City of the Dead

for the animals, the cats and the geese, Hapu’s family would take them.
    Senseneb was engaged in clearing a room when she saw Merinakhte standing in the doorway. She stopped what she was doing and looked at him, but said nothing, waiting for him to speak first. He held his body awkwardly, his grey eyes shifting uneasily.
    ‘What are you doing?’ he said at last.
    She resumed her activity without answering.
    ‘Don’t you have servants to do that?’
    ‘I have paid some off. Only Hapu is coming away with me. And there are things I like to do myself. In any case, you should be grateful.’
    Merinakhte looked worried, it is not my fault that I have inherited your father’s job.’
    ‘No,’ she replied evenly, it is very fortunate.’
    Not catching her irony, he said earnestly, ‘Perhaps it was something decreed by the gods.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes.’ He pursued the idea eagerly. It seemed that now he had plucked up the courage to speak, the words would come tumbling out of him in a flood. ‘Where are you going?’
    For some reason her heart told her not to tell him. ‘I haven’t decided yet. Perhaps to the Northern Capital.’
    ‘Doesn’t your father have a house somewhere?’
    ‘Who told you that?’
    ‘He mentioned it once.’
    ‘I haven’t had time to go through all his papers.’
    ‘I could help you.’
    She looked at him. Everything about his body was too long, except his breast and thighs, which were flabby. His tiny eyes were like the points of spears in his pale face. He kept staring at a point below her waist, and his long fingers clasped and unclasped.
    ‘No,’ she said.
    He was silent after that, but did not leave his position by the door. He tapped one of his feet up and down, twisting it in and out of his sandal in a manner so violent that for a moment she thought it must be uncontrollable.
    She tried to ignore him, biting her lip, praying that he would go; but he stayed, staring. Where, she wondered, had Hapu got to? He had gone to take water for the garden out of the well with the shaduf, but he must have been finished by now.
    It was becoming impossible for her even to pretend to work.
    ‘What do you want?’ she asked finally, straightening and looking at him. She found that she could not bear to for more than a few seconds together.
    ‘You don’t have to go,’ he said, avoiding her eyes.
    ‘What?’
    ‘You don’t have to go.’ He allowed his eyes to meet hers briefly, to check how this comment had gone down, before they darted away again.
    ‘There’s nothing for me here any more.’
    ‘There could be.’
    She looked at him more carefully. He was trying to smile, achieving a sneer. His arms were folded defensively across his narrow chest, each bony hand grasping a pale forearm. He was like something that lived at the dark bottom of ponds, eating whatever sank there.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Her scalp crawled. A horrible realisation was coming into her heart.
    ‘You could stay in this house. With me.’ Now the words were out he seemed almost to regret having spoken them. One hand uneasily scratched its attendant forearm. She noticed that the nails were dirty and their pressure left a livid mark on the skin. Despite herself, she imagined that hand on her body, and felt the moisture of fear and disgust on her palms and forelip. But she had to say something. He was waiting for an answer.
    ‘What?’ she managed finally, hoping that she kept the incredulity out of her voice.
    ‘With me.As my wife.’ The hand detached itself from its anchor on his forearm and made an impotent, deprecating gesture in the air. For a ghastly moment she thought she might laugh. She managed to control the hysterical impulse. Above all she had to play safe.
    ‘What about it? Will you be my wife?’ blurted Merinakhte awkwardly.
    ‘I need time — ’
    ‘I’ve had an eye on you for years. Ever since you came back here. I don’t mind if you’ve been used once.’
    Her eyes widened in anger. ‘What?’
    ‘I know why your husband sent you back. But children never appealed to me.’
    Her head spun. ‘I think you should leave.’
    He folded his arms again, leaning insolently on the door frame. Now that he had embarked on his proposal, his assurance was growing. ‘Not without an answer.’
    ‘The answer is no.’
    Merinakhte’s lips tightened, and the veins at his temples pulsed. Then he controlled his anger, and whined, ‘Please consider me, at least. Think, you could stay here. This