Racing past the market, Vinnie followed Akhom down some stairs.
The chamber below was cool and the air smelled strange.
“Stay right here and wait for me,” Akhom whispered.
Akhom left to look for his father.
“We’re going to see a real mummy, Mandy!” cried Vinnie.
He turned around to speak to Mandy.
But Mandy was nowhere to be seen.
In a panic, Vinnie left his spot and walked down a dark hallway.
He needed Akhom to help find his sister.
When he heard voices coming from a room, he looked in.
Three men were standing over a body on a flat table.
One of the older men spoke to the youngest person.
Vinnie guessed this must be Akhom’s brother, Tau.
“Tau, please explain what we are going to do.”
Tau replied, “First we will remove the organs.” He gulped.
“Then we put them in the clay jars.”
He pointed to the jars standing against the wall.
“Then what do we do with the natron?”
The man pointed to a large jar.
It was filled with white powder that looked like salt.
“Put it inside and outside the body,” replied Tau.
“Why?” the man asked.
“So the body won’t spoil while it dries up,” explained Tau.
“When can we wrap it in linen bandages?” asked the man.
Tau swallowed before answering.
“In forty days, Father.”
“Whoa,” Vinnie said under his breath.
“So that’s how to make a mummy!”
Suddenly, a cold hand touched his arm.
“What are you doing here?”
Akhom whispered angrily.
He pulled Vinnie away from the room.
When they were in the hallway, Vinnie told him about losing Mandy.
“We have to find her,” he said urgently.
“Let’s go, then,” Akhom said.
“When you grow up, do you have to learn that too?”
Vinnie asked, pointing behind him.
“Yes, I must,” replied Akhom.
“My father is an embalmer.
So my brothers and I will be embalmers too.”
Vinnie was glad his dad was an architect.
Meanwhile at the village market, Mandy was wishing she had followed Vinnie.
The fruit seller tried to grab her.
Near her, several men walked in a long line.
Each carried a large bundle of long green sticks on their backs.
Mandy ran into their line, hidden by the men and their bundles.
“Stop! Thief!” yelled the old man.
“I’m very sorry!” Mandy called back.
But she walked with the men and their reeds, hidden from her pursuer.
The man in front of her laughed.
“What did you steal?”
“Nothing,” she replied.
She changed the subject.
“What are you carrying?”
“Papyrus reeds, of course,” he answered.
“We’re going to the workshop now.”
“What do you make with papyrus?” Mandy asked.
The man looked at her strangely.
“Papyrus is used to make paper and other things.
Surely you know that,” he said.
She quickly responded, “I mean, what are you going to make with that papyrus?”
“Come join us and see,” said the friendly man.