Part Seven
AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN DILEMMA
Thoth flew away and landed on the floor in front of the Egyptian section.
“This is what I mean,” he said as Barbara arrived. “We need a landing strip. Look at Isis, just flown back from having a chat with Mary Magdalene. She’s had to use the strip in the Oceanic section next to us, and they’re an unpleasant lot, I can tell you.”
Barbara looked down at the reflection of her and Thoth in the mirror. His head, partly obscured by the scarab necklace on display, stared back up at her, uncompromising, righteous, and adamant. “Get rid of Oceania,” he went on. “No one knows anything about those islands. They’ve only been here on earth for a few years, and their religion is a joke.”
“They have a variety of very sophisticated belief systems,” replied Barbara. “Some of them, anyhow.”
Thoth made a derisive sound. “Then stuff them onto one pillar so that we can use the empty one for a landing strip. After all, we deserve some respect because our civilization is easily the oldest.”
“Actually, no,” Barbara retorted. “There’s the Indus Valley Civilization, for a start. Way before yours. And unlike your Egypt, Oceania covers a huge area of the world, including a continent. All those small islands have their own gods and need to have their say while there’s still time. Climate change, you know. They’ll all be underwater in a few years.” She saw that some of the Oceanic Entities were listening with horror and changed the subject. She pointed to a small object on the lowest shelf of the Egyptian section. “What’s the Dirawong doing there?”
Thoth looked down. “Dira-what? It’s Sebek, the Egyptian crocodile god.”
“No, the Dirawong is an Australian goanna.” Thoth, of course, had no idea what she was talking about. “A goanna is a big lizard from Australia, a continent unknown to you Egyptians 3000 years ago,” she explained. “I’ll move the goanna back to the Oceanic section and rearrange the empty space so the top of the pillar can be used as a landing strip. Will that do?”
“I suppose it will have to,” said Thoth grudgingly. The Dirawong didn’t want to return to Oceania, protesting that he’d crept into the Egyptian section because he was bullied back home. Barbara listened to his tale, placed him near a quiet household god, and got ready to deliver her Serious Talk on Bullying, which she had to give more often than she wished.
