Page 16 of Ra
Azi laughed. “There are so many things to eat, you don’t have to eat it every night. But if you decide you want to, you can.”
He nodded, chewing, as he eagerly looked at the microwave when it dinged.
“Here we go. Hummus and eggplant vegetable plate.” She placed it on the kitchen island in front of him and he sampled it, too.
“Very good. Excellent food. I think needing to eat may be a good thing,” he said, mixing some of his eggplant with a bite of meatloaf and chewing appreciatively.
“I also have fruit, which I like cold, so I keep it in the fridge. And cheeses and preserved meats. I have eggs and bread and butter. There is no shortage of food. If you want something, help yourself, or ask me and I can show you how to eat it if you’re not sure.”
Ra nodded as he took another bite and peeked into the container holding the rest of the salad she’d left when she’d made her own plate.
“You want that?” she asked.
He nodded.
“This is eaten cold. I’ve got it, bring the rest of your food and we’ll go in the living room. I have an idea.”
He didn’t argue, just kept eating as he held both Styrofoam plates and followed her.
She sat down and placed his salad on the coffee table in front of them, then picked up her own salad and started eating. “Okay, now, I was thinking that rather than watching a movie, there are several news channels. I thought we could watch the news from several different areas to give you a look at the world in general, and then if we’re not sleepy yet, there’s a channel all about history. We can watch that if it’s something you’re interested in.”
“Okay.” He coughed a little and she realized she hadn’t given him anything to drink.
“Hold on. I forgot to get you something to drink. I’ll be back.” Minutes later she was back with two bottles of water and two bottles of sweet peach tea. “Here. This is water. This is tea with sugar and peach juice in it.”
Ra didn’t question her, he reached for the tea, hesitating only momentarily as he watched her twist the top off a bottle of water before doing the same and taking a drink. “This is the best drink I’ve ever tasted!” he exclaimed.
She smiled at him and nudged her tea his way. “I usually drink water unless it’s breakfast, then I’ll have coffee or milk. Sometimes a hot tea, but coffee is so much easier. Everyone sells it. And I have a coffee maker so that makes it simple.”
She flipped channels for a few seconds until she found what she was looking for. “Here we go. The local news,” she said, turning to the appropriate channel and sitting back to watch the program with him.
Surprisingly, he didn’t ask any questions. He just watched, his eyes taking in everything he saw.
When that program was over, she turned to another and another, finally showing him a news program from the United States, followed by one on the BBC, and another from Europe.
“So, do you have any questions?” she asked.
“No. It seems to me that not much has changed. Except that humans no longer look for the intervention of the gods. They no longer fear the wrath of the gods. And even worse, humans still kill other humans. Some are still left starving, while others pretend not to notice. It doesn’t matter which land they live in, there is hunger, thirst, sickness, not enough shelter, and through it all, those who are strongest continue to ignore those weaker. It has always been the way of the powerful. It’s the reason we decided to rule — to keep the peace. To maintain accountability.”
“Hold on, though. You keep threatening to smite everyone from the face of the planet because they don’t recognize and pay homage to you. Me included. How is that any different than those who are in power today?”
“Those in power today are not gods. They are not immortal. They do not have unlimited power over life and death, feast and famine, peace and war. They are simply human and have made wiser choices than those around them.”
“So, you’re saying, if you’re born a god you have certain rights.”
Ra thought about it, and the idea was obviously painful for him to admit. “I’m not saying all we did was right, or without question. I’m saying we didn’t kill our own kind.”
“But you killed some.”
“Yes. But if you killed them all, there would be no one to worship you! You cannot kill all of your subjects. It is common sense. And when you reward your people for their loyalty, for their reverence of you and all you provide them with, they are happy. You are happy. There is peace.”
“I think that because you come from the state of mind that you come from, and I come from the state of mind that I come from, we will never quite agree on that. People should all be equal.”
“Yes! Agreed. And they were all treated equally by each of us.” He thought about it for several moments. “Well, most of us. And that is what we strove for. Unless they sought to undermine the laws and rules set out by myself and my fellow gods. And let me just point out that not all were as patient as I was. I was quite magnanimous. Anubis, on the other hand, was infamous for his impatience.”
She sat, looking at him with a stunned look on her face.
“Why do you look like that? That is not a good look.”
