Page 22 of Ra
“Noted. I’ll see what I can do to get more.”
Ra inclined his head, picked up his coffee and went back to the living room.
“While I finish up in here, can you please get dressed?!” she called after him.
“No,” he called back. He smiled to himself as he turned his head to look toward the kitchen. Why in the world would he want to get dressed when he could just walk around like this and keep getting the looks she kept sending his way when she thought he wasn’t watching? Yes, he was out of sorts, trying to acclimate to this new life he’d been thrust into. Yes, he was fromanother era, another world, another civilization. But whether he was a god or human, he was a male at the base of it all, and the looks she was directing his way all said the same thing, regardless of the time period they were in. She liked his body. And he was very, very happy to make notice of that.
“I am still waiting for food!” he reminded her.
“What the hell was I thinking?” she whispered. “What am I going to do with a human, er god, I mean… never mind.”
Chapter 6
Ra set his plate aside and delicately dabbed his lips with his paper-towel. “Quite good, Azi. And here I thought you couldn’t cook.”
“Scrambled eggs and toast is not cooking. It’s more, warming.”
“I disagree. Delicious,” he said, nodding for emphasis.
The phone started ringing again, and Azi closed her eyes, praying for it to be anyone other than her father. But the moment the answering machine clicked on and made its obligatory outgoing message, she knew the prayer was wasted.
“Azenath, are you there? You should have been up and about by now! Are you avoiding me?”
Azi sighed as she got up and literally dragged her feet across the floor as she moved toward the old dial-style telephone sitting on the console table against the wall where her father’s chair used to sit. She picked up the telephone, and despite her answering the phone, the answering machine — true to the way they always operated — did not click off. It recorded and played their entire conversation aloud. “Hello, Father.”
“Azenath! There you are, my girl! Are you well?”
“I am, Father. Just catching up on some much needed rest.”
“Oh, well, I trust you’ve caught up. There is much to be done if we’re to make the first lecture at university! Up and about now!”
“I’ve told the directors at the museum, and the Department of Antiquities, that I’ll be ready in two weeks.”
“Two weeks! You already are ready! You found it! You know every centimeter of the Tomb! All you have to do is describe your discovery, show the photos, answer questions, andboom! You’ve got twenty more students interested in the most honorable profession out there… archeology! And benefactors and donations for everything we need to continue the digs in the region!”
“I’m not sure everyone thinks digging up the past can be considered the most honorable profession,” Azi said.
“You are preserving the lives, the beliefs, the very words of a people who no longer exist. They can’t speak for themselves. You insure they’ll live forever, Azenath. You give their existence immortality.”
“Father, they have descendants. I’m fairly certain their descendants can speak on their behalf.”
“True enough, but they can’t actually bring the average person into the past and give them the ability to literally see examples of those lives from thousands of years ago. We can do that. We can show them their valuables, their final resting places, their foods, their drinks, their cities, their crops, their gods.”
Azi sensed movement behind her and turned to find Ra standing there with his hands on his hips, his feet planted as he nodded insistently.
“I hope I can do the Tomb of Ra justice.”
“It is the Temple of Ra, not the tomb,” Ra said.
Azi lifted a hand and waved him away, while listening to her father.
“Of course, you can. I’m working on my rehabilitation team here to make sure they release me in time to assist. There will be investors attending this first presentation! If they’re impressed, and I know well they will be, it will mean more funding for the university. More funding for the Department of Antiquities. More funding for the museum! This is the most fascinating find since King Tutankhamen! You are the new golden child ofEgyptology, Azenath. Your find will provide for the people of Egypt in so many ways, if you just present it properly.”
“Father, it’s your dig, too. It was with your papers and guidance that I found it. And Abasi! If not for Abasi, I might not have stumbled on it at all!”
“It is your dig, your find, Azenath. It was waiting for you. I’ve always known you were meant for such greatness! It was just a matter of the right time. Abasi knew it as well.”
“I don’t feel right taking all the credit. It wasn’t just me. It was a group effort.”
