Ironically it was the very beat that I had walked when I first joined the Police Department, and it was a good beat, in the downtown area.

I felt a tug on the leg of my trousers and I looked down to see a little boy of about five or six looking up at me. He said, "Mr. Police officer, could you help me find my Mummy. I told a man that my Mummy was all wrapped up and he said she'd be up there." and he pointed up the stairs of the Metropolitan Science Museum. I could take kids or leave them alone but this amused me. Somebody was playing a joke on the kid.

I took his hand and we walked up the stairs. The same ticket seller was still there from my original time on the beat. Joe said, "No Harry, his Mummy isn't here. I already told him that. It's been a slow morning and no kids have gone in, with or without their mothers."

I heard a yell, from in back of us, "Julian! Julian Sanders!" The little boy jerked out of my hand and turning dashed down the stairs, yelling "Mummy, mummy." Turning around myself, I saw a woman dressed in a white robe with what remained of a mud pack on her face. Chuckling, I lifted my hat, as I watched them embrace each other, I realized that's why the kid's Mummy had been all wrapped up. She had been in the Health Spa.

I started down the stairs when another kid grabbed my trousers, and said in a very soft voice, *Sir, could you help me find my Mummy. Like you did for that other boy.*

I said, "Sorry kid, only one Mummy to a lifeti..." and I looked down at the small bony hand wrapped in bandages.

*Oh, I'm sorry to bother you sir.* I closed my eyes and shook my head and when I opened my eyes there was only a pile of dust on the steps of the museum.

*****

In the next world, a four thousand and eight year old naked boy lay contentedly on the small boat, wrapped in his parents arms. "It has been so long little one, after four thousand years of being trapped in your mummy you are finally free."

He said shyly, "Osiris, gave me a gift because his priests so botched up the ritual and trapped me in my body. I gave it to the man who finally took the last of the energy that was holding my body together, and let it fall to dust and release me."

"And what did you give him, my little one."

"Contentment."

*****

I can remember it as if it were yesterday, the sudden wind as I walked down the museum steps, and the tiny voice that breathed in my ear, "Be content." and by the time I reached the sidewalk I was.

I had become embittered, because in spite of my rank, I had achieved none of my ambitions. The ambition was still there, but now the bitterness was gone, and my ambitions began to come true. I was finally made a detective, and five years later I'm a lieutenant, with a new wife and a ten year old stepson, named Julian.

Oh yes, if you're wondering, it's the same Julian.