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Mummy Issues - Part 1
🕑 Added 2023-12-07 14:01:36 +0000 UTCOK, guys, you said you are interested in the novella I'm writing, so I will be posting parts from time to time. PLEASE give me feedback, of any kind, be it that you like it, you don't like it, about grammatical or logical errors, or whatever!!! Hope you enjoy!!!
PRELUDE
Cairo, Egypt, 2023.
The three friends were gathered in their usual haunt on Talaat Harb Street, in the bustling and crowded streets of downtown Cairo. It was dusk and the call for evening prayers had just finished, fading into the twilight air.
“Akhi! What’s new? Tell me, instead of looking at the Insta girls on your phone,” Rameez smirked, casting a bemused glance at Sami who was scrolling through his phone laboriously while in his other hand, he held onto his hookah pipe.
Sami exhaled a plume of smoke and a sharp but pleasant aroma of apple-flavored tobacco filtered out into the air joining the medley of other various assorted tobacco flavors in the cafe.
“I’m not checking out any Insta girls,” Sami looked up from his cell phone screen to grin at Rameez. “Not yet, anyway,” He winked at his other friend, Ahmed. Ahmed laughed.
The cafe was busy—but it always was, which was not surprising for a city with over twenty million people. The guests were all comfortably packed in dense clusters with the sounds of different and lively conversations hanging all around in the air; outside scooters zipped past while cars honked their horns. It was all too familiar, this cacophony in Cairo.
“What are you looking at then, anyway? Maybe enjoying some pictures of old stones and bones, Madman Al-Tarikh?” Rameez persisted.
“Hey! Don’t call me…” - Sami reacted, but then his frown turned into smile. The nickname was a new one, but it wasn’t the worst one Rameez has came up with. - “Actually, I like that one - Madman Al-Tarikh. I am a history addict, after all." As a university professor specializing in ancient Egyptian civilization, this indeed held true.
“Definitely better than Al-Bakir Al-Hieroglyph - The Hieroglyph Virgin“ - Ahmed laughed at one of the previous nicknames Rameez has used.
“You might make fun of my profession my friends,” - Sami continued, his gaze back on the screen. His phone glowed in the dim atmosphere of the cafe, casting a faint, pulsating light on his face. “but a man with no knowledge of his past is like a tree with no roots,”
Rameez laughed. “You know it is nothing more than lighthearted jest. We do have respect for your job. We are actually proud that our childhood friend is now uni professor. Isn’t that true Ahmed?”
Ahmed looked at Sami, whose eyes grew wider with every scroll on his phone. - “Now, he is definitely checking Insta girls!”
Sami smiled - “No, no… I’m just…”
Suddenly, he stopped mid-sentence, the smile on his face giving way to a shocked expression.
“Sami?” Ahmed’s jovial tone faded. Sami's pallor, under the faint lights, was unmistakable.
“What is it, akhi?” Rameez asked, alarm now seeping into his voice. He leaned over to catch a glimpse of the phone screen. There, in the middle of the screen, was a middle-aged woman - a voluptuous redhead wearing a summer dress, sitting at a cafè with her legs crossed.
Rameez let out low whistle, then squinted to read the name above the image “Mrs.G… Who is she, Sami?” he asked, his voice softer now. “And why are you looking like you've seen a ghost?”
Sami’s face was still pale and drawn, his gaze lifted to his friends. For a moment it seemed he would answer—but he snapped his mouth shut after opening it for a second. He frowned and shook his head but they didn’t pull their gazes away from him and so he let out a sigh and then spoke.
“I… it’s a long story,” Sami admitted, turning away from their inquisitive gazes to look back down at the phone and it was again as if he had forgotten all about them while gazing at the striking redhead.
Rameez looked at Ahmed who just shrugged, and he turned back to look at Sami, reaching out with his hand to land it on his friend’s arm and shake it.
“Look at me, akhi! Who is she?” Rameez enunciated loudly as he ran his dark eyes over Sami’s bewildered features.
“Tell us, Sami! She’s so beautiful.” Ahmed shook his head - “Don’t tell us you were ever with her! And to think we called you Al-Bakir Al-Hieroglyph!”
Sami’s lips set in a firm line and he looked toward each of his friends.
“I will tell you…but I warn you, this is something that is…well, this is something strange.” Sami saw them all staring at him solemnly and with increasing curiosity in their gazes, waiting for him to begin…and so he did.
Comments
Thank you!
Great suspense to get the readers intrest!
