The priest's last chant

by mohamed mostafa (Egypt)

I didn't expect to find Egypt

The priest's last chant. The clock was ticking at 3:00 a.m., when my colleague Jamal entered my room at the dorms and asked me to travel with him to his hometown of Giza to visit his childhood friend, who doctors said his condition worsened a lot because of the spread of cancer in his body. Travelling was a good idea to relieve the stress of the exams so I decided to go with him. When we arrived to the capital, Jamal asked me: Why are you smiling?" I told him it was the first time I had visited Cairo and he said, "" So I will make it a trip worth remembering, we have several hours to make a tour." At 9:00 a.m., we had arrived at the gates of the old Egyptian Museum, I must say that the life of any human being before seeing the relics of the ancient Egyptians is one thing and his life after seeing it is another. Despite the many exhibits inside, I was curious about a statue beneath which was a small sign written on it 3200 B.C. of a man sitting squatting with a pen and on his feet a papyrus leaf, his eyes of crystal and wearing a necklace . When I said sarcastically, "This man sits about 5, 000 years ago" I froze in my place for a moment because I thought he looked at me suddenly, but the statue was already looking to the right a little bit and I jumped in horror when the museum's tour guide patted on my shoulders and said with a smile: "This is the statue of the writer "Kao'aer" has a great place among the statesmen, so the old Egyptian was recommending his son, saying, "If you want not to have a boss in work and be exempt from taxes, become a writer." Despite entering the mummies room and seeing a lot of statues , I remained obliged by the impact of the guide and his descriptions about life in ancient Egypt .. I only woke up when Jamal shouted to me while we were in the Bridge of the Nile Palace urging me to run with him to catch the bus .. I said : "And how do we ride if it does not stop?" He laughed and said: "the bus in Cairo does not stop and we have to get on and get off while the driver is slowing down." We arrived at the Pyramid Hospital in Giza and went up to a room on the fourth floor where he lay ("Mustafa") who was very happy to see his friend, he was alone in a spacious room, its window overlooking the Great Pyramid, I greeted him and spoke to him in nice words and wished him a speedy recovery, and after a few compliments he asked Jamal to help him To get up and stand in front of the window, he seemed very tired while leaning on an iron arm with a solution attached to a tube with his left arm while holding Jamal with his right hand. he turned to me and said, "Seeing the greatness of the pyramids makes me underestimate the difficulties and pains of life." I said, "This wonderful scene will be complete if you sing, Jamal told me that you are a talented singer. I was overwhelmed by chills when he singing. Two nurses passed by in front of the room and entered and started to chanting with him as a choir behind him, the fact that this scene needed a master painter to draw, then I remembered the words of the guide in the museum describing a statue of the high priest when he said "The priest was shaving all his body hair and wearing clothes in white linen and this is the statue of the priest "Kaa Abar", made of holy sycamore wood based on a stick in his left hand and holding the scepter in his right hand and advancing the funeral procession heading towards west Nile chanting to announce to the dead the arrival of a newcomer to the life of the isthmus. in the memory of "Mustafa". The last priest