The Twin of Myne

Learning to Respect Egyptian Culture

 The next day at home Myne seemed to be deep in thought. My guess was that she was thinking about books. "What are you thinking about Myne?" I asked.

"I'm thinking about how to make paper." I knew plenty of ways on how we could make paper from history class, but Myne seemed to be a lot more dedicated in thinking of ways to make paper than I was so I let her keep thinking. After a while she seemed to have an epiphany. "What if we make (papyrus) from (Egypt)." I didn't recognize the (papyrus) word, Rene must have never learned it, but I did know that (Egypt) was -Egypt-, so Myne was probably talking about -papyrus-.

"That could work." I started thinking of the steps that needed to be taken to make papyrus. "There is no way we could make it by ourselves though. It's a lot of work. We would also need to find a plant similar to -Cyperus papyrus-."

"Whaa! You know how to make it?!" Myne asked.

"I do, but I don't think it'll be good for making books. You can only really write on one side."

"What would you do then?" Myne asked.

"I would go straight to making -plant paper-, but with the current resources we have, we should just make -papyrus-."

"Then (papyrus) it is!" Myne shouted and started walking towards Tuuli. "Tuuli, I want to go to the forest. Can I come with–" Myne was cut short by Tuuli firmly saying no. "Why not?" Myne asked as if it wasn't obvious. I could've told her that, but let Tuuli tell her.

"What do you need?" Tuuli asked and instead of letting me, the expert, explain, Myne proceeded to give an explanation.

"Umm, are there any (plants with easily removed fibers)." Myne asked, with half of the statement coming out in Japanese. Seeing Tuuli's confused look, I stepped in.

"We need a plant that can easily be cut into flat pieces like wood. The ones I am thinking of live by water but any plant that fits that description would work." Tuuli seemed to stop and think before deciding to help Ralph and Lutz. She was going to help them get chicken feed apparently.

"Thanks Tuuli!" Me and Myne said together. As Tuuli walked away, I started to think of everything we needed to make papyrus.

"We need a hammer, a bucket of water, a cloth, and a flat surface." I told Myne, counting on my fingers.

The next day Myne was determined to find her own plants that would work so we went to the well with Mom, but we were too exhausted to look for any plants when we got there. We watched Mom wash the clothes with a bar of soap that smelled awful. While I was thinking of how I was going to make better soap, Karla, Ralph and Lutz's mom, came down and started talking to me and Myne. "Are you two feeling well today? It's rare to see you outside."

"I'm getting plants. Ralph and Lutz said they needed them for your birds." Myne started having a conversation with Karla, while I continued sitting. I didn't feel like talking to her. After her conversation was over, she went over and started picking plants from the ground for the chickens.

"Hey Myne." I walked over to where she was and started helping her pick up the plants. Myne looked up from the ground and over towards me. "Do you even know how to make this?" I asked in reference to the papyrus. She swiftly shook her head no. I sighed. "I'll figure out how to do it with what we have then." I mumbled but she didn't seem to like that.

"Just tell me how to make it and I'll help you." I smiled at her determination.

"Okay, so first we are going to cut the stems thinly. We then have to soak them for at least 3 days and after that we have to bang the water out of them. Then we weave them together and then..." I stopped to think about the next few steps. "After that we need to flatten the sheets. I would've used books, but I think something else heavy and flat would work too. We need to put a wet cloth between the 2 heavy things and the papyrus and replace the cloth whenever it starts to get dry. The final step is to roll it out and polish it, but we don't have -ivory- to polish it so we'll have to do without it."

"That seems easy enough." Myne said, ever optimistic.

"Tuuli will have to do most of the work for us, so of course it'll be easy." I said back towards Myne. She seemed to forget about how weak our bodies were every waking minute.

The next day me and Myne went to the worst babysitter ever. I did better than Mrs. Gerda in my Camilla days and I didn't do it as a living. It just went to show how different the two worlds were and the gap of knowledge between them. The day seemed to have lasted forever so I couldn't have been more overjoyed when Tuuli came. "TUULI" Myne rushed into Tuuli's arms, who quickly hugged her back.

"Don't worry Myne, we'll definitely be stronger when spring comes." I said, patting Myne on the back. There was no way I was ever going back to this awful place.

"Oh right, we got those plant stems you wanted." Ralph said, grabbing a handful and showing me. I grabbed them and felt them. They seemed similar enough to papyrus, but I wasn't sure if they would behave the same way.

"Thank you very much. I hope that this will work well. I'll let you know." I said, smiling toward Ralph.

"What are you making?" Asked Ralph, and before Myne could say anything I covered her mouth. This is a profitable idea. We don't want random commoners knowing about it.

"We're making something that is a secret, if you really want to know what it is you have to lend us a hammer." I told Ralph and Lutz. From what I remember, their dad is a craftsman, so he should have a hammer like tool.

"A secret?" Ralph and Lutz questioned, and I nodded confidently.

"Yup, something I just can't tell anyone. You have to be in on the production process." I said.

"Count me in!" Lutz excitedly raised his hand, and I then beckoned him closer and for him to crouch down. Even standing on my tippy toes I wouldn't be able to reach his ear. "You aren't to say this to anyone, got it?" I said loudly before starting to whisper. "We are making -papyrus-, a form of paper."

"Whaa! You're making p-mphh" I shoved my hands against his mouth to stop the secret from spreading.

"What did you not understand about not telling anyone? You almost gave us away." I said, half teasing. It wouldn't be the end of the world if word got out because no one would believe the rumor anyway. 'Two sickly girls are making paper.' No one will believe that, but it's better to keep it secret just in case. Myne seemed to be holding back laughter, but I ignored her as we all walked to our respective houses.