Monday, March 30, 2015

The Good Old Days

Seti poured himself a beer, just as the sun was starting to set beyond the Nile.

Seti stretched and smiled. It was good to be retired; he'd worked long enough.

His thoughts flashed back to the good old days, when he was a mere lad, and first went to work at the quarry as a laborer, hauling huge blocks of stone for the building of the Pharaoh's pyramid.

He was strong of body then, and full of ambition. Amun-Ra be praised, he had worked hard, and risen to be one of the foremen at the building site.

Now, younger foremen were in charge of the thousands of slaves who toiled beneath the cruel sun, as the pyramid neared completion.

Seti gazed admiringly at the lush fields of wheat, shimmering and golden, near the river's edge. Mother Nile had been astonishingly generous with the rich gift of topsoil she left behind, after overflowing her banks last spring.

The gods were kind. All went well in the land of Egypt, except - Seti worried about his son. Unlike him, the boy rebelled against tradition. He wore outlandish clothes, drank too much beer and wine, and took guilty pleasures with slave girls.

What would the future bring? What would become of his son? What was happening to the old values?

When would his son settle down, and acknowledge that the old ways were best?

Seti sighed. Things were so much better in the good old days, when he was young.







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