Storms and Scarabs

by H. R. Hobbs

  Jabari nodded. “Mitch,” he repeated, but it came out Mih-tuh-chuh. The boys laughed at Jabari’s pronunciation, as did Rehema. “I am sorry. I will work on saying it correctly.” Jabari picked up his stew and took a spoonful. “The stories of your great-grandfather have been passed down through my family for many years. It has always been an honour to have a visitor from the Great Beyond to bless our home.”

  “So, you didn’t know my great-grandpa?” Mitch asked before trying the stew. The strange but delicious flavours hit his tongue. His stomach growled loud enough for everyone to hear. Jabari and Rehema laughed at the sound. So did Brock. Mitch blushed. “Sorry. I’m really hungry.”

  Jabari translated his words to Rehema.

  “No need to be sorry,” Jabari replied. “You two eat. I will tell you what I know about your great-grandfather.”

  Anxious to hear what Jabari had to say, Mitch settled in to hear the story while he ate.

  “My father was the one who told me about your great-grandfather. He would have been Rehema’s age when your great-grandfather arrived in Egypt. He landed right here in our home. My grandfather found him hiding in his house one night as he came home from work.”

  “That must have been a surprise,” Brock observed before taking his spoon and scraping the last bits of stew out of his bowl.

  “It was. The way my grandfather told it, he came into his room and there huddled in the corner was a man wearing strange blue clothes and a funny hat. His head was shaved except for a bit on the top.” Jabari circled the area on his own head to show them where the hair was.

  “A buzz cut,” Mitch explained.

  Jabari frowned. “Buzz cut?”

  “Yeah. That’s the haircut everyone had in the Navy back in those days.” Mitch stopped and thought. “In fact, it’s the same haircut they wear now.”

  Rehema tapped her dad’s arm and asked him something. He replied and then turned back to the boys. “Needless to say, my grandfather was frightened. He had never seen a man like this before and he was going to run for help. Your great-grandfather must have sensed how he was feeling and somehow convinced him not to.”

  “But they wouldn’t have been able to communicate,” Brock noted. “How was he able to convince your grandfather not to have him arrested or something?”

  “Ah, well, that is where George got lucky. Similar to how you did, landing in a pig’s pen that Rehema was tending. You see, at the time my grandfather was an apprentice at the royal embalming shop.”

  “Embalming shop? What’s that?”

  Mitch nodded at Brock’s question. He’d never heard of it either. But it sounded cool.

  “It is where they prepare a person’s body for the afterlife.”

  Mitch shivered. Maybe not that cool after all. He immediately thought of how frail Hank had looked when they’d visited him. He hated to think about Hank ending up in there. It wasn’t any place he wanted to work. To be around dead people all day? No way!

  “My grandfather very much wanted to see the world. It had always been a dream of his to explore the Nile and beyond. He would spend a lot of his time with the servants from other countries that were also apprenticing at the shop. He would beg them to tell him stories of their homelands and to teach him their languages.”

  “So . . .” Mitch pieced the puzzle together in his head. “When he discovered my great-grandpa, he saw him as a visitor from another country that he could learn from?”

  “Exactly!” Jabari clapped his hands together. “My grandfather gave him some of his clothes and disguised him as a servant. They worked side by side for some time in the shop.”

  “Did your grandfather say how long they worked together?”

  Brock’s question echoed Mitch’s thoughts. How long his great-grandpa was here might give them an idea of how long they were going to be here.

  “It was for some time.” Jabari thought for a moment. “At least a year. It took them that long to figure out a way to get your great-grandfather home.”

  “A year?” Brock burst out.

  But at the mention of home, Mitch’s eyes lit up. If Jabari knew how his great-grandpa got home, maybe he could get them home. He could get them to the nearest airport, couldn’t he?

  “How did they do it?” Mitch asked.

  “Yeah, how did they get him home?”

  Jabari could hear the excitement in the boys’ questions. “They found a way, but it was very dangerous.” He paused. “Rehema tells me that you have the spyglass. I take it that is what brought you here.”

  At the mention of the spyglass, Mitch and Brock looked at each other, asking the silent question, Should we tell him?

  Brock shrugged as if to say, What choice have we got?

  Jabari knew about his great-grandpa. That was enough for Mitch to trust him.

  Mitch cautiously began, “We think that may be how we got here. What do you know about the spyglass?”

  Jabari laid his bowl on the ground in front of him. “Only what my father told me. They worked together to solve the mystery of how he came here, while at the same time avoiding discovery so your great-grandfather could get back home. I am proud to say they did both.”

  “And what was the answer?”

  “The answer lay in finding an amulet.”

  Mitch heard the regret in Jabari’s voice.

  “What’s an amulet?”

  “A stone that contains protective powers.”

  “So where can we get one?”

  Jabari frowned. “It took them nearly six months to find one to send your great-grandfather home.”

  Brock sat up straight. “Can we use that one?”

  “Unfortunately, no. The amulet went with your great-grandfather.”

  Brock’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

  Mitch’s mind was racing. If what Jabari said was true, where was the amulet now? They hadn’t come across it while searching the attic, and they definitely weren’t able to go look for it now. Why hadn’t his great-grandpa put it with the spyglass? It would have come in real handy right about now.

  “But once he had this amulet, he did get home. How?”

  “Well . . .” Jabari paused, lowering his voice. “My family has been sworn to secrecy for two generations.”

  Mitch didn’t know if that was good news or bad news.

  “So, then . . . do you know the secret?” Mitch crossed his fingers in the hope that Jabari’s father had told him everything.

  Jabari folded his arms across his chest and smiled like a cat who’d eaten a huge bowl of cream. “I do.”

  When he didn’t explain further, Mitch asked impatiently, “So? What was the secret?”

  Uncrossing his arms, Jabari leaned closer and spoke in a whisper.

  “The sarcophagus of Zet.”

  He sat back and smiled again.

  “What’s a sarcophagus?” Mitch looked from Jabari to Brock for the answer.

  “It is the stone container that holds the coffin,” Jabari explained.

  The boys nodded like they knew the answer all along.

  “Your great-grandfather was working in the embalming shop with my grandfather and his brothers when the high priest died. It is our custom—”

  “Hold a second. High priest? I thought they only had those in ancient times.”

  “What are ancient times?” Jabari asked.

  “You know, back when the pharaoh was the ruler. Back then.”

  Jabari frowned. “But Pharaoh is the ruler.”

  And it was then that it hit Mitch. They hadn’t travelled to a different place, they had travelled back in time thousands of years.

  This is Ancient Egypt!

  Chapter 12

  Mitch felt his face heat up. His heart raced. This was worse than he thought. He looked to see if Brock had had the same realization, and from the ashen colour of his face, he had. Jabari continued talking about the amulets, but none of it was registering for Mitch.
It was going to be impossible to get home now.

  But then he remembered: his great-grandpa had made it home. He gave himself a mental shake and focused on what Jabari was telling them.

  “—to place amulets within linens that we wrap the bodies in. One of the amulets that was to be placed with the high priest was a scarab made of lapis lazuli.”

  Jabari took another drink from the gourd.

  “A scarab?” Mitch asked. He remembered something to do with scarabs in Indiana Jones. “Like the beetle?”

  “You know it?” Jarbari slapped his knee in delight.

  There was no way he was going to explain movies to Jabari. Mitch just nodded and Jabari continued.

  “It happened one morning. You understand that it takes seventy days to prepare a body for burial. Pharaoh had delivered a number of blessed items to put with the body. My grandfather was tasked with unpacking the items. Your great-grandfather had put his hand into the box to retrieve one of the wrapped items, and right at that moment he felt the spyglass stir. He told my grandfather and the two of them quickly unwrapped each of the items. I remember the excitement in my father’s voice as he described what happened next.”

  Jabari stopped. Mitch wanted to tell him to hurry up and tell them what happened, but squirmed in his seat instead.

  “Your great-grandfather picked up one of the items and felt the spyglass, which he kept hidden under his clothing, begin to get hot. So hot that it burned his skin.”

  “Oh, man,” Mitch said, taking the spyglass out of his back pocket. “Then what happened?”

  “My grandfather slipped it into his robes and snuck outside his father’s embalming shop. He gave the amulet to your great-grandfather, and when he put it next to the spyglass, it began to light up. Thinking this gave the spyglass power, he began to turn the sections. And suddenly, he was gone.”

  Mitch wasn’t as excited as Jabari seemed to be. Jabari knew that the amulet gave the spyglass power, but he didn’t seem to know how to get them back. But the lapis lazuli was the first clue they had to figuring out how to get back home. What they needed to figure out now was how to find a lapis lazuli amulet.

  Brock voiced exactly what Mitch was thinking: “Do you have any idea where we can find an amulet made of lapis lazuli?”

  “And what does it look like?” Mitch added. He’d figured out it was some kind of rare stone, but other than that he had no idea what it was, specifically.

  “It’s a deep-blue stone. As blue as the sky,” Jabari’s explained. “The problem is, lapis lazuli is not something that my family can access easily.”

  Mitch could tell that Jabari actually felt deep shame that this was the case.

  “What do we do now?” Brock asked. “We think we know how to get home . . . we just don’t have what we need to do it.”

  No one had an answer to Brock’s question.

  Sara, Jabari’s wife, arrived shortly after. A flurry of voices and questions came from the front entrance as Jabari explained why they had visitors. It took him quite a while to get her calmed down before he brought her to the back of the house where Mitch, Brock, and Rehema sat uncomfortably around the fire. Sara reluctantly shook their hands when Jabari introduced them. She sat and ate the bowl of stew Rehema prepared for her as Jabari talked to them. When the dishes were cleared, Rehema showed the boys to a small room. Two thin mats lay on the floor, covered with a thin blanket of the same material their robes were made of.

  Brock looked at Mitch in confusion. “Where are the pillows?”

  “I don’t think there are any from the looks of things.”

  Rehema watched them talk with a frown on her face. It was obvious to her that Mitch and Brock weren’t impressed with the sleeping arrangements. Noting the frown, Mitch plastered a smile on his face.

  “Thanks, Rehema. This is great.”

  She nodded and left the room.

  “I’m beat.” Brock laid on the nearest mat.

  “How is it?” Mitch asked as Brock folded his arms behind his head to make a pillow.

  “I think if we laid on the floor, it wouldn’t be much different.”

  Mitch agreed as he laid on the other mat. The room was dark except for the tiny sliver of moonlight that came in through the openings in the wall. Brock was a dark shadow beside him. After some time, Brock’s voice came from the dark.

  “Do you think we’re going to be able to find an amulet?”

  “I don’t know. My great-grandpa did it. We should be able to.”

  “Jabari said it was going to be hard.”

  “We’re lucky he’s agreed to help us. I have no clue where to find lapis lazuli in Egypt. Or anywhere else for that matter.”

  Brock didn’t reply. But then he said, “Do you think we can trust him?”

  Mitch thought he heard fear in Brock’s voice. He turned to look at him, but his face wasn’t visible in the shadows.

  “He couldn’t have made that story up. He knew too much about my great-grandpa. And he knows how to speak English, even if he does call me Mih-tuh-chuh.”

  Brock chuckled. Mitch was glad he was able to lighten the heavy mood in the room. If Brock was like him, he was worrying about his parents too. His stomach dipped as he thought about how upset they’d be when they discovered he and Brock were gone.

  I wish I’d never found that stupid spyglass.

  “I’m not looking forward to going to the embalming shop,” Mitch whispered. “The whole idea gives me the creeps.”

  “It is creepy. Did you know that in Ancient Egypt they removed the internal organs of the dead person and buried them in jars with the body?”

  Mitch’s supper did somersaults in his stomach as he pictured what Brock was talking about.

  “All except for the heart. They leave that in the person’s body.”

  Mitch’s supper was now marching from his stomach up to his throat.

  “Please, don’t tell me any more or my supper is going to make a repeat appearance.”

  “Sorry. You want me to get you some water?”

  “No. Let’s just try to get some sleep. We’ll deal with the embalming shop tomorrow.”

  Mitch rolled on his side, away from Brock. He knew he should get some sleep, but a million thoughts kept running through his head about the spyglass, the amulet, being stuck in Ancient Egypt, and the embalming shop. He heard Brock’s breathing become deeper and envied how quickly he fell asleep. Finally, his eyelids grew heavy and he drifted off to a troubled sleep.

  Chapter 13

  The next morning, the boys accompanied Jabari to work. Neither of the boys were thrilled about the idea, but they couldn’t stay alone in the house. Both Rehema and her mother, Sara, worked in the market during the day. Mitch thought it might be fun to go with Rehema to explore the market, but Jabari cautioned against it—at least until they were able to blend in more. They were both dressed in their robes. Mitch wore his over his clothes so he could hide the spyglass in his pocket. Brock said you could hardly tell, but Mitch wasn’t sure. He rolled his jeans up so they didn’t show when he walked. Brock only wore his robes, stating he wasn’t going to cook to death wearing all his clothes.

  Together with Jabari they had come up with a story to explain the boys’ sudden appearance. They were indentured apprentices who had come from southern Egypt to learn embalming from Jabari. He had never taken apprentices before, which was bound to raise the suspicions of the other embalmers, but it wasn’t an uncommon practice. Neither of the boys were excited by the plan, but they understood that it was necessary. Besides, they didn’t want to risk Jabari’s family if they were discovered. Who knew what would happen if the truth was found out?

  The sun blazed down as Mitch and Brock followed Jabari through the dusty streets. They wove their way through crowds and around animals and stalls. Dawn had barely cracked the horizon and already it felt as though they were being roasted in an oven. They each carried a skin of water made from the stomac
h of a goat. Sara had given them leather pouches holding their lunch. Mitch shivered at the idea of drinking out of the skin, but if it got much hotter, he was going to have to put his reservations to the side or die of thirst.

  The shop wasn’t that large, but like Jabari’s house it contained a number of rooms. There were only two other men there when they arrived. They tried to mask their shock as Jabari introduced them, but Mitch could tell they were immediately suspicious of both him and Brock. Jabari showed them around the shop. The embalming shop was an L-shape with a courtyard in the center. Jabari explained that each room was used for a different step in the mummification process. There were separate rooms for washing, drying, and wrapping the body. There was a room for carving the sarcophagus and another for the storage of the gifts that went into the sarcophagus. Mitch felt a little faint as he learned about everything involved in Egyptian mummification.

  One of the rooms contained the body of a wealthy merchant who had recently died. Mitch and Brock watched in horror as the man’s lungs were removed and put in a jar. Mitch suddenly felt hot. He was either going to faint or throw up.

  “See? I told you,” Brock blurted out, elbowing Mitch in the ribs.

  The man stopped what he was doing and looked at Brock. Not understanding Brock’s language, he said something to Jabari. Jabari pulled the man aside and spoke quietly to him. The man looked over his shoulder at them and nodded.

  “What do you think Jabari told them?” Brock whispered out of the side of his mouth.

  “I’m not sure, but I need to get out of here.”

  Brock finally noticed the grimace on Mitch’s face. “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m either going to puke or pass out,” Mitch answered through clenched teeth. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself in front of the workers in the shop. If he and Mitch were going to blend in here until they found a way home, he was going to have to toughen up.

  Jabari joined them and then in quiet tones explained that the man was removing the merchant’s lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines and putting them in something called “canopic” jars. Ancient Egyptians believed that the dead would need these organs in the afterlife, so they were buried in jars and placed in the sarcophagus.