"OK, guys, listen up," announced Justin, the president of the Sigma Omicron Sigma fraternity. "Halloween's just a few weeks away and we, fine brothers, will stun the university Greek party like no one else."
"Oh? What's up?" asked one of the first-year members.
"Our fine service fraternity will be the one to win the costume prize for organizations. And we will donate our winnings to Toys for Tots this Christmas. So, to do that, we gotta think big, epic even. Any ideas?"
"We could go as Star Trek characters."
"Or Star Wars!"
"Let's go retro. How about characters from Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein?"
Over the next few minutes several other ideas were tossed out and discussed. Then Travis spoke up, "Guys, those are so boring. We have to think big, really big, and unique."
"Got an idea, Travis?" asked Justin.
"Well, everything so far has been OK, but not epic. When I hear the word 'epic,' I think about old movies, you know, like Ben Hur or something."
"Yeah," said another, "We should look into some of the old movies, you know, the 'Cast of Thousands' type of movie."
"Alright, men, your assignment is to research old epic movies and we come back tomorrow at seven and kick it around. Let's go eat."
The next night there was a subtle buzz of excitement among the members. Obviously, Travis had hit on a good idea. They settled down and Justin turned to Travis and said, "OK, Trav, you started this idea, what cha got?"
"Uh, well, uh," said the obviously nervous sophomore, "How about we act like old Egyptians. You know, the pharaohs and stuff. Like in Cleopatra."
"Yeah, I like it," responded Justin to the murmurs of assent among the other members. "One of us will be the pharaoh and the rest can be various aides and slaves."
"I'll be the pharaoh," shouted several at once.
"Nope, as your elected leader, I get to decide who is pharaoh, and I hereby declare the president of the fraternity must be it," he announced to the laughter and boos from the members.
They kicked around a few ideas how to make the costumes of the various people before Travis spoke up once more. "Guys, I just thought of something. We should have the pharaoh get carried in on a litter."
"A what?"
"You know, a litter. He'll have a chair strapped to two long poles and four of us will carry him in on our shoulders, like slaves did in the old days."
There was sudden enthusiasm for this idea as several members agreed. Justin spoke up, "Travis, your idea. Who should do the carrying?"
"Well, they gotta have a little strength. Since you weigh less than two hundred pounds, I'm guessing, then four would need to carry less than fifty each on their shoulders. Should be manageable since the chair and poles won't weigh that much."
"Alright, I need volunteers. Anyone who can handle fifty pounds should stand right up."
After some hemming and hawing, three volunteers came forward. "Any more? Travis, it was your idea. Can you do it?"
"Well, yeah. I may be skinny, but I'm a rock climber and swimmer so I've got some strength, I guess."
"OK, so it's settled. Now let's do some research on costumes and meet back here again tomorrow."
On the next night they worked together to figure out what other roles people could play. They all agreed the four litter-bearers would be dressed like slaves. They'd have loose, white garments around their waists and thighs but otherwise would be bare. They'd have fake whip marks across their backs. The pharaoh's costume would be the most ornate and the other costumes would be designed with their roles in mind.
"Hey, we need some female dancers, you know, like with veils and such," said one member.
"Actually, I was looking it up on Wiki and YouTube," said Travis, "The veil thing was much later and in Arab times. The ancient Egyptian women would dance wearing long, white tunics but with arms bare. You could practically see through the cloth. And they'd wear nothing underneath."
"So, any of your girlfriends willing to volunteer?" laughed Justin.
"I think mine would," answered Aaron, "She likes to show off. And maybe she can get a friend to go along with her."
"OK, you ask her and emphasize we'll pay for the costume. Everyone, we've got a great idea, thanks to Travis. We've got two weeks, so get cracking on your costumes. Oh, and by the way, don't tell anyone. Aaron, swear the girls to secrecy. It will be so much better if it's a surprise."
Back in his room, Travis suddenly got nervous. He was a math and computer science 'nerd' and wasn't used to being the center of attention. He was actually fairly shy but here he'd be wearing hardly anything but a small garment around his waist. 'I've got to get over it,' he thought to himself. 'If I don't, I'll never find a girl. Maybe if I can pull it off, I'll meet someone nice.'
Over the next week, all the members worked on their costumes. The four slaves used the same pattern and the costumes were easy to make. They fashioned a litter with a simple chair lashed to two eight-foot garden poles. They practiced lifting it until they could do so without dropping the pharaoh. Aaron's girlfriend and another female student promised to be dancers and made long tunics out of gauzy thin, white material. Aaron told them they were 'sexy as hell' as they practiced their dancing.
Two days before the party they assembled in an old gym and practiced how they would enter the party, how the dancers would behave and how the other members would present themselves. Travis had to agree with Aaron the two girls were extremely sexy in their costumes but when he tried to talk with the one girl, he got embarrassed looking at her barely concealed breasts and couldn't say much.
'Dammit,' he thought to himself, 'She's pretty and sexy and when I'm with someone like that, I clam up.' He promised himself he would try to do better at the party.
The weather Halloween night was perfect. A late Indian Summer lingered and the temperature was quite mild and all the Egyptians were perfectly comfortable in their costumes. They walked quietly as a group over to the large frat house where the party was being held. They could hear the music from the street and there was a fairly large crowd assembled outside the door.
"Hold up here, Guys. Let's get ready and approach the building with all the bells and whistles." The lead guys acted like guards. Behind them were two more who pretended to sweep the path to the door. Next came Travis and the three other litter bearers. They had hoisted up a King Tut-like pharaoh onto the litter and beside them were two more slaves who waved palm fronds on sticks to "cool" the pharaoh. Behind them were the two dancers and lastly came the rest of the frat guys wearing various costumes of tradesmen and soldiers.
The crowd was stunned into silence as they turned to see the approaching group.
"All hail the king," shouted out one of the lead guards.
"All hail the king," shouted the rest of the group in response.
"Make way for the king."
"Make way for the king."
"People of Egypt, I come in peace," shouted Justin.
"We come in peace," responded the entire group.
"Our journey has been long and we desire to stay with you humble peons until the morn," shouted Justin.
