The History Mystery Read Free Page B

wooden spoons
    2 wooden looms
    1 wooden container full of spindles
    15 good quality cloths
    Carol was on tenterhooks, but Sonia read in silence. She didn’t say a word, intrigued with the whole thing. Combs for wool and hair combs? What on earth was that? Perhaps somebody wanted to comb a sheep? Or comb the yarn made on one of those wooden looms?
    She moved on to the next page. There was a message like that Egyptian one that had appeared in the history project: no sign of being an email and no letterhead this time either. This time, it startedwith the kind of language Andrea used at her work. But it soon changed:
    Once again I apologise for the intrusion and insistence. However, I hope that with the repetition of this procedure I may count on your understanding .
    It gives me great satisfaction to verify that our juridic model continues to interest you, even after such a length of time. We are all very proud of the codification work that the great king Hammurabi, shepherd of our salvation, has done by gathering in writing the laws that bind us, so as to orient the strict discipline and good conduct of our people .
    But I would like to tell you something of which I am deeply proud: I am a woman and a commoner, but I too can write. This is my personal pride. I do not know how to use the complicated terms of the codes (or did not know, but now, in these ethereal waves, any scribe absorbs every language around, in a virtual state, so I can attempt it). I have never had the scribe profession, mother of eloquence, father of knowledge, a delight from which one never gets tired, to quote a poem written to its glory. I have learned, however, the basic concepts and could always form in the clay tablets the essential words of my role .
    When my husband left in a caravan to do business with merchants from other lands, I was theone in charge of writing the messages necessary for his commercial contracts, and also the one who kept in order all the accounting from our business, especially that which referred to the textiles. I was the one who reminded him of exactly which merchandise another merchant was taking in the caravan and still owed us money for, for example .
    That must be what the list was about, Sonia thought. Something to do with keeping track of the goods for sale.
    And I was not the only one. A few other women also did this – after all, we were the ones who have always woven and understood textiles and yarns. It was our production. It has always been so. This is why, among our people – who invented writing before anyone else, it’s worth remembering – several feminine hands learned to use the different kinds of reed we needed. Sharp for scratching, with a triangular tip to engrave the characters in the soft clay, or with a round tip for the numbers .
    But none of this matters now. My knowledge grows and transforms into any writing that may reach you by computer. Today I wished to show you that I can write and how happy this makes me. A happiness that remains throughout the centuries, even though I myself do not write codes andunderstand that it is merely research that brings you close to me now, from a time in which women can study codes, write laws or judge .
    That was it. There was nothing more. Maybe there had been another page, which Andrea had not kept. Maybe not.
    Once again, what Sonia had in front of her was not exactly a letter or an email, but a message from someone who addressed the reader directly. But this communication didn’t seem to be from Nefertiti or have anything to do with Egypt. Instead, it was full of all that stuff about lawyers and codes and said something about this Hammurabi person that Andrea had also mentioned. Why?
    The Brainy Joker had clearly struck again. But there were new clues here. Sonia was more curious than ever now. She would definitely talk to Pedro about this and ask for his help.

4 – A Clue – Maybe
    â€˜You know something? This sounds like a