اوزیریس و شیث

CHAPTER SEVEN

Osiris and Seth

Owen was reading a book about Egyptian gods. It said that Osiris, the one who judges those who die, was once a king. His brother Seth wanted to be king, so he played a trick on Osiris. He brought him a beautiful, large chest, and he told the king that he could have the chest if he could fit inside it. After the king lay down in the chest, Seth quickly closed it, threw it into the Nile river, and it sailed out to sea.

Owen put the book down, because he began thinking of his own father’s death. His father had been killed at an archaeological site. He was a famous archaeologist, which is why Owen wanted to be one. Owen’s uncle was with Owen’s father when he died. He came to live with Owen and his mother afterwards, and Owen had always thought his uncle didn’t care about his father’s death. He never talked about him and he behaved as if he were Owen’s father. The voice he heard at the professor’s suddenly meant something to him. He felt he had to talk to Monica. He remembered where she lived, because he had driven her home from the professor’s. He hoped she wasn’t asleep.

Monica was asleep when she heard the loud knocking at her door. It frightened her.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Owen. Could you open the door? I have to talk to you!”

Owen looked awful. He held his books tightly in his arms and his hair stood up on his head as if he had been pulling at it.

“Can I come in? I’ve got something really important to talk to you about.”

“Yes, come in, but calm down.”

Monica made them some hot chocolate while Owen told her what he had read.

“I still don’t understand what that story has to do with your uncle.”

“That was my uncle’s voice we heard at Professor Lloyd’s. I know it’s wrong, but I always thought my uncle had something to do with my father’s death. He never talked about it.”

“But that has nothing to do with the scarab.”

“It does. Don’t you remember Professor Lloyd telling us about the markings on the back?”

“Yes.”

“Well, one of those marks was the ram’s horn. It’s the sign of water, which connects all the other signs. Osiris was killed by water. He looks after the dead, that’s why there arc the markings of the dog’s teeth.”

“And the hawk’s wing?”

“Osiris’ son, Horus, killed his uncle for his lather. When Horus died, he became the hawk god who sits by his father when he judges the dead and cries for them.”

Monica touched the scarab around her neck. She knew that she and Owen had been brought together for some reason. Maybe she could do something for him. Owen was holding his cup of hot chocolate, thinking very hard. Finally, he spoke.

“I think I should go and talk to my uncle.”

“He would probably like that.”

“I haven’t spoken to him in five years.”

“Would you like me to go with you?”

He looked at Monica. “Yes.”