The 13th Tablet

Jen was a plain girl in her late twenties, with mid-length straw blond hair. She was very tall and her body moved slightly awkwardly as she approached Mina. Jack’s mother, in her mid-sixties was a plump brunette with piercing blue eyes. She stood there, a little hesitantly and Mina saw straight away that they had thought Jack was coming alone. Mina could not decide whether she wanted to kiss Jack for confirming that they were a couple or punch him on the jaw for not telling his mother that she’d be coming. In the end she did neither and shook hands with Jen and Maureen.

‘I’m delighted to meet you both,’ she said.

‘Same here,’ answered Jack’s smiling mother and pulled Mina into a big hug.

Jen gave Mina a hug as well and before Jack could understand what was going on, everyone was hugging each other.

‘I’m so happy to meet you,’ Jack’s mother kept saying to Mina.

Jack couldn’t take much more of the hugging, so he disengaged himself from his tearful but smiling sister, ‘Right. Let’s go for dinner.’

‘We’ve already tried out lots of the restaurants, but there’s a real nice place with authentic Thai cuisine, close by,’ said Jack’s mother.

‘It’s really awesome,’ added Jen.

Knowing his mother, Jack could just imagine the restaurant: an ordinary joint with a congenial owner smooth-talking his mum into believing the most absurd things about ‘traditional Thai cuisine.’ But he was happily surprised by his mother’s choice of venue for their Christmas Eve dinner. It was not at all the tacky restaurant he had imagined but a small well-established restaurant, owned by a Frenchman who had married a local Thai woman. They had opened the place a few years back, offering simple and well-prepared food, using only fresh produce from the island. It was a delightful meal. Jen kept smiling at Mina and Jack, she was so happy and proud to be spending time with her brother. When Mina went to the bathroom, both women starting peppering Jack with questions.

‘One at a time, you’re not making any sense!’ said Jack.

‘How did you meet?’ asked Jen.

‘In Iraq. She was working at the university in Mosul, on leave from Columbia University in New York.’

‘They have a university out there?’ asked Jack’s mother.

‘Yeah,’ answered Jack.

‘She’s awesome,’ said Jen.

‘I like her. She seems real smart, but she’s no snob,’ said his mother.

The conversation went on and on in the same vein. Jack wondered if he could take much more of it. When Mina returned, she looked worried. Jack stood up immediately.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure. My phone was on silent. I’ve just realised that I have twelve missed calls from Daniel.’

‘What? You gave him your Thai number?’

‘Yes. I emailed it to him, just in case.’

‘In case of what?’ Jack replied, frustrated by Mina’s carelessness. ‘What if the Bamarts’ phone was tapped?’

‘Well, I don’t know. But Daniel’s obviously trying to reach us, isn’t he?’ she said. ‘I’m going to call him back’ she added, and walked out to the beach front to make the phone call.

‘What’s wrong with her?’ asked Jen.

‘I’m not sure. She needs to make a phone call. She’ll be back in a few minutes,’ said Jack.

Mina dialled the Bamarts’ number in Hildersham.

‘Hello?’ said Daniel.

‘Daniel, it’s Mina,’ she said.

‘Mina! Thank God! I’ve been trying to reach you guys all day,’ he yelled down the phone.

‘Can you call me back on this number?’

‘Yes of course,’ he said, and hung up.

She sat down in the sand, and tried breathing deeply through her nose, to calm herself. She jumped as the phone started ringing in her hand.

‘Daniel?’

‘Yes.’

‘What’s going on? Why have you been trying to reach us?’ asked Mina.

‘It’s a catastrophe, a disaster!’ he answered frantically.

‘What? What’s a disaster? You’re not making any sense!’

‘I made a terrible mistake in my calculations,’ he replied, lowering his voice.

‘What do you mean? Did you make a mistake when transposing the dates from the Akkadian calendar to the Gregorian or Julian calendars?’

‘Nothing like that. I misread Jack’s notes. I…’ The line went dead.

Jack stepped out the restaurant and found Mina sitting in the sand holding her head in her hands. He knelt beside her.

‘So?’ he asked.

‘The line went dead. He said he made a mistake in his calculations.’

Her phone rang suddenly.

‘Mina?’ said Daniel.

‘Yes. Daniel, Jack is next to me. I’m putting it on loudspeaker, so the sound won’t be that great.’

‘Hi Jack. You both need to hear this.’

‘What?’ asked Jack.

‘Well, I made a mistake. It’s most embarrassing, I calculated everything but I misread two of Jack’s figures.’

‘You do have an appalling handwriting, Jack,’ Mina said. But Jack didn’t take any notice of her. ‘What mistake, Daniel?’

‘Well, instead of the events happening in 2014…’

Mina and Jack looked at each other with growing unease.

‘Yes?’

‘… Guys, it’s going to happen now, exactly ten years earlier, in 2004. In two days time in fact.’

Jack and Mina went dead silent.