Page 29 of Ra
“Of course. I thought you should as well. Follow me.” He led them to a changing area, with a couple of chairs sitting right outside. “Your wife can wait right here.”
“She needs to be inside with me,” Ra said without giving anyone a chance to suggest otherwise.
“The rooms are kind of small. She can sit right here and wait for you. You can come show her each item if you want her opinion.”
“I’ll wait here,” she said, handing him the clothes she carried. “Just come show me what they look like if you want to, or not. Just don’t choose something that doesn’t fit. We can get you a different size.”
Ra watched as she walked over and chose a seat. He followed her over and dropped half the clothes in her lap. “I will come back for those.”
“You do that,” she said, tired of the whole situation and ready to leave the store.
Azi sat quietly, as Ra spent the next thirty minutes trying on clothes. To her surprise, he only came back once to take the clothes she was holding for him back into the dressing rooms with him. She spent the time on her phone, scrolling through lists of the original inventory she’d made when they first discovered and were cataloging everything in the Tomb of Ra. She chose certain artifacts to be transported to the university and sent the emails to those who were responsible for such things. She was deep in trying to craft the beginning of her speech when she heard a throat clear and looked up from her phone. “Oh, wow.”
Ra smiled.
“You look amazing.”
He smiled even wider. “Do you really like it, or are you just trying to make me happy so I’ll leave the store more quickly.”
Azi took the time to look from his polished and shiny leather shoed feet up to his navy blue slacks, to his stiff, white cotton, long-sleeved, collared shirt. “You could be a fashion model. Very impressive.”
He grinned. “Thank you, dear Azenath. Our employee-servant offered cultural attire, but I opted for the style of clothing your father wears.”
“Not even a galabeya?” the salesman asked.
“I think you should have at least one,” Azi said.
“We can also provide full suits if you have need,” the salesman said.
“You called him an employee-servant. You know he’s not a servant, right?” Azi asked.
“Yes. He is a sales-employee. But I don’t think he cares what I call him, as long as we exchange a great amount of money for the clothing.”
“He’s right,” the salesman said.
Azi shook her head. “Please add two suits, or maybe just one suit and one jacket that can match several of the pairs of slacks and shirts for a business look, and a galabeya.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the salesman said. “Give me just a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Ra stood before her as the salesman hurried off to find a jacket that would match the clothes he’d already chosen, and a suit. He waited until she smiled up at him before he spoke. “I feel that you were irritated with me before.”
“Before what?” she asked.
“Before I tried on my clothes.”
“I was. But I thought I did a really good job of holding my tongue.”
“Why were you irritated?”
“Because you have no right to tell me who I can and can’t speak to. Because you embarrassed me in front of a complete stranger. Because you overstepped boundaries you had no right to overstep.”
“He wanted to be more than a stranger.”
“He was trying to make a sale. And even if he did, what gives you the right to decide that? Nothing! Not a single thing!”
“You do not belong to him.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t belong to anyone but me. Which means only I have the right to choose who I will and won’t speak to,interact with, spend time with. And regardless of who it is I choose, it certainly won’t be any of your concern.”
