this which I hold here'-and she drew a cumbersome package out of her garments-'they would give me anything and. they will.'
"I looked at it. It was an ancient Sumerian clay envelope which meant that the ancient Sumerian tablet was untouched inside. It had never been tampered with. I could see that.
" 'What do I want with that? What do I care about the true miracle of the Festival?' I said.
"My father motioned for me to be quiet.
"She put the clay envelope with its secret tablet hidden inside it into my father's hands. 'Hide it here with the bones of the Assyrians,' she said. She laughed. 'And remember what I said, they will give you Jerusalem for it! Do as I say! They've already sent for me. They don't know clearly even how to mix the gold without me. I will help them, but when they demand the tablet of me, it will be safe with you.'
" 'Who gave you this all-precious tablet, Asenath?' I asked sarcastically, becoming ever more anxious and impatient at this whole thing. I'd never seen my father so serious! I didn't like it.
" 'Look at it, scribe, scholar, smart one!' she said. 'How old do you think this is?'
" 'A thousand kings have reigned since then,' I said. 'It's as old as Uruk.' And really this was the same as saying to you in English, this thing is two thousand years old.
"She nodded. 'Given me by the priest they put to death, just to spite them,' she said.
" 'I want to read the outside,' I said.
" 'No!' she said. 'No!' Then she stood up and leaned on her snake staff or whatever the hell she called it, and she said to my father, 'Remember, there are two ways to do this. Two ways. I give you my counsel. Were he my son, I would give them this tablet. I would give it into the hands of the most ambitious. I would give it into the hands of the most dissatisfied and eager to be gone from here, and that is the young priest, Remath. Be clever. You hold your people in your hands.'
"Then she turned and threw out her staff, and lo, the doors opened of themselves and she turned to me and she said, 'You are most privileged for I give you my one chance at immortality. Were I to keep it, were I to abide by it, I might rise above this world and the stumbling dead, with the strength of a great spirit.'
" 'And why don't you?' said I.
" 'Because you can save your people. You can save us all. You can take us back to Jerusalem and then, for that you deserve something, yes, you deserve something for that ... to be an angel or a god.'
"I was on my feet, trying to stop her and demand more of her, but she went out directly, scattering the family with wild threats, and strode through the anterooms, and the gate opened for her staff, and on she walked, a blaze of red silk into the street and away.
"I looked at my father. He sat still holding this enveloped tablet and looking at me with large tear-filled eyes. I had never seen his face so frozen. It was as if the muscles of his face didn't know grief or pain or fear well enough to form a face for it. He was at a loss.
" 'What the hell is she talking about, Father?' I asked him.
" 'Sit down here close to me,' he said, the tears spilling now as freely as they might from a woman, and he held my hand.
" 'Will you let me read that damned thing?' I asked.
"He didn't respond. He held it close to his chest. And he was thinking. The door lay open and I saw my brothers out there, all peering in and then my sister came and said, 'Father, brother, do you want some wine?'
" 'There isn't wine in the world enough to get me drunk now,' said my father. 'Shut the door.' My sister did.
"He turned to me suddenly, his lips pursed and then he swallowed and he said, 'It was Marduk with you, wasn't it? Or a spirit who claimed that he was Marduk. It was true.'
" 'Yes, I would say that is precisely the truth, Father. I've talked to him since I was a child. Am I to be punished now for this? What's to happen? What's this about Remath, the priest? You know