Can a homemade mummy rise from the dead? Philip and Emery's pal Leon thinks so. He buries a tiny mummy in his backyard. When they attend a birthday party held in the Egyptian room of the museum, and a real, live, walking, talking mummy shows up and a valuable scarab goes missing, Philip and Emery have to figure out a way to get Leon out of a world of trouble.

“So why are you late?”

“Not my fault. Leon. As soon as we got home I had to go to his house and help him bury his mummy.”

“You what!”

“I had to help him bury his mummy.”

“In the ground? You had to help?”

“Of course, in the ground.”

“In the cemetery!”

“The cemetery? Of course not. In the backyard.”

“What! And you had to help?” Philip nearly shouted.

“Shhh. Somebody’ll hear you.”

“Never mind hearing me. What was wrong with his mommy?”

Emery shrugged. “Nothing, I guess.”

“You buried his mommy and you weren’t sure if there was something wrong? His mommy had to be sick, at least.”

“No, his mummy was dead.”

“Dead! Didn’t she just go on the trip with you?”

“Who?”

“Who! Leon’s mommy!”

“His mother?”

“Yes. His mother; his mommy”

“Sure, she went on the trip.”

“And when you got home you had to bury her?”

“Bury who?”

“His mother!”

“Bury his mother?”

“Yes, his mother!”

“No, she made us lunch while we buried his mummy.”

Philip got to his knees. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Emery shrugged and spread his arms.

“Emery, start over. Who got buried?”

“Nobody.”

“What do you mean nobody? You said you buried Leon’s mommy.”

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t say that. I said we buried his mummy, not his mommy. How could you think we buried his mother? Get your ears checked.”

“Get your mouth checked.”

“You really think we dug a gigantic hole in the backyard, put Leon’s mother into it, and then covered her up with dirt?”

“That’s what you said.”

“I did not! You’re crazy.”

“So Leon’s mother is okay? I thought, like, she died on the trip.”

“Sure, she’s okay. She made us lunch, didn’t she? We buried the mummy Leon made. His mother’s fine. She didn’t die on the trip. When I left Leon’s house, though, she was dying.”

“Dying! You just said she made you lunch And she was okay. What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing.”

“So why’s she dying?”

“She wants her brown hair to be a lighter color.”

Slowly, Philip said, “She’s dying her hair?”

“Right.”

Philip slumped back onto the dirt.