Warmer days had finally arrived, and Philip lay on the cool ground in the igloo-shaped empty space beneath Mrs. Discher’s bushes, his and Emery’s unofficial clubhouse, waiting for Emery. The bushes had turned green enough to hide him and Emery from view to anyone passing by on the sidewalk. Enough grass survived in the splotchy sunlight coming through the leaves to keep their pants from getting covered with dirt. Emery had been away with his family for a week visiting a sick relative who lived far away. No school, no fourth grade, for a week while everybody else slaved away. Talk about your good luck.
The new, dark green leaves on the bushes rustled softly in the breeze. Philip smiled as he recalled Emery’s complaints about having to travel in the car with his cousin Leon. Leon the loser. Leon the unlucky. Leon the disaster magnet. With Leon in the picture, maybe Emery wasn’t so lucky after all.
The bushes shook as Emery crawled through the small entry passage the boys had made by pulling off a few branches here and there.
“Well,” Emery said, “I’m back.”
“What kept you? You said one o’clock. I’ve been waiting. How was the trip?”
“Ugh! I had to sleep in the same room with Leon every night.”
“What about the sick person?”
“Uncle Harvey?”
“I don’t know. Was Uncle Harvey sick?”
“Of course, he’s sick. That’s why we went to see him.”
“So how was Uncle Harvey?”
“Sick.”
Philip glared at his friend. “Is he getting better?”
“I suppose. Maybe not. I don’t know. Ha! Leon knocked over the table with Uncle Harvey’s medicine on it. You should’ve heard everybody scream. I thought Uncle Harvey was going to go pfft right there. People crawled around looking for spilled pills, and Aunt Marie had to mop up some green, syrupy medicine from the floor, then rush to the drug store to get some more. Leon stood flapping his arms blabbering, I didn’t know, I didn’t know. You know how he is.”
“So why are you late?”
“Not my fault. Leon. As soon as we got home I had to go to his house and help him bury his mummy.”
“You what!”
“I had to help him bury his mummy.”
“In the ground? You had to help?”
“Of course, in the ground.”
“In the cemetery!”
“The cemetery? Of course not. In the backyard.”
“What! And you had to help?” Philip nearly shouted.
“Shhh. Somebody’ll hear you.”
“Never mind hearing me. What was wrong with his mommy?”
Emery shrugged. “Nothing, I guess.”
“You buried his mommy and you weren’t sure if there was something wrong? His mommy had to be sick, at least.”
“No, his mummy was dead.”
“Dead! Didn’t she just go on the trip with you?”
“Who?”
“Who! Leon’s mommy!”
“His mother?”
“Yes. His mother; his mommy”
“Sure, she went on the trip.”
“And when you got home you had to bury her?”
“Bury who?”
“His mother!”
“Bury his mother?”
“Yes, his mother!”
“No, she made us lunch while we buried his mummy.”
Philip got to his knees. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Emery shrugged and spread his arms.
“Emery, start over. Who got buried?”
“Nobody.”
“What do you mean nobody? You said you buried Leon’s mommy.”
“No, I didn’t. I didn’t say that. I said we buried his mummy, not his mommy. How could you think we buried his mother? Get your ears checked.”
“Get your mouth checked.”
“You really think we dug a gigantic hole in the backyard, put Leon’s mother into it, and then covered her up with dirt?”
“That’s what you said.”
“I did not! You’re crazy.”
“So Leon’s mother is okay? I thought, like, she died on the trip.”
“Sure, she’s okay. She made us lunch, didn’t she? We buried the mummy Leon made. His mother’s fine. She didn’t die on the trip. When I left Leon’s house, though, she was dying.”
“Dying! You just said she made you lunch and she was okay. What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing.”
“So why’s she dying?”
“She wants her brown hair to be a lighter color.”
Slowly, Philip said, “She’s dying her hair?”
“Right.”
Philip slumped back onto the dirt. “Can’t you ever make sense all the time?”
“I do make sense all the time. Sometimes, you’re just…” Emery tapped one finger to his temple.
The boys sat quietly for a moment. Philip had a question in his mind but was afraid to ask it. Finally, he couldn’t help himself. He had to know.
“Why did Leon bury a mummy?”
“He buried it so he can bring it back to life.”
Philip glared at his friend a second time.
Emery shrugged and said, “That’s his plan. He said it’s what mummies do. He’s studying Egypt in school. It’s all he talked about in the car for like a million hours, going to Uncle Harvey’s and coming back.”
“Why isn’t our class studying about Egypt?”
“I don’t know. I suppose we’ll get to it.”
Philip considered. “I saw a movie. A mummy is a giant thing. How did…”
“No, no. Leon made a mummy this big.” Emery held his hands about eight inches apart. “He used up all the bandages and Band-Aids and a whole box of tissues in Uncle Harvey’s house. Uncle Harvey went to blow his nose and ended up holding an empty tissue box. Then he sneezed and all this nose stuff…”
“All right. All right. Skip the nose stuff part!”
“Leon’s mother and his aunt thought Leon was nuts. They weren’t happy he used up all Uncle Harvey’s stuff.”
“So Leon made a mummy and…?”
“He made it. We rode home in the car with it. When we got home, we buried it in his backyard. It’s what I already told you. I helped Leon bury his mummy.”
“I thought you said he buried his mommy… never mind. And he’s going to bring the mummy back to life?”
“He got books out of the library. He said there’s an Egypt show at the museum downtown. That’s why his teacher decided to study Egypt now—so they could go to the museum and see real Egypt stuff. Leon thinks he’s gonna study and learn enough to bring his mummy back to life.”
“So we’ll have a midget mummy walking around the neighborhood soon?”
“I don’t know about walking. It’s got real stubby legs and one leg is longer than the other one. Leon didn’t pack the tissues in right. And he didn’t give it any eyes.”
“So we’ll have a limping mummy bumping into things?”
“I guess.”
Philip and Emery locked eyes and burst into laughter.
“Probably get run over by a car,” Emery gasped.
“Or fall down the sewer,” Philip responded. The boys broke into laughter again.
“Let’s go see him,” Philip suggested when he got his breath back.
“Leon? You sure?”
Philip smiled and shrugged. Emery shrugged back, and both boys crawled out of the bushes, and off to Leon’s house they went.