The next day the boys dropped their books at home after school and went straight to the library. Philip found a book about Egypt in the children’s section, and he and Emery went to a corner table out of the way so they could talk without bothering anyone.
“You think we can get Leon to believe it?” Philip asked. Emery had revealed his plan the day before.
“We can but we have to talk about Egypt like we know stuff.” Emery tapped the open book in front of them. “Then we have to make him believe he offended the great Egyptian gods. When we convince him he did, we dig up his mummy and tell him the mummy is angry, and it rose from the dead and is coming after him. You know him. He’ll believe anything.”
“Maybe we can put the mummy under his pillow,” Philip said with a laugh. “He’ll go nuts.” He opened the book on Egypt. “Let’s learn some of the big words.” He turned to a full page, color photo. “Here’s one of those big boxes.” He and Emery stared at the word.
“The word’s awfully long,” Emery muttered. “No wonder Leon couldn’t say it.”
“Take out your phone.” Emery’s mother had given him her cellphone so she could summon him home for dinner. “My dad showed me how to do this. Type in the word.”
Emery carefully typed: SARCOPHAGUS.
“Hit enter,” Philip ordered. “There see. Like a dictionary. It says what the word means. See the speaker picture next to it?”
“Yeah.”
“Tap it.”
Emery tapped the speaker icon and a loud voice came from the phone: SARCOPHAGUS.
Heads turned.
“Lower it; lower it,” Philip said batting his hand at Emery. “Stare at the book. Don’t look around.”
The boys lowered their heads and didn’t move. After a few moments, Philip looked up. “Okay, nobody’s staring. Did you turn it down?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Tap it again.”
Emery tapped the speaker icon.
“Tap it,” Philip insisted.
“I did.”
“I didn’t hear anything. You must have turned it off. Turn it up. A little.”
“Okay, a little. Ready?”
Philip nodded.
SARCOPHAGUS came a tiny voice.
The boys looked around. Only they had heard.
“Good. Turn it up a little more. Again,” Philip said, as both boys leaned close to the phone.
SARCOPHAGUS.
The boys repeated the word to one another until they had it down.
Philip turned the page.
“Oh, there’s the bug thing.” The boys studied it.
“It’s got wings and looks exactly like a big bug,” Emery said softly.
“Type it in,” Philip said.
Emery typed SCARAB, and the phone said the word.
“The girl knew how to say it,” Philip said, impressed.
“Why do you think the Egyptians picked a bug to make jewelry out of?” Emery asked. “Why would they like bugs so much?”
“Let me read,” Philip said. After a moment or two, he looked at Emery with a sour expression.
“What?” Emery asked.
“They eat poop.”
“Who, Egyptians?”
“No, not Egyptians. Don’t be stupid. Why would Egyptians eat poop?”
“’Cause you said. You sure it doesn’t say pop?”
“What does pop mean? Pop’s not something to eat.”
“Popsicle, Pop-Tarts, popcorn, soda pop.”
“Where do you think Egyptians would get popsicles? They lived in the middle of the desert, like a million years ago, without refrigerators. Bugs wouldn’t eat Pop-Tarts and popcorn.”
“I dropped some popcorn on the floor in the kitchen once, and the next day the popcorn was covered with bugs. My mother didn’t like it.”
“Emery, what are you talking about? Here, look.” Philip poked his finger on the page. Emery read the paragraph.
“Ewww. They feed poop to their babies? They must not like them much.”
“You read what it says. Dung beetle. Whatever that means. Looks like the mothers don’t have to worry much about finding food.”
“I guess not. You eat something and a little later you eat it again,” Emery said in amazement. “So disgusting. Turn the page. I think we know enough about scarabs.”
Philip turned the pages until he found a chapter titled Queens of Egypt.
“There’s Cleopatra,” he said. “Same hair as the girl in the museum. Cleopatra. An easy word. Oh, this must be the queen Leon called Nefertootle. Type it in.”
NEFERTITI the phone reported.
When the boys had mastered Nefertiti, Philip said, “Three words are enough, don’t you think? Sarcophagus, scarab, and Nefertiti.”
“And poop.”
The boys’ eyes met and they burst out laughing. A nearby librarian shushed them. Philip returned the book to the shelf.
“My mother just texted me,” Emery said, holding up his phone. “I gotta go. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Leon’s mother called my mother. We’re invited to a birthday party on Saturday.”
“Whose birthday?”
“Leon’s friend from the museum. You know, the girl with the Cleopatra wig. My aunt said Leon would tell us about it. We’re invited to his house tomorrow after school.”
“Good. We can start convincing him he’s made the gods of Egypt angry,” Philip said. “Start thinking up ways.”
“You, too.”
Laughing about Leon and scarabs, the boys made their happy way home.
~ * ~
As Philip and Emery approached Leon’s house the next afternoon, they saw his face pressed against the living room window. He opened the front door for them before they even had a chance to knock.
“Did you hear?” Leon said excitedly. “Cleopatra’s giving a birthday party Saturday. She said I could invite both of you. It’s going to be amazing.”
“Why so amazing?” Emery asked.
“It’s a costume birthday party. Everybody has to come dressed as an Egyptian. I already have my costume I made. You saw it. I’m Leonubis, the Pharaoh of Egypt.”
“You mean the towel and the vulture and cobra pictures?”
“Yeah! And her father said we could have the party at the museum in a little room they have for parties. He’s real good friends with the museum boss. The party starts at four, and we’re allowed to see the Egypt stuff again after the museum closes at six.”
Philip poked Emery and said, “Uh oh.”
Leon’s smile dropped away and his gaze went from Philip to Emery to Philip again. “What’s uh oh?”
“Leon, are you sure the gods of Egypt want you make fun of them?” Philip asked.
“Make fun of them? I’m not going to make fun of them.”
Emery said, “They might think you’re making fun of them if you wear a towel on your head.”
“Yeah, really,” Philip added. “You never know about gods. They can be very fussy.”
“But I’m not making fun…” Leon mumbled. “I’ll fix the costume. I’ll find better pictures. It’ll be okay.” Leon’s voice did not sound like he thought it would be okay.
“Be careful, Leon,” Emery said.
“Yeah, be real careful,” Philip added. “You don’t want a scarab flying after you.”
“Or a mummy chasing you,” Emery added.
“And you don’t want to end up in a sarcophagus filled with snakes because Queen Nefertiti is mad at you.”
Leon’s forehead wrinkled. “Why would she be mad at me?”
“Because you called her Nefertootle,” Philip explained.
Philip and Emery stayed at Leon’s house a few more minutes, during which Leon said very little. Walking home, Philip made a suggestion.
“Let’s go back to the library,” he said. “Maybe we can find more good Egypt stuff. Can you get your mother’s phone again, in case the words are too long?”
He and Emery made a stop at Emery’s house, then sped off to the library.