The Mummy by Barbara Steiner

tonight?”
    â€œYou know I have to work,” Lana whispered back.
    â€œI know I’m tired of never seeing you except at school.” Josh was serious about what he said, but he was head cheerleader. Lana wouldn’t be able to sit with him even if she did go.
    â€œYou’ll appreciate me more when this is over,” she said, “but if you want to take someone else you can.” She didn’t mean that, but she wanted to give Josh some options. Josh shrugged and stopped at a case full of knives and spearheads.
    Lana stopped at the mummy of Nefra and stood beside him while Marge talked. In no time she was surrounded by the warmth she always felt, even though she wasn’t alone this time.
    â€œI’m sure you know some of the ritual of preparing a body for burial,” Marge said. “The funeral of a common man was probably similar to a funeral today. But when a king died the entire country took part in seventy-two days of mourning. People wept and tore their clothing. They smeared mud on their heads, and walked the streets singing dirges.”
    â€œWhat’s a dirge?” Sammy Bittner asked.
    â€œIt ain’t rock and roll,” Mindy Platt said, hanging on his arm, getting the laugh she expected.
    â€œA dirge is a slow, sad piece,” Marge answered. “Also, they didn’t eat wheat or animal food, or drink wine. They didn’t bathe or recline on couches or make love.”
    â€œHey, we would do that for you, Dreary.” Sammy used Mr. Drury’s nickname. “Wouldn’t we class?”
    â€œYeah, sure, sure we would,” most answered.
    â€œFor seventy-two days?” Mindy looked doubtful. “That’s over two months.”
    â€œWe’d sure stink.” Lucas Murray wrinkled his nose.
    Marge wasn’t disturbed by all the bantering from the class. “Do you want to hear about making a mummy?”
    Everyone did, of course.
    â€œThe body was washed and then cut open. The intestines, the heart, the lungs were taken out, washed, and filled with spices. They were smeared with oil and wrapped carefully. You see this jar, the big one. The parts were placed in four alabaster jars. The lids had different figures on top to protect the contents, and the jars were stored with the mummy in the tomb. It was very important to have the intestines preserved intact, for without them a man wouldn’t be able to live again.”
    Sammy had listened as long as he could. “He’d wander through eternity looking for them. Where are my intestines, oh where — ”
    Even Marge laughed. “I know all of this seems strange to us, but the ceremony was very important to the Egyptian people. Seventy days were spent embalming the body and wrapping it carefully. The coffin makers built at least two coffins, one to fit inside the other. This outer coffin is called a sarcophagus and is usually made of stone. The inner coffin, like you see here for Nefra, was decorated beautifully, and carved with the king’s likeness.”
    Lana looked at Nefra’s wooden face. It wasn’t hard for her to imagine that he was looking back at her. She remembered her dream and his coming to her last night, and she shivered. Then again, she tried to make her mind a blank and to concentrate on Marge’s lecture.
    â€œIs it true that some animals were buried this way, too?” Ann Robbins asked. “I know the Egyptians worshiped cats and other animals. Did they believe the animals would live again?”
    â€œYes, mummies of cats, crocodiles, hawks, frogs, snakes, scarab beetles, even a scorpion have been found.”
    â€œA mummy of a scorpion, ugh!” Josh laughed. “How would you embalm a scorpion?”
    Marge ignored the last question. She probably didn’t know the answer. “I’m not sure all those animals were worshiped, but they were held sacred. Do you know that in India today cattle and monkeys are