I woke up in darkness.
No one had lit the morning fires.
That was unusual so I stayed in my sleeping quarters for a moment.
I could hear snoring.
It was like a blade sharpening on a stone wheel.
Ptomeses. He’d broken his nose moons ago when we were kids. It had never healed right. It made sense. The people in our village couldn’t afford a priest. A priest would’ve fixed it.
Not that we were poor. We had a few Ox. Two village huts for gathering and worship.
I’d woken up before I should’ve. That had been happening lately.
Best to just try and go back to sleep.
Except, I had to pee. I knew I shouldn’t have had that extra sip of water before bed. But I did. And here I was.
I cursed myself for not trying harder to get a sleep space closer to the entrance. I would’ve but there were old men in there 30’s! I wasn’t exactly young but at 20 I just couldn’t justify it.
Oh well. I could just close my eyes and go back to sleep. Once the first morning fire was lit, I could just run out and pee. No problem.
I listened to Ptomes snoring. It had a rhythm.
Like the performers on holy days.
I closed my eyes and timed my breathing with the rhythm of the snoring.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard the commotion of sticks rubbing together.
It was morning.
A fire ahead lit up.
It illuminated the middle aisle in our cave.
I sat up as they moved closer to me, starting the process of lighting the next of many fires.
It was enough light for me to make a bee line outside to pee.
I did.
When I got outside, I could see the dim brilliance of Ra. The sun God. He had granted us another day. And more importantly, light for me to run to the ditches we could pee in.
I ran, and released. Good thing. If I had gone in my sleeping quarters, I would have had to clean it.
That could take some time. Time when I was supposed to be working for our Pharaoh.
Could’ve really affected my wages.
I needed all my wages to buy food for my sister and her son.
They depended on it.
I was about to head back to the cave when I saw the most beautiful sight.
Ra, the Sun god had risen from his slumber. He shined a soft light on the side of our building site.
The architect had said that would happen and that it was a sign of good fortune yet none of us had actually seen it.
It was amazing! Real! Maybe what we had sold ourselves into was worth it!
We weren’t encouraged to talk to each other about such things but I couldn’t wait to spread the word.
The pyramid we were building would in fact bring freedom and good faith to our families.