Page 9 of Ra (The Scarab Prophecy #1)

Early the next morning the sound of a phone ringing woke Azi long before she was ready to get up.

She sighed and rolled over, pressing her eyes closed as she waited for the old-fashioned answering machine to click on.

There had been a time she’d tried to convince her father to remove the land-line, and the forty-year-old answering machine attached to it, in favor of cell phones.

Less bills. Less expense. Makes sense. But, he’d refused, insisting that he wanted the land-line in the house available at all times.

He said that the excitement of coming home and finding a red light blinking on the answering machine was well worth staying in the twentieth century.

She remained on the sofa, snuggled under one of her favorite hand woven blankets while she listened to the ringing…

six rings to be exact, then listened to her own voice on the outgoing message.

“Hello, you’ve reached the home of Dr. Azenath Clement.

No one is available to accept your call.

Please leave your name, number and the time of your call and someone will return your call at our earliest convenience. Thank you.”

“Azenath? Are you there?” a gentleman with a very proper English accent asked. “I know if you are there you are simply standing beside the machine waiting for me to finish speaking and disconnect the line. Pick up the phone, Azenath.”

Azi remained where she was, except she pulled the blanket over her head. “I’m not ready for this yet,” she whispered.

“I’ve spoken with Dean Crowder at the university.

He is anxious for you to visit with your lecture on the Tomb of Ra.

I understand from Abasi that you’ve agreed to take the lecture on tour with televised stops at universities and museums. Perhaps before you get caught up in the media frenzy, you could find time to make the university the first stop on your tour.

A practice run, if you will. I’ll wait for you to call with confirmation of what date that will be.

Hopefully I’ll be up and around by then and I’ll be able to participate as well.

I’m very excited for this, Azenath! We shall be the dynamic duo once again. I look forward to it! I love you.”

Azi took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“And there it is,” she whispered. It killed her that her father was still trying to plan for them to move forward with their digs, their presentations, everything as it had always been.

But that time wouldn’t come. He couldn’t walk.

And a wheelchair wasn’t ideal for traversing the sands.

His body had given out on him, and he couldn’t be exposed to the heat of the desert, or air without oxygen supplementation.

In fact, the rehabilitation facility that he was in, didn’t even want her to take him out for lunch.

It was suggested that he stay in the facility, where life saving equipment was readily available, at all times.

It broke her heart. What kind of life was that for a man who’d been so adventurous all of his life?

The answer was simple… age didn’t care that he’d been the most successful Egyptologist in all of history.

Age didn’t care that his mind was still as sharp as it ever was and wanted to be out there planning, discovering, digging, and then lecturing and teaching about his finds.

His body simply couldn’t support him anymore, and age didn’t care.

So, back to the question at hand… What kind of a life was that for a man like him?

It was life. Any kind of life was better than none at all, right?

“Azenath? Your name is Azenath?”

Azi pulled the blanket off her head and turned to look at Ra, standing just inside the living room, having just come down the stairs. And he was spectacular. Pajama bottoms riding low on his hips, no shirt, his hair mussed. “Oh, dear god,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to address me that way. Ra will do. But to follow suit, dear Azi, I wish you good morning.”

“Morning,” she said, almost choking on her tongue as she forced away images of what lay beneath those pajama bottoms. She threw the blanket off her body, draping it across the back of the couch. “I need coffee. And you need to get dressed.”

“You said you have a maker for that. And I am clothed.”

“I do. But I have to set it up and turn it on. And you’re half naked.”

“Have your maker do it for you.”

She paused halfway to the kitchen and looked back at him. “My coffee maker is not a person. It’s a machine.”

Ra simply looked at her like she’d intentionally misled him.

“I do not have servants, Ra. I do not want servants. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Unless you want food.”

“Okay, fine. I’m not a good cook. But I keep the local restaurants in business by buying food from them and I like to think I help support local businesses that way.” She left him in the living room as she went into the kitchen, knowing full well, he’d follow.

And he did. “Where is this coffee machine?”

“Here,” she said, taking a can of coffee and a filter out of the cabinet.

She placed the filter in the machine, then a scoop of coffee in the filter.

Used the carafe to fill the machine with water and turned it on.

Within moments the sound of pressure and steam, followed shortly by the scent of coffee filled the room.

“I like that smell. What is that?”

“Told you. Coffee. Are you not getting dressed?”

“I will have the coffee. I may put on more clothes later, but I find this is comfortable at the moment.”

“If I share the coffee, you will have the coffee,” she snapped as she looked at him with a doubtful expression.

“You will share,” he said confidently.

“Why would you think that?” she teased.

He smiled at her, and it wasn't that overwhelming, overly bright, you-will-worship-me-smile that he’d used several times since she’d decided to help him and loaded him in her car. This was a genuine smile. It was almost a kind smile. “Because you are good. And you are kind.”

“Really? And who told you that?”

“It is easy enough to see, Azi. Or, is it Azenath?”

“You heard that, huh?”

“I did. The ringing woke me so I followed the sound. As I stood at the foot of the stairs, I saw you pull your blanket over your head. Who was the male that called you Azenath?”

“My father. He’s very old. It’s hard for me to speak to him sometimes when I know he’s going to demand that I come get him and include him in my work.

Our work, that we used to do together. It takes me a little while to shore myself up for it.

I always call him back, but it takes a little while to prepare myself to hear the disappointment in his voice. ”

“Why not just take him with you?”

“He’s not strong enough. The doctors and nurses at the facility he’s living in recommend against it.

And even if I chose to ignore their advice, I’d have to hire an entire medical team to go with us to take care of him.

He either forgets, or he doesn’t see it, and when I turn him down it’s a reminder of his inability to be who he is — who he has always been.

It’s reminding him that age has robbed him of his life’s passion.

” She stopped talking for a few seconds, and when she looked at him next, there were tears dampening her eyes. “I hate hurting him.”

“Age is a vicious curse placed upon the humans.”

“That it is,” she agreed as she took two coffee mugs down from a different cabinet and filled them both with steaming coffee, then poured cream and two teaspoons of sugar into each. She handed him one. “Be careful, don’t burn your mouth. It’s very hot.”

He accepted the coffee and held it up to his nose, inhaling the aroma appreciatively. “I think I’m going to like this.”

Azi nodded as she blew gently across the top of hers and sipped it, closing her eyes to better enjoy it. “You know… come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I remember reading that Ra, the sun god, is responsible for all creation and life in the universe.”

Ra looked up from his coffee to meet her gaze suspiciously.

One thing he’d already learned about his friend Azi, was that she was not stupid by any means.

And she was very educated about his time and culture.

He’d watched for years as she came and went from the tomb, something he’d not yet confided in her, and he’d admired her knowledge even then.

“I was, before I was made human. And you are already aware of that.”

“Seems to me that the curse of age that was given to the humans, must have been given by you,” she said, winking at him.

“Is there something wrong with your eye?” he asked, deflecting.

“You know there’s not.”

Ra shrugged non-committally. “I was a new god. I was learning. Some things made sense at the time that in retrospect I should have considered a little longer.”

Azi, to his surprise, burst into laughter.

He smiled, watching her joy as she laughed. He decided that he liked her laugh and wanted to cause her to laugh more often. “So, tell me, Azenath, do you know what your name means?”

“It means a lot of teasing when you’re a little child. Hence the shortened version… Azi. My father loves all things Egyptian. He named me Azenath. I hated it when I was little, but I’ve grown to appreciate it now.”

“You haven’t answered me. Do you know its meaning?”

She sipped more of her coffee, and finding it cool enough to drink, she gratefully took several long appreciative swallows from it. Then she looked him in the eye. “It means ‘belonging to Neith’, who I believe is responsible for releasing you into the ether.”

“It does. And she created me so that I could create the rest of the universe. She was a wise mediator whose primordial origins made her a protector of not only myself, but of all the gods and the cosmos I created and we all lived in.”