The following short excerpts are part of an overall story line entitled "The Trafalgar Notebooks". They were written as part of a creative writing class, and center around a character who, over time, changes his name from Kitten to Willy Trafalgar. For pictures of Kitten/Willy, see his bio on the Characters page of my website.

Uncle Thoth

Tumte was on the warpath again. He'd spent most of the day thundering around the palace, kicking anything that moved and destroying anything that didn't. I was sitting huddled in a corner, hoping that he wouldn't see me, when I heard a loud crash.

"Kitten, you little bastard!" he yelled, spotting me. "Git out of that corner and clean this up!"

He had broken one of the statues in the Main Hall, the ones that correspond to the ones in the mortal temples allowing the older, more important gods to speak to their followers. My immediate thought was to run, since if I was caught anywhere near it, I'd be the one blamed.

Tumte caught hold of my tail as I tried to dash for the safety of the women's quarters.

"Why you bad little Kitten!" he said, holding me by the tail. "Just look what you've done to Uncle Thoth's statue!"

"Didn't do nothin' to Uncle Thoth," I protested. My tail was starting to hurt. "You broke it yourself to try to get me in trouble."

"Silly Kitten, who's going to believe that? Didn't Mother teach you not to lie?" Tumte let go of my tail, laughing as I fell to the hard stone.

"No one will believe you, you little turd, so I suggest you start sweeping." He jabbed his sandaled foot into my stomach, then left for his own quarters and the mortal concubines he kept there. I lay on the floor for a moment, trying to ignore the pain from my new bruises on top of old ones. The best thing for me to do was run and tell Mother before Tumte could. I looked over at what was left of Uncle Thoth's statue. I liked Uncle Thoth. He was Mother's brother, and the only one in the palace who didn't beat me or ignore me. I didn't like seeing his statue in pieces on the ground.

Gingerly, I raised myself to my knees and crawled over to the statue's head. It was a silly thing to do, since the closer I was to the statue when someone found out, the more trouble I was likely to be in, and I was far too small to lift it anyway. I was right next to the head when they found me.

"Get up, boy." The order was accompanied by yet another sandal jabbing me in the stomach. I peered up at the three last people I wanted to see.

One was Tumte, looking very pleased with himself. Beside him was his father, Osiris, the one who had told me to get up. The third was Uncle Thoth, looking like he was going to cry.