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DUMMY1/sn44_0030.wav|0|asked Chloe, but she could not finish the dreadful word. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0031.wav|0|The pale cat nodded. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0034.wav|1|“Nice meeting you. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0035.wav|1|It’s time for us to be heading off. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0036.wav|1|Our master will be worried that we’re not back.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0037.wav|0|And then Chloe and I both legged it across the rooftops faster than a pair of shooting stars. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0038.wav|0|Back home, I pawed at Amon’s sleeping head. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0039.wav|1|He’s our master, a priest at the temple of lady bastet, and he understands our language. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0040.wav|1|“Amon, Amon,” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0042.wav|1|“What is it?” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0043.wav|0|he asked drowsily, |
DUMMY1/sn44_0044.wav|1|“you look like you just saw a ghost.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0045.wav|1|“We did!” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0046.wav|0|we both screeched. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0047.wav|1|“Don’t be silly kitties” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0048.wav|0|said Amon now sitting up, |
DUMMY1/sn44_0049.wav|1|“Ghosts aren’t allowed out of the underworld. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0050.wav|1|Lord Osiris is strict. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0051.wav|1|Once a spirit has been admitted to the Field of Reeds, there’s no turning back. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0052.wav|1|You just got spooked by some shadow or something,” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0054.wav|0|Even so, we both thought it safer to skip the midnight strolls. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0055.wav|0|It was about a week later, when we were curled up on the foot of Amnon’s bed, when we were awoken by a caterwauling and screeching so deafening and scary that even Amon exclaimed: |
DUMMY1/sn44_0056.wav|1|“Ye Gods ! |
DUMMY1/sn44_0057.wav|1|Has every spirit been released from the underworld?” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0062.wav|1|“But sometimes the impossible happens, before adding, “Well, don’t just sit there, go and find out what’s making that row!” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0063.wav|1|“Are you kidding?” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0064.wav|0|We both replied shaking our heads. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0065.wav|1|“We’re going to hide in the cupboard until the dreadful noise stops.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0066.wav|0|Which is what we did. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0067.wav|0|The terrifying sounds continued to rip through the night skies until Lord Ra’s red sun peeked over the horizon in the East. By dawn we were certain that the world must have ended amid some end-of-days war between the gods. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0068.wav|0|But when we finally peaked through the slats of the window shutters, we saw that our neighbours houses were still standing, and the River Nile was gently flowing, not flooding nor dried up, and no gods were flying around the sky in their chariots. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0069.wav|1|“By Lady Bastet,” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0070.wav|0|said Amon, |
DUMMY1/sn44_0071.wav|1|“apocalypse has been postponed.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0072.wav|0|Which was a priest’s fancy way of saying that the world had not ended just yet. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0073.wav|0|It was at Lady Bastet’s temple that we learned what had happened. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0074.wav|0|As I have mentioned before, there are thousands of stray cats who stay on the steps of the temple, competing for the scraps thrown by the priests and the pilgrims. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0075.wav|0|Every so often, some wicked priests catch a whole load of cats and turn them into mummies to sell to the tourists. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0076.wav|1|It’s one of the hazards of hanging around the temple, and is why we are so lucky that Amon took us into his house. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0077.wav|0|This is what we learned. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0078.wav|0|In the middle of night, the temple cats were almost spooked out of their skins by an invasion - an army of ghost cats and shining luminous skeletons came running across the surface of the river Nile and up onto the steps of the temple. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0079.wav|0|That was when the apocalyptic screeching shredded our peaceful sleep. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0080.wav|0|As the temple is on an island, the living cats had nowhere to run. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0081.wav|0|The Nile is wet and full of crocodiles, and nobody in their right minds wants to dip a paw into those waters. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0082.wav|0|Some cats hid, some fought, some ran around in circles. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0083.wav|0|The chaos and screaming continued until dawn when the dead cats departed as suddenly as they had arrived. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0084.wav|0|In the morning, the chief priest, Simon the Greek, called an emergency meeting of all the priests and priestesses. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0085.wav|0|He spoke from the top of the temple steps and of course we cats listened with pricked up ears. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0086.wav|1|“This is a cataclysmic catastrophe,” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0087.wav|0|he declared, which was priest-speak for |
DUMMY1/sn44_0088.wav|1|“bad - seriously bad.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0089.wav|1|“Never In my whole career have I seen such a marketing disaster. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0090.wav|0|Tourists from the Pharaoh's palace were sleeping in the Sanctuary of Heracles just behind the temple. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0091.wav|0|They almost died of fright and could not sail away fast enough. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0092.wav|1|I must warn you. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0093.wav|1|Business is going to take a downturn. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0094.wav|1|People come to the cat temple for a great day out, not to meet the spirits of the dead.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0095.wav|0|We all knew that this could not have come at a worse time. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0096.wav|0|The rival cat Temple at Alexandria was growing in popularity and had already been stealing business from us before this spooky news. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0097.wav|0|No tourists would mean no scraps. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0098.wav|0|Kitties’ bellies would go empty. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0099.wav|0|On the plus side, there would be less demand for mummified cats. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0100.wav|0|After that, the boats that travel up and down the Nile sailed on past our temple island without stopping, and the priests’ souvenir shop was as quiet as a Pharaoh’s tomb. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0101.wav|0|The scary spectors continued to stalk around the island at night, and sometimes scrimished with the living cats. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0102.wav|0|Chloe and I reckoned we were safe enough, so long as we did not set a paw outside the house when it was dark. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0103.wav|0|That was until Amon told us one day, |
DUMMY1/sn44_0104.wav|1|“Simon the Greek has asked to see you two in his office.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0105.wav|0|This was the worst possible news. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0106.wav|0|A few weeks back, we had caught Simon trying to sell off a sacred statue. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0107.wav|0|We both knew that he was itching for revenge. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0108.wav|0|Simon was the highest of high priests at the cat temple. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0109.wav|0|When we entered his office we had to show respect by kissing his feet with our noses. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0110.wav|0|By Osiris ! |
DUMMY1/sn44_0111.wav|0|He hadn’t washed this feet since walking to work that morning! |
DUMMY1/sn44_0113.wav|0|I did not like the way he was holding his sharp quill pen. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0114.wav|0|It looked like he wanted to throw it at us. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0115.wav|0|He told us: |
DUMMY1/sn44_0116.wav|0|‘Lady Bastet in her wisdom has chosen you as her most highly favoured cats,’ he said. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0117.wav|0|We nodded - in fact we both knew that was the one reason he had not had us skinned. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0118.wav|0|‘Therefore,’ he went on, ‘I am entrusting you both with a mission that is vital to the future of the temple.’ ‘What mission is that?’ I asked, my voice trembling. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0121.wav|0|‘No, no, we can manage on our own,’ I replied, hastily. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0122.wav|1|‘I’ve heard they are letting visitors into the Land of the Dead these days. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0123.wav|1|We’ll get there just fine even though we are alive.’ We left the office of Simon the Greek in the most downcast of moods. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0124.wav|0|Before we returned home we sat in the harbour and looked at the River Nile, and the peaceful marshes behind it, until Lord Ra pulled the burning sun down behind the horizon. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0125.wav|1|“They say the sun visits the land of the dead at night, “ I told Chloe. “How will we get there?” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0126.wav|0|she asked. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0127.wav|1|“And more importantly, how how we get back?” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0128.wav|0|I added. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0129.wav|0|We were both meowing piteously when our master, Amon, came to find us. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0130.wav|0|We heard his voice calling, |
DUMMY1/sn44_0131.wav|1|“Lapis, Chloe, here kitty-kitties, where are you?” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0132.wav|0|We both came running up to his big feet. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0133.wav|0|“Here you are, “ he said. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0134.wav|1|“I was worried when you did not come home for dinner.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0135.wav|1|“Perhaps we will never come home for dinner again,” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0136.wav|0|I replied. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0137.wav|1|“Because Simon the Greek has ordered us to visit the Land of the Dead.” |
DUMMY1/sn44_0138.wav|1|Amon has a short temper, but deep down he loves us - we cats can tell that sort of thing you know. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0139.wav|0|He took us both up in his big hands and placed Chloe on his left shoulder and me on his right. |
DUMMY1/sn44_0140.wav|0|This is how we rode home in style. |