Jack the adventurer was getting bored with the endless talk about ancient Egypt being given by Professor Brown at the class outing. The entire class was standing in the "Pharaoh's Room" of the local Museum of History.

Cindy Williams was swinging her silly pony-tail around tempting him to yank it once and for all. Of course, that would mean another trip to the principal's office and he didn't think his parents would be overjoyed by the result.

He looked around the walls of the small sized room and noticed that the entire wall was encrypted with ancient writings in a language he could not decipher. He could see the small birds and the people in various poses so he figured it all meant something in words that normal people could understand. The upright Mummy's sarcophagi (1) on each side of the hallway were colorful and seemed interesting to him. He could see that a lot of the symbols on the walls were also displayed on the ancient coffins. It was hard to believe that these works of art were simple coffins of a long-gone era.

Jack wondered how long they had to listen to the droning voice of the unbelievably old tour-guide. He could almost taste the promised cheeseburgers and fries at the Museum cafeteria.

He ran his fingers along the edge of one of the coffins and was surprised that it felt so smooth even though it was over 4,000 years old. There was a big sign that said, "Do Not Touch" and he looked around to see if anyone saw him. That silly Cindy Williams was smiling at him like she wanted to run to the teacher and get him in trouble. He glared at her to make her mind her own business but she continued to smile like she knew a secret that he didn't. It was very annoying but then most girls were annoying most of the time anyways.

When it came time to move to the Cafeteria for lunch, Jack was right at the head of the line because he wanted to get his cheeseburger first just in case someone didn't want to eat theirs and he could have a second one for free. He tried to sit by himself because eating was serious business and he didn't want to be interrupted by a lot of silly talk. Jack was about half-way through his burger when Cindy Williams sat down on the other side of the small table.

"Do you mind, Jack? All the other spots are filled up and I need a place to sit down."

Actually, he did mind but he could see there was really no other place to sit down so he just mumbled and nodded his head up and down without removing the second half of the cheeseburger from his mouth. Cindy swung her pony tail this way and that way which really annoyed him a lot but at least she kept quiet and started to eat her cheeseburger with little dainty girl-like bites. He had to ask himself, "Why can't girls eat like regular guys and not like a bunch of little birds pecking here and there like they only want the special parts."

He finished off his burger and started to work on the fries before they got too cold. The lemonade was delicious and they gave free refills so things were looking pretty good.

Cindy was staring at him with a weird look in her eyes but still remained silent which impressed him most of all. Then, she offered him the second half of her cheeseburger because, "It's way too much for me, Jack. Besides, you are a growing boy and need more than us girls.

"Thanks, Cindy, that's mighty nice of you."

Jack stuffed the remaining part of Cindy's sandwich into his mouth and made it disappear rapidly. He finally felt satisfied and didn't even eye the remaining fries on Cindy's plate.

"I saw you reading the symbols on the coffin, Jack. Do you understand any of it?"

Now that his belly was filled, Jack felt like talking even if it was with a girl.

"Kind of, well, a little bit at least. I can figure out the pictures pretty good but the alphabet is in an ancient language called Sumerian (2) and I would need a dictionary to figure it out."