Pharaoh's Daughter

2

Cairo, a city so old the stars have actually changed their positions in the sky since it's birth. A city teeming with every form of life. A strange, mysterious, wonderful city. Deep in the bowels of the museum of antiquities lie the stacks, rows upon rows of towering bookshelves, filled with literature on the Antiquities. Standing at the top of a tall ladder between two of these rows and leaning against one of the bookshelves, is a British woman with eye-glasses, hair-in-a-bun, long dress.

Evelyn pulls a book out from a stack under her arm, blows the dust off it, then places it on a shelf with other books whose titles all begin with the letter "O". Then she grabs another book after book out from under her arm and reads the titles.

Sacred Stones... Sculpture and Aesthetics... Socrates, Seti volume one, volume two... and Volume three and T-Tuthmosis?... Now how did you get up here? T. T, T, T, T. T! I'm going to put you where you belong."

Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she looks over her shoulder to the bookshelf behind her, where all the titles begin with the letter "T". Then she looks down. It's a long way to the bottom. Evelyn gently sets the other books down on the top shelf, then turns and gingerly starts to reach across the aisle with the Tuthmosis book. It's a little too far, so she stretches, reaching, holding the top of the ladder with her fingertips, she's almost got it. That's when the ladder pulls away from the shelf. Evelyn yelps, flings the Tuthmosis book and grabs the top of the ladder, which stands straight up. Evelyn holds her breath,

-"Help."-

swaying precariously, then she loses her balance, the ladder swings around.

"Oheiugm!! Ahhhhhh!"

Evelyn clings to the top, struggling for balance. Evelyn holds her breath. And that's when the bookshelf falls and crashes into the next bookshelf.

"Ooh. Whoa!"

Evelyn looks up as the domino effect kicks-in: each bookshelf crashing into the next. It ends as the last shelf crashes into a wall. Evelyn's eyes are closed. She opens one eye and looks left, then right. Then she opens the other eye and stares at the huge mess.

"Oops."

The  Egyptian curator storms in.

"What... How c-... l-... H-How... Oh look at this! Sons of the pharaohs! Give me frogs, flies, locusts, anything but you! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!"

Evelyn bites her lip nervously.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident."

"My girl, when Rameses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You... are a catastrophe! Why do I put up with you?"

Evelyn turns to him, trying to contain herself.

"W-Well, put up with me because I can read and write ancient Egyptian... and I can decipher hieroglyphs and hieratic... and, w-well, I'm the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalogue this library, that's why.

"I put up with you because your mother, father and uncle were our finest patrons, that's why! Allah rest their souls. Now I don't care how you do it and I don't care how long it takes. But straighten up this meshiver!"

The Curator storms out. Then another person, Evelyn knew too well, came in.

"Evelyn! Good to... woah! What happened here?"

"Oh Maddy, it's good to see you again too!"

Evelyn then hears a noise and quickly turns around.