by John Paulits
Philip and Emery nodded.
“He’s been sad since he heard. He hardly talks. How could anybody think he would take anything?”
Jane slumped back in her chair again.
Philip cleared his throat. “Anyway, thanks for the party. I liked your goody bag. It had a lot of great stuff in it.”
“Yeah, really good stuff,” Emery said.
“Too much great stuff,” Leon added softly.
Jane waved her hand. “So what? What does it matter?”
“Whose goody bag is in the hallway?” Philip asked. “Did you give yourself one?”
In a sassy voice, Jane said, “No, I didn’t give myself one. Linda had a fever and couldn’t come. I told her I’d hold onto her bag ’til she got better.”
Philip stared at the bag. “That bag’s from the party? You brought it home from the party?”
Jane frowned. “Of course.”
Philip stepped toward the front door.
“Where are you going?” Jane asked.
Philip bobbed his head toward Jane and whispered to Emery, “Talk to her.”
Emery said, “So, Jane, are you coming to the pyramid today?”
Philip moved toward the goody bag which stood open by the hall closet. When he was two steps from it, he reached into his pocket and curled his fingers around the scarab. The doorbell rang, and Mrs. Davenport hurried to answer it.
“Who can that be?” she said. “It never stops around here. Who left this bag out in the hallway? Jane, come and move your party bag, please. It’s in the way.”
Mrs. Davenport opened the door, and Philip recognized the two police detectives from the museum. Jane walked over and picked up the bag. She took it into the living room and put it next to her chair.
Philip returned to his friends. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport talked in the hallway with the two detectives. Jane walked past the boys so she could listen.
“Where’d you go?” Emery said.
Philip spoke quickly. “Look, if the scarab could fall into Leon’s bag, it could fall into anybody’s bag. I’m going to drop the scarab into…” He pointed toward Jane’s chair. “I’ll do it now.” He took a step but Jane returned, and Philip halted.
“They want to talk to my father again about the stupid scarab,” she said.
The four adults walked into the living room.
Mrs. Davenport said, “Children, go into the kitchen. We need to talk in here.”
Jane threw a fierce look toward the two detectives and started angrily toward the kitchen.
“We better take the goody bag with us,” Philip said, surprising himself at how loud he spoke.
“What for?” Jane asked.
“We… we… we…” Philip stammered.
“Maybe there’s something inside we can play with,” Emery said. “Get the bag, Leon.”
Leon, uncertain what was going on, didn’t move.
“Leon… oh, I’ll get it,” Philip said.
“Jane,” Mrs. Davenport said, “will you please put this bag someplace it won’t be in the way?”
“I’ll get it,” Emery said.
“No, I can get it,” Jane insisted.
Leon finally got the idea and made a rush toward the bag.
“Ouch!” Jane cried. “You stepped on my foot.”
“Get the bag,” Leon shouted.
Philip and Emery crashed shoulders reaching for the bag.
“Children…” Mrs. Davenport said. “Give me the bag. For heaven’s sake.”
“I’ll get it,” Leon said, and his hand joined Philip’s and Emery’s hand reaching for the bag. Philip finally took charge of the bag.
“Give it here,” Mrs. Davenport said, reaching out her hand.
Emery grabbed Mrs. Davenport’s hand and shook it up and down. “Thank you for the party,” he said. “Great party. Leon, shake Mrs. Davenport’s hand and say thank you.”
Leon took the woman’s hand in both of his and worked it like a pump handle until he saw Philip disappear into the kitchen with the goody bag.
The children met in the kitchen and sat around the table.
“Let’s see what’s in the goody bag,” Philip said loudly. “Here, Leon. You can do the looking. Look in the bag, Leon.”
“You already know what’s in the bag,” Jane said. “Everybody got the same stuff. Who cares what’s in the bag? The police are talking to my father.”
“Take a look anyway, Leon,” Philip said, his voice rising. He wanted Leon to be the one to find the scarab. It would change him from unlucky troublemaker to hero in a flash.
Leon bent his head over the bag.
Jane made a grab for the bag, but Philip pulled the bag back. “It’s just stuff everybody got,” she said. “Gimme the stupid bag.”
“Take the stuff out and see what’s there,” Philip insisted pushing the bag toward Leon.
“Gimme the bag,” Jane said.
“You better check it out, Leon,” Philip said. “Hurry up!”
Emery kicked Leon under the table. “Empty it out and look, Leon.”
“All right. I’m gonna look. You don’t have to kick me.”
As Leon took things out of the bag, Philip tried to get Jane’s attention. He said, “We know your father didn’t take the scarab. Some kind of accident must have happened.”
“Something happened,” Jane said. “Because my father didn’t do anything.”
Leon screamed.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jane cried. “The police will think this whole family’s nuts.”
Jane’s mother appeared in the doorway. “What was that?”
Leon held up the scarab.
Mr. Davenport’s head appeared over his wife’s shoulder.
“Who screamed…?” Then Mr. Davenport screamed. “That’s it! That’s the Amenhotep scarab! Where did you get it?” He took the scarab from Leon. “Where did you get this?”
“I was… I was…” Leon couldn’t speak.
Philip came to the rescue. “He found the scarab inside the goody bag. It must have flown in there when everything went all over the place.”
Emery chimed in. “No wonder nobody could find it. But there it is.”
“This is the scarab, officers!” Mr. Davenport said. “The missing scarab! It’s a miracle! I have to call the museum right away.”
The next hour went by in a blur. Phone calls; Mr. Tyson, the museum boss, showing up at the house; the detectives pronouncing the case closed; Jane crying again; Leon being repeatedly congratulated.
The museum boss carefully wrapped the scarab in pink tissue paper and took it back to the museum. Mrs. Davenport gave Leon a big hug and even a kiss, which started him yuk yuking. Philip and Emery took their share of the credit but were relieved when it came time to say good-bye. The children promised to meet the next day after school in the pyramid, and the boys walked home, Leon bubbling over with thanks to Philip and Emery for getting him out of a world of trouble.
Chapter Eleven
Philip, Emery, and Leon sat in their pyramid after school on Monday, Leon still gushing gratitude for his salvation.
“You guys really helped me,” Leon said. “I haven’t seen the mummy since we gave back the scarab. Not even once!”
Philip gave Emery an eye roll and said, “That’s great, Leon.”
Emery’s eyes did not roll. “Not even the little one—the one we saw through the bushes and out your window?”
“Nope, none,” Leon reported. “Something weird happened today in school, though.”
“What?” Emery asked, sitting up.
“Jane kept looking at me funny.”
Emery relaxed.
“How funny?” Philip asked.
Leon shrugged. “Kinda like she was mad at me. But she can’t be mad, right? We found the scarab and saved her father from the police.”
“What did she say?” Philip asked.
“She wasn’t saying-anything mad; just looking-at-me mad. After school she told me she’d be at the
pyramid, and we better be there, too.”
“Well, we’re here,” Emery said.
No sooner had Emery spoken than the bushes rattled, and Jane crawled into the space.
“Where’s your hair?” Philip asked.
“It’s growing out of my head. See it?” She gave her bangs a tug.
“I mean your Cleopatra hair.”
“Forget my hair. Something strange is going on here, and I want to know what.”
No one answered.
“Well?” Jane insisted.
“What do you mean strange?” Philip asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
“The scarab showing up in Linda’s party bag. That’s what I mean strange.”
“It fell inside,” Philip argued.
“No, it didn’t.”
“How do you know?” Philip asked. “Did you see where everything fell when Leon… I mean when the case tipped over?”
“Linda’s bag was still in the party room when the exhibit case went flying. I don’t think the scarab spread its wings, opened the door, flew out of the room and down the hallway, opened the door to the party room, and then dropped into Linda’s bag. Do you?”
The boys had no answer.
Jane went on. “Some of the kids took their bags with them to hear my father’s story. You did, Leon. Nobody took Linda’s bag. Something funny’s going on. And what was with that mummy showing up and making everybody run around and knock over the case. Nobody came to my party dressed like a mummy. I guess you don’t know anything about the mummy either?”
Philip and Emery shook their heads. Emery said, “Nope, we were in the room listening to your father’s story.”
“What was the story about, Philip?” Jane challenged.
Emery blurted. “About a mummy with a golden arm, and the pharaoh going looking for it. Everybody knows that.”
“I asked Philip, big mouth.”
“The story was about a mummy with a golden arm and the pharaoh going looking for it,” Philip repeated lamely. He shrugged. “Everybody knows that.”
“Oh, really?” Jane said, her eyes narrowing. “There’s something funny going on with you guys.” She paused. “It got my father out of trouble, though, so I guess I can’t complain.”
“What’s in the bag you brought?” Emery asked, hoping to get Jane’s mind off something funny.
“Mallomars.”
The boys murmured their approval.
“Don’t thank me. My mother made me bring them. She doesn’t know something funny’s going on.”
“Are you gonna open the cookies?” Emery asked, still hoping to change the subject.
Jane gave the boys one final, hard glare. “Here, you do it.”
Emery opened the cookies and passed them around.
“Are we still gonna play Egypt?” Emery said between bites.
“Are you asking me?” Jane said.
“Yeah.”
“I’m tired of Egypt,” she answered.
“Yeah, me, too,” Philip agreed. He’d be very happy to move on to something else as soon as possible.
“Oh, guess what I saw walking over here,” Jane said.
Leon came to attention. “Not a mummy, I hope.”
“How’d you know? How’d you know? I swear something funny’s going on here.”
“You saw a mummy!” Leon cried, getting to his knees.
“I saw Mrs. White’s dog walking around with something in its mouth. It looked like a tiny mummy. It must be one you buried.”
“Oh!” Philip cried.
“Oh! Yeah! I get it,” Emery said.
“What? What?” asked a panicked Leon.
“We saw it, too,” Philip said. “Leon, Mrs. White’s dog must have dug up the mummy you buried.”
“It did?”
“You saw the scratch marks in the dirt,” Emery said. “When we saw the mummy through the bushes, it was the dog carrying it.”
“And at your window,” Philip said. “The dog probably jumped up.”
Leon thought back. “Skippy? So you think I’m safe?”
“Of course, you’re safe,” Philip said.
“Safe from what?” Jane shouted.
The boys didn’t answer.
“Something funny’s going on here,” Jane repeated.
Emery stretched the package of cookies toward her. “Have a Mallomar.”
When the Mallomars were nearly at bottom, Jane said, “I gotta go. My father’s taking the family to dinner tonight to celebrate the return of the scarab.”
“You should take Leon, too, then,” Philip said with a smile. “He found it. He’s the hero.”
Leon gave a yuk yuk.
“I don’t think so,” Jane said, with a curl of her lip. “I’ll see later.”
“Wow.” Philip sighed. “She almost guessed.”
“We gotta keep a big secret, guys,” Leon said.
The boys swore on all the gods of Egypt to keep their secret. When they finished off the final Mallomars, they wiped their chocolatey fingers on the grass and started home. When Leon split off and went his own way, Emery said, “You better not dress like a mummy for Halloween. Jane will recognize you.”
“I probably have to. I told my father to buy the costume. Don’t worry. I’ll think of something. And you better tell me about the golden mummy arm story in case Jane asks me again.”
“I don’t know how it ends. You showed up and spoiled things.”
“Just tell me as much as you know.”
“I will. What kind of a birthday party do you think Jane’ll have next year?” Emery asked.
“I don’t think it will be about Egypt,” Philip said.
“Or at a museum, either.”
“After this one, her mother might never give her another birthday party again in her whole life.”
“She’ll have to stay ten years old forever,” Emery said.
“And spend her whole life in fourth grade.”
“In about a hundred years, she’ll be the smartest kid in class.”
The boys laughed as Emery turned up his walk. Philip continued down the block, relieved that his dangerous trip into Egypt had, at long last and despite Jane’s suspicions, ended safely. At least for the moment.
About the Author
John Paulits is a former elementary school teacher. He has published many children’s novels, several about Philip and Emery, as well as numerous adult novels. Philip and the Mummy is his eighteenth children’s novel published by Gypsy Shadow. He lives in New York City and spends each summer at the Jersey shore.
WEBSITE: www.johnpaulits.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/john.paulits
BLOG: https://johnpaulits.wordpress.com/
OTHER: http://www.manicreaders.com/JohnPaulits/
