[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
nodded. “And she’s getting a fancy tea party ready for the genie and all of her dollies.”
“And you, Kevin,” Lugal urged. “Which of your drawings do you like best?”
“The genie,” Kevin said without hesitation. “Because he has a sword and because
he can do magic and because he can be the winner of everybody in the whole wide
world!”
Lugal and the others chuckled. “I agree with both of you. It seems to me, Samantha,
that we have two winners,” he suggested. “One for the best castle and one for the best
genie.”
“Perfect!” Samantha said, amazed at Lugal’s acumen concerning children. “And
I’ve got a special prize for each of you. A brand new book from the special Auntie Sam
collection!”
“Yay!” the kids cried in unison.
Samantha smiled as she moved the twins from her lap to the couch and got up. In
this age of electronic games, videos and computers, it was rewarding to see their
enthusiasm and love for books. Their parents were certainly doing something right.
“I’ll be back in a minute with your prizes.”
“Come,” Lugal said, “while you wait for your aunt to return, I will give the winners
an onager-back ride…with your parents’ permission, of course.” He looked to Rosie
and Charlie.
69
Daisy Dexter Dobbs
“What’s an onager-back ride?” Rosie asked.
“An onager is animal similar to a donkey or horse used by the ancient Sumerians to
pull their carts and chariots,” Charlie answered absently. “Sure, go ahead, Lugal.”
Lugal removed the saber and its sheath from his hip, positioned it atop a tall
bookshelf and then got down on all fours, close to the floor to allow the kids to climb on
easily. “Climb on,” he told them.
“Oh, like an old world version of a piggyback ride,” Rosie said. She helped position
Mandy and Kevin on his back.
Samantha arrived back in the living room a moment later, in time to hear Lugal tell
the twins, “Hold on tight to my vest and I will tell you a story of the ancient land of
Sumer as I take you for a magical ride.”
Leaning against the doorjamb, she smiled at the sight of her big, bold warrior
tranquilly playing with a couple of pint-sized kids. As he crawled around the room, he
told them about how not everyone in Sumer was lucky enough to learn to read and
write. Only certain children selected by the gods were called to be scribes. And most of
them were male.
“What about the girls?” Mandy asked.
“They became wives, mothers and sometimes priestesses who served the gods in
ziggurats.”
“I don’t like rats,” Mandy said.
Lugal laughed. “Ziggurats were very tall buildings made of mud-brick, temples
where the local people brought offerings and sacrifices to the gods.”
“Amazing…” Charlie muttered.
Lugal told the twins that little boys began to study at the age of eight and finished
when they were twenty. Using a reed, the scribes wrote on clay tablets. The picture
marks they made symbolized the words of the Sumerian language.
Samantha found it all fascinating. In fact, everyone seemed captivated by the story,
including the children, who were treated to side-to-side sways and up-and-down onager
movements of Lugal’s back as he gave them their entertaining, yet educational ride.
He finished by telling them how fortunate and privileged they were to be given the
wonderful gift by their parents and their Aunt Samantha to be able to learn how to read
and write.
Samantha could easily see Lugal as a father. He’d make a sensational dad. He
seemed to love children, was gentle, wise, and full of patience. That’s exactly the kind of
father she wanted for her own children some day…if she was lucky enough to have any
before her biological clock ran out, that is.
And, oh, what fun she and Lugal would have trying to conceive!
Of course, life with Lugal might be somewhat out of the norm…
“Hi, honey, how was your day?”
70
Samantha and Her Genie
“Excellent! I granted a dozen wishes, slew four chariot drivers suffering from road rage,
tamed two refrigerator beasts, annihilated one cell phone and got a big rip in my balloon pants
for the trouble. Can you sew them up for me, sweetheart?”
“You know your ancient history as if you were there,” Charlie said, snapping
Samantha’s thoughts back to the present as he plucked the kids from Lugal’s back.
Getting to his feet and straightening to his full, imposing height, Lugal flashed a
white-toothed grin. “Yes. I do, indeed.”
“Were you a scribe?”
“Nay. A professional soldier. My father was a scribe. In secret, he and my mother
taught me, as well as my brothers and sisters, to read and write.”
“I wanna read and write so I can be big and strong like Lugal when I grow up,”
Kevin announced, making a muscle.
“Size does not matter,” Lugal said.
Samantha had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She didn’t dare
chance a glimpse at Rosie, because she knew damn well the two of them would erupt
into fits of juvenile laughter.
Good Lord, here Samantha was lusting over her genie like a hormone-driven
teenager, right in front of the kids. Not to mention all that wetness going on between
her thighs every time she thought about his magical cock. This was terrible. Shameful!
She really had to get a grip.
“It is what’s up here that matters, Kevin.” Lugal tapped his temple. “And here.” He
clapped his hand over his heart. “Many big, mighty giants have been deceived by men
of smaller stature because those men used their brains instead of relying on their size to
defeat their enemies. There is great power in intelligence.”
“My daddy is very ’tellgent,” Kevin said.
“He is. And if you study very hard,” Lugal replied, “one day you will be lucky
enough to become a man of great intelligence just like your father.”
Kevin ran his father, plastering himself to Charlie’s leg like a koala bear to a tree
trunk. Soon Mandy was at her dad’s other leg, following suit. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
nodded. “And she’s getting a fancy tea party ready for the genie and all of her dollies.”
“And you, Kevin,” Lugal urged. “Which of your drawings do you like best?”
“The genie,” Kevin said without hesitation. “Because he has a sword and because
he can do magic and because he can be the winner of everybody in the whole wide
world!”
Lugal and the others chuckled. “I agree with both of you. It seems to me, Samantha,
that we have two winners,” he suggested. “One for the best castle and one for the best
genie.”
“Perfect!” Samantha said, amazed at Lugal’s acumen concerning children. “And
I’ve got a special prize for each of you. A brand new book from the special Auntie Sam
collection!”
“Yay!” the kids cried in unison.
Samantha smiled as she moved the twins from her lap to the couch and got up. In
this age of electronic games, videos and computers, it was rewarding to see their
enthusiasm and love for books. Their parents were certainly doing something right.
“I’ll be back in a minute with your prizes.”
“Come,” Lugal said, “while you wait for your aunt to return, I will give the winners
an onager-back ride…with your parents’ permission, of course.” He looked to Rosie
and Charlie.
69
Daisy Dexter Dobbs
“What’s an onager-back ride?” Rosie asked.
“An onager is animal similar to a donkey or horse used by the ancient Sumerians to
pull their carts and chariots,” Charlie answered absently. “Sure, go ahead, Lugal.”
Lugal removed the saber and its sheath from his hip, positioned it atop a tall
bookshelf and then got down on all fours, close to the floor to allow the kids to climb on
easily. “Climb on,” he told them.
“Oh, like an old world version of a piggyback ride,” Rosie said. She helped position
Mandy and Kevin on his back.
Samantha arrived back in the living room a moment later, in time to hear Lugal tell
the twins, “Hold on tight to my vest and I will tell you a story of the ancient land of
Sumer as I take you for a magical ride.”
Leaning against the doorjamb, she smiled at the sight of her big, bold warrior
tranquilly playing with a couple of pint-sized kids. As he crawled around the room, he
told them about how not everyone in Sumer was lucky enough to learn to read and
write. Only certain children selected by the gods were called to be scribes. And most of
them were male.
“What about the girls?” Mandy asked.
“They became wives, mothers and sometimes priestesses who served the gods in
ziggurats.”
“I don’t like rats,” Mandy said.
Lugal laughed. “Ziggurats were very tall buildings made of mud-brick, temples
where the local people brought offerings and sacrifices to the gods.”
“Amazing…” Charlie muttered.
Lugal told the twins that little boys began to study at the age of eight and finished
when they were twenty. Using a reed, the scribes wrote on clay tablets. The picture
marks they made symbolized the words of the Sumerian language.
Samantha found it all fascinating. In fact, everyone seemed captivated by the story,
including the children, who were treated to side-to-side sways and up-and-down onager
movements of Lugal’s back as he gave them their entertaining, yet educational ride.
He finished by telling them how fortunate and privileged they were to be given the
wonderful gift by their parents and their Aunt Samantha to be able to learn how to read
and write.
Samantha could easily see Lugal as a father. He’d make a sensational dad. He
seemed to love children, was gentle, wise, and full of patience. That’s exactly the kind of
father she wanted for her own children some day…if she was lucky enough to have any
before her biological clock ran out, that is.
And, oh, what fun she and Lugal would have trying to conceive!
Of course, life with Lugal might be somewhat out of the norm…
“Hi, honey, how was your day?”
70
Samantha and Her Genie
“Excellent! I granted a dozen wishes, slew four chariot drivers suffering from road rage,
tamed two refrigerator beasts, annihilated one cell phone and got a big rip in my balloon pants
for the trouble. Can you sew them up for me, sweetheart?”
“You know your ancient history as if you were there,” Charlie said, snapping
Samantha’s thoughts back to the present as he plucked the kids from Lugal’s back.
Getting to his feet and straightening to his full, imposing height, Lugal flashed a
white-toothed grin. “Yes. I do, indeed.”
“Were you a scribe?”
“Nay. A professional soldier. My father was a scribe. In secret, he and my mother
taught me, as well as my brothers and sisters, to read and write.”
“I wanna read and write so I can be big and strong like Lugal when I grow up,”
Kevin announced, making a muscle.
“Size does not matter,” Lugal said.
Samantha had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She didn’t dare
chance a glimpse at Rosie, because she knew damn well the two of them would erupt
into fits of juvenile laughter.
Good Lord, here Samantha was lusting over her genie like a hormone-driven
teenager, right in front of the kids. Not to mention all that wetness going on between
her thighs every time she thought about his magical cock. This was terrible. Shameful!
She really had to get a grip.
“It is what’s up here that matters, Kevin.” Lugal tapped his temple. “And here.” He
clapped his hand over his heart. “Many big, mighty giants have been deceived by men
of smaller stature because those men used their brains instead of relying on their size to
defeat their enemies. There is great power in intelligence.”
“My daddy is very ’tellgent,” Kevin said.
“He is. And if you study very hard,” Lugal replied, “one day you will be lucky
enough to become a man of great intelligence just like your father.”
Kevin ran his father, plastering himself to Charlie’s leg like a koala bear to a tree
trunk. Soon Mandy was at her dad’s other leg, following suit. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]