I enjoyed talking with Amenophis very much, and our conversations ranged over everything from the latest palace rumor to the news from other kingdoms allied to the Black Land to the problems the royal baboon-keeper was having training his newest animals to pick dates from the tallest palm trees. “You should have seen it, Nefertiti! The creatures are supposed to pick the dates and throw them down to the men below who’re holding the catching cloth,” Amenophis told me as we walked along one of the palace rooftops, enjoying the view and the fresh air. “But they ate the dates themselves?” I guessed. “Yes, but that wouldn’t have been so bad. It’s what they threw instead of the dates that—” “Ugh! Stop! That’s awful! Don’t tell me any more!” I said, laughing so hard that he knew I didn’t mean it. “Why can’t I ever see something that funny in this place?” “It didn’t happen in the palace. It happened in the royal groves, past the farthest downstream limit of Thebes.”
