Part Six
PROBLEMS WITH THE PROPHET

Barbara sighed but agreed something had to be done about the Atheist, who was causing problems everywhere. There was also some trouble with the Ancient Egyptian deities that she should be dealing with . . . sometimes she got very tired of being guardian to some 400 quarrelsome entities. And although Catholic and Protestant Jesus had told her to ask the Prophet for help because the Atheist seemed to be an Arabic speaker, she couldn’t remember where Muhammad was last seen.
She placed prayer medallions, an incense burner, and the Prophet’s very own Koran with mystical blue flowers symbolizing his sayings (unfortunately only copied down some years after his death) on a prayer rug to tempt him into view. He didn’t show. “But he vowed he’d rid the earth of all unbelievers,” some newcomer Jesuses, a group of three crucifixes, reminded her. She told them to be patient but suddenly realized the Prophet couldn’t appear in the flesh, for imagery was forbidden in Islam. She was about to give up when she heard a sound like breaking crockery and saw the poor Atheist had been shattered. A pair of sandals stood nearby. Could an invisible someone be wearing them?
“Es-smashed to es-smithereens!” said a strongly accented voice gleefully. It came from somewhere above the sandals. Could it be the Prophet?
“We got the Atheist!” crowed the three crucifixes. She turned around and faced them. How they had managed, strung up as they were . . .
“No, you didn’t!” retorted a god, or an entity of some sort, from behind the Koran’s blooms. “I saw Muhammad raise his sword and hit the Atheist. I see everything and everyone. Even those who choose to remain unseen, for besides being the god of Wisdom I’m also the god of Magic. As well as being about 3000 years older than you three guys,” he added snobbishly to the crucifixes.
Then he turned to Barbara. “We Ancient Egyptians need a landing strip,” he said sternly. “You’ve got to get us one.”