THE MUMMY,S FOOT BY MARK ANTONY RAINES INSPIRED BY THEOPHILE GAUTIER

I was for my leisurely walk enjoying the solar rays of the sun on my skin,doing the usual spot of windiw shopping when i noticed a what is called in France,marchands de bric-a-brac which to my mind sounds much better then a second hand curio shop. Full of antiquated furniture and wonderous curios as i entered inside i was greeted by the chime of the shops doorbell and the sight of so mmm e cobwebs in the corner. As i started to look around i made a polite signal to the old gentleman owner i was just glacing at the objects untiil something grabbed my attention . As i walked pass estrusian lamps,louis xiii cabinets,japanese dishes,Chinese silks,oil paintings,i saw a somewhat macarbe object my eyes were drawn too and i sensed it calling me as if noone else was have the object of my desire A Mummys foot. At this point the owner with a cat like skills was upon me,i looked at his singular face his skull was immense it was surrounded by thin aureole white hair,his eyes had a hint of yellow,his nose was aquiline,his hands slender. "Are you buying something from me today sir?"said the shopkeeper in a voice undulating gravel tones" "I would like to look at the mummys foot please"i said. "Yes sir the foot is an excellent choice" echoed the shopkeeper. As i held the foot in my hands i was surpised by its lightness and it felt smooth for an embalmed foot. I looked even more carefully the grain of the skin ,the impreceptile texture impressed on the bandages,the toes were delicately slender and had nails of transparent agates ,i nodded to the shopkeeper and held out my hand as a gesture to make the trade of goods and him the receipt of monies required. "Yes i will sell you the foot of Princess Hermonthis it make a wonderful paper-weight"as I sudden vision appeared in my head of the Pharaoh looking surprised that someday his adored daughters foot would be a mere paper-weight for someones elses amusement,"How much for the mummys foot?"as "Five hunderd pounds as it is rare "as "I have in my hand one hunderd"as "Its little for an authentic foot but its been in my shop for a very long time,i take the deal" I give the shopkeeper the money,he give me the mummys foot wrapped in brown paper,as i departed the shop the merchant seemed to give the impression of being mighly relieved the said macarbe object was finally gone from his pocession. I went home i was truel delighted with my acquicaion i would make a handsome profit so i placed Princess Hermonthis foot in all the papers . But at the back of my head i still had that nagging doubt that who but myself wanted a authententically Egyptian paper -weight so i left on my desk and went out to have diner with some friends to distract myself. Later that evening i came came my brain confused by a few glasses of wine when my olfactory nerves sensed something like natron,and myrrth and bitumen,i knew from my studies if Egyptian histories these were the parashistes used when a body of the dead were cut open and bathed the corpse.see But how could this perfume once sweet and four thousand years old be aroma in my house,surely it was not possible,my puddled brain was playing tricks on me. It was time for me to go to my bed to sleep off the affects of a little too much to drink.see As hit my bed i expected the sandman to bring dreams of nothingness but instead my darker side decided to give me an nightmare instead.see see The eyes which are said in many cultures to be the window to the soul i beheld a chamber and odour of myrrth as i looked around i could see all the articles of furniture.see Softy lamps made of ground crystal which had a Bohemian glass shade ,then this calm turned disturbed.see A ash covered log emitted blue flame and i felt i was being watched by metallic eyes to bear witness to want was going to unfold. Then i was back at the desk i originally placed the foot of Princess Hermonthis and in a sudden start the embalmed foot which had been dormant for four thousand years contracted and leaped like a started frog as it had come into contract with a galavanic battery and in the distant my audio illusion heard the heel of the foot as if was an hoof of a gazelle. The folds of my bed curtain stirred then a bump bump sound of a foot hopping across the floor. I felt alterately hot and cold and my raised at a strange wind chill causing my nightcap to leap several yards. The bed curtains opened my eyes beheld a strange figure of a young girl who had a coffee -brown complexion,obique almond shaped eyes,eyebrows were blue black,a chiselled nose ,slender and spindle like arms encircled by metal bands,around her neck was the image of Isis,wearing material bedizened by hieroglyphic stiffed by bituman of that belonging to a freshly unbandaged mummy. As i look with stunned amazement and a state of ready to flight this apparition had but one foot the other had long ago broken off at the ankle,she the Princess made her way to the table were the mummified foot now sat or rather it was fidgeting ,i saw her eyes fill with pearly tears. She did not speak but in my mind i sensed she was agitated as she looked at her foot with corqettish sadness at this the foot leaped hither and tither she tried to grab it but failed. The princess than spoke in a sweet tone. "Oh foot why do youe elude me so did i not bathe you in the finest oils and paint your nsils in eqsuite colours" This is were i am sure i was delving into the pits of madness for the said mummified replied to the princess in a rather chargined tone. "I did not feel i belong to you no longer for long ago i brought by an old merchant who bore a grudge as i refused to esponge him " "The thiefs who violated the tomb of which was placed the princess royal coffin in the subterranean pits of the necropolis of Thebes did not known thst a curse was placed as soon as the pyrimid was entered stopping you from ascending to the shadow nation. All your jewels ,gold,silver were placed in sacks ,the tomb seal was broken and your body examined in doing so i your foot broke and fall off this spooked the thiefs who in thier panic left thier ill gotten gains " "What of the curse?"said I. "Each thief died on the same night each with small puncher wounds around thier necks causing them to die a slow death in thier final slumberand when each case was investigated all that was found were dead beetles" Then the mummifed foot bandages unraveled snd the foot hopped towards the princess and reattached its self to her foot,she was no longer lame and once more whole,at this she exclaimed her father would be pleased to see her no longer mutilated and she could go join him in the shadow realms. The princess requested i join her on this journey for she was sure i would be rewarded by her father so i got dressed in my normal day attire asi was dressed in my nightclothes. The princess give her necklace hanging around her neck to protect me on our journey,like the velocity of an arrow we shoot through the expanse of time,while being watched by half form silhouettes of some unknown creature. We reached our destination,i was guided by the princess to a pyrimid which was guarded by two sculptures of a man i presumed to be her father,we walked down corridors the walks covered in paintings and hieroglyphics which lead to a spiral stairway The stairway lead to pits then chambersand then another corridor decorated with painted sparrow hawks ,serpents coiled in circles at last thier entered an immeasurable enormous halk the princess then walked other to some mummies placed in the far corner ofthe halland went on her knees and saluted them. At this i beheld a grand old man once the king of this subterranean place a d its peoples who idolised the ground he wwer he walked,as i looked around i saw th at aningvus were all the dark pharohs. Cheoos,Chephrenrenes,Psammetichusand more i realiesd i was not taken to heaven but hell.Tge prucess told her story and the king smiled and said in as for my reward it was to restthe entternal sleep among his people never to reurn to my home again ,at this back in the so called reality of the real world i died a death of being wrapped around my bed sheets as if i was mummified.