“Stand up, woman,” Omari told her. “It is not you I am interested in. It is your son.”
“What did Lateef do?” my mother asked, wrapping her arms around me protectively. “Please do not take my son away. I beg of you.”
“Come with me, Lateef,” Omari said simply, grabbing my wrist.
“No!”
My mother sobbed as I was taken away. I was afraid I would never see her again. I was afraid of the punishment for whatever crime I may have committed. Perhaps I was going to be executed. I was sweating and crying.
Omari took me to a building where another man was waiting to speak to me. He was sitting behind a table and he looked like he was very important, but I did not know who he was.
I was trembling with fear. Before the man spoke, I looked at his table. The papyrus that my mother had thrown out the window was on it—drawings of the pharaoh, obelisks, and other things.
“Is your name Lateef?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, keeping my eyes on the floor.
“What is this?” he asked, picking up one of the pages.
“Pictures,” I replied.
“Did you draw these pictures, Lateef?”
“I did,” I admitted. “Was that wrong? What will my punishment be?”
“They were found in the street,” he replied.
I did not know what to say. Perhaps it is against the law to throw papyrus on the street. I said nothing and waited for my punishment.
“You are quite good at drawing pictures, Lateef,” he said.
I exhaled. Perhaps I would not be punished after all.
“Thank you.”
“The pharaoh wants you to make some drawings,” he told me.
I could not believe my ears. Drawings for the pharaoh? Me?
“What kind of drawings?” I asked.
“The pharaoh wants you to draw the hieroglyphs that will be carved into the obelisk.”
Hieroglyphs are the pictures that are used to turn our thoughts into writing. I cannot believe my good fortune. Of all the citizens of Heliopolis, I have been chosen to draw the hieroglyphs that will be inscribed on the four sides of the obelisk! Why me? I do not know. Perhaps it is hard to find people who are good at drawing pictures.
When I returned home, my mother took hold of me and would not let go. She was so relieved that I was alive. When I told her the good news, she did not believe me at first. But finally I was able to convince her. She even said that she would get me more papyrus to draw on.
“Maybe now you will stop throwing my drawings out the window,” I told her.
“If I had not thrown your drawings out the window,” she replied, “the pharaoh would never have noticed your ability to make pictures.”
True, I suppose.
DAY 9
The next day that man Omari came to our door again. This time my mother did not cry. Omari told me he had come to explain what I will need to draw.
“The obelisk is not just a tribute to the sun, Ra,” he told me. “It is also a tribute to the pharaoh. Thutmosis III is the son of the sun. The obelisk will be a monument proclaiming the glory of his conquests and a testament to his accomplishments.”
He told me exactly what the pharaoh wished me to say with my pictures, not that I had any idea what it meant....
The Horus, Strong-Bull-Appearing-In-Thebes, he of the Two La Goddesses, Enduring-of-kingship-like-Ra-in-heaven, Bodily son of Atum, whom the Mistress of Heliopolis bore to him, Thutmosis, whom they created in the temple in the beauty of their members, knowing that he would exercise enduring kingship throughout eternity, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Men-kheper-ra, beloved of Atum, the great god, together with his Enneat, granted all life, stability, and dominion like Ra for ever.
There is more, but that is the general idea. I can draw the words, but still don’t understand what they mean.
“Get to work, Lateef,” Omari ordered me before leaving.
DAY 10
This is a big job that will require many drawings. I will work very hard to make sure my pictures match the meaning of the words the pharaoh wishes to convey.
Do you like my new drawing? It took me many hours to complete. These are some of the elements I will be using for the inscriptions on the sides of the obelisk. I am so excited to think that my pictures will be given to the stone carvers and they will carve them into the obelisk.
We use hieroglyphs to turn words into pictures.
DAY 15
