weak beer. “Sorry Father,” he whispered.
His parents left as the star Sirius rose in the sky. “The goddess Isis is looking down on us. Time to go,” his father said.
When he was sure his sisters were playing happily in the house, Menes gathered up his father’s net and his writing tools and followed his parents down the dark road to the city. It was time to meet and defeat the phantom.
The square in front of the temple was crowded with people. The noise would wake a mummy in its tomb. The priests of the temple of Karnak carried a statue of the god Amun into the square where it met another group of priests carrying the statue of the goddess Mut.
The people cheered when the two statues met and the drinking began. Menes pushed his way through to the gateway of Maiarch’s house. In the shadows he saw Ahmose waiting for him.
“Is Maiarch safely out of the way?” Menes asked.
“My father has offered her a bed at our house for the Opet Festival,” he said. “She grumbled, but she went. Our servants carried her.”
“On with the plan, then,” Menes said. “Get on to the couch, wear the old woman’s wig and I’ll hide in that chest.”
The boys hurried to set up their trap and then they waited.
The only light was the lamp by the statue of the god Bes. His ugly face glowed and watched as Menes placed the large bowl of strong beer in front of him. “Sorry, Bes, but it’s not for you!”
Ahmose lay on the couch while Menes climbed into the chest and held his reed pen and a piece of parchment. “I’ll make a note of everything he says. Then we’ll go to the governor and have him arrested.”