Chapter XIX. The Sacred Mission

The Faggala district in Cairo’s Bab al-Shaariya neighborhood, which is close to Ramses Square and is known as the intellectuals’ zone, is teeming with bookshops, publishing firms, and stationery businesses.

The family relocated to a small home with outdated furnishings on the first floor of a four-story structure in one of the Bab Al-Bahr Street alleys that branch off from the Bab Al-Shariya area. It has two rooms and a hall, which is hardly enough space for them.

Really ironic, a large part of this region belonged to their great-grandfather, Prince Ismail, confiscated by Muhammad Ali Pasha following the prince moved to southern Egypt, and after nearly a hundred and fifty years, Gamal Abdel Nasser confiscated all the property of his grandchildren; To find themselves where it all began again.

Contrary to expectations, Zainab and her character were not dramatically altered by what occurred to them. Still, Zainab, she is. As long as she breathes air, the tyrant inside her will not rest until he does not disturb their lives every day. As if she is a weapon of mass destruction. There is no purpose for its existence except suffering, a parasitic being that feeds on the suffering of others. There is no escape from her, no way out for salvation, and the only reason it exists is to cause agony.

Screaming and cussing can naturally break out at any time for any reason!

-Mother, why don’t you notice how we’re doing? What happened to us, then? Relax so that we can think.

She doesn’t care about them or their circumstances and keeps getting into fights with everyone over the little things, sometimes needlessly.

“Perhaps it is a result of what happened to us! Her nerves could not bear the change in the situation and the recent changes in our lives so quickly.”

This is the children’s hypothesis, but Hassan, the father, who is the most experienced and knowledgeable about her, knows that this is not the reason. He immediately realized that what made matters worse was the absence of servants, who did not exist to unleash her tyranny on them! This energy of tyranny, destruction, bullying, and enslavement, must find someone to empty them into, and it is no longer in front of her except for him and the children.

They had the impression that they were just getting to know Zainab because the servants’ presence kept her away from them. Yet despite everything they had endured from her during their upbringing, they had just recently realized that it had been a paradise of bliss in comparison to what she is currently doing.

The vulgar woman thrives there, as if she has just discovered her ideal environment for growth, on the small balcony of the house, standing and cursing the neighbors, with the most horrible words, if anything disturbs her. This is typical of Cairo, where a narrow lane, close buildings, and converging balconies are the scolder’s ideal setting.

More often than not, you get into trouble with them; To practice her sharp tongue against them, and what is different here is the presence of some scolders as well in the near and far honors, and it is only moments, until a long link of vulgar words and insults begins, raining down from all sides.

But Zainab, a strong sharp-tongued, soon the rest surrendered before her sharp-tongued, she has crowned the queen of all scolders, everyone loathed her, hated her, avoided talking to her, even looking at her.

An aristocratic family that was once prominent. They were taught virtue and manners by Hasan. Now they are embarrassed by her. The populace attests to their high moral standards. They are perplexed as to how this gentle and honorable dad and his good and intelligent boys could coexist with a woman like her. How then can she be their mother?

In the midst of this suffering, they are coping with great difficulty. Until yesterday, they were close to the elite of the people, living in palaces, and today they are crowding in a narrow hall, each waiting his turn to enter the bathroom!

However, the strongest human forces always remain, their ability to adapt creatively; it is necessary to coexist with adversity, thus, use it in their favor, if they moved into an environment, they do not exhaust it and then move to another, as viruses do. Also, they do not adapt to its capabilities and are patient with it and what is written for them, as animals do. Rather, they adapt to it and then change it, innovate, turn it upside down, and use it to their advantage in its worst conditions.

This time, Zainab’s involvement with creativity came from a place she may not have wanted or intended!

Over the years, the father and kids have tried to divert her attention with her favorite things. In the hopes that she might occasionally keep her evil away from them and the servants, they bought her dozens of books about the Pharaonic civilization.

Her library in the palace was full of rare books specific to this civilization, those books that they left behind, but a copy of them still existed in Zainab’s mind, or at least enough of them.

All they wanted was her advice, on what to focus on, how to start their new business.

As familiar with this civilization, she can offer many fruitful advice, at least for the beginning.

The idea came from Younes, 22 years old, an idea that might save the family!

-We are in the middle of a neighborhood frequented by intellectuals. There are many bookstores around us, many of which sell books that talk about the pharaohs, but until this moment I did not happen to see one of them, specialized in their civilization, so that we would open a specialized pharaonic library, which sells only books, manuscripts, antiques, everything else related to the Pharaonic civilization.

Additionally, they have a strong card since Zainab is an expert on this culture and understands exactly what should be prioritized first and where.

Their secret trump card, which they know nothing about, Hatshepsut, the daughter of the pharaohs, no one will be able to match her in this regard.

The plan appeared incredible; all they needed to do was get some money, which they swiftly did because Hassan knew several merchants and uncle Mahmoud has acquaintances and connections in Cairo.

The business was launched after they took out a loan. It quickly prospered, and the bookstore rose to fame.

It only took their store a year to become one of the most popular Pharaonic civilization-focused stores; however, this does not necessarily mean that it makes them a lot of money. They do, of course, make enough money to live a respectable life, albeit somewhat better than those around them.

People in Egypt are going through a transformation; thus, they don’t give books, particularly historical ones, any attention. They only care about the leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, his speeches, slogans, exploits, and plans, many of which he improvises on the spot, possibly depending on his mood and psychological state!

Alara is in her third year, shining more beautifully day by day, sitting on her mother’s lap by the window of the room, looking at the walls of the building adjacent to theirs.

Zainab, in an audible voice: I am tired of this house. I miss the palace, with its wide balconies and beautiful views.

Hatshepsut: We’ve moved on, let’s focus now on our sacred mission, Alara.

-Hassan and the children are busy in the library. Work is good. Hopefully, we will be able to move into a spacious house very soon.

-Don’t worry, it will happen. Right now, we need to pay attention to Alara since she has to be prepared and trained.

-Why can’t you perform the talismans? What’s keeping you from making Hassan win a lot of money overnight?

-I’ll use them, but we’ll have to wait since now isn’t the proper time.

-What I fear is that we will wait for a very long time, just like the years we spent waiting for Alara to be born, Zainab added with sarcasm.

In a tone of warning, she replied: Do not make fun of the talismans, I told you that I would use them at the proper time.

Alara raised her head for a moment, looking into her mother’s eyes and lips, with the innocence of a child, barely able to gather a few words that enabled her to ask the question: Who are you talking to, mother?

Zainab: With Hatshepsut, my daughter.

She held her tightly to her, as if she were a precious jewel, afraid of losing her. She whispered in the ear of the little girl: You’ll have a visit from Hatshepsut one day, possibly after I’m gone. She must be trusted. She has never let me down, and she won’t let you down either. She will look out for you and be your best friend, guiding you to safety at all times.

Says Alara: Hatshepsut!

Yes, Alara, keep the name in mind; she made me a queen out of nothing, and she will make you a queen out of nothing as well.

I am content if I die today as I am, she said, having lived a life I had never even dared to imagine. But you, Alara, must live like it, and better than it, Hatshepsut will make sure of it.

Hatshepsut: Don’t worry, Zainab, I’ll do it.

Addressing her words to Alara: I will never let you down, I will be a good helper for you.

She added, “I will always make sure you are well.”

At this point, the fact that Hatshepsut existed and what she was is no longer of any importance.

Hassan endured great suffering; his life and future were destroyed; Qamar the smallmouth died; three boys and two girls endured misery and torment; they only survived with their bodies; they were racked with psychological issues, fear, confusion, and memories of suffering, pain, and sleepless nights spent in fear and sobs; they also experienced great shame, weakness, contradictions, and uncertainty.

An entire family was destroyed, human lives that were supposed to live a different life, had it not been for her, and she is still working to destroy more, dozens of servants and farmers got their share of tyranny, as a result of Hatshepsut!

Does the subsequent query regarding the truth of its existence thus have any significance?

It is true with the reality of Zainab’s existence, the consequences of her acts, and the ramifications of her existence, regardless of her look or who she is.

She’s assembling herself right now. She will flawlessly equip Alara to give her what she wants; The blood that passes through her veins is more Hatshepsut blood than Zeinab blood, thus she should be the ideal host from her wombs.

While this curse was passed on to Zainab by an unintentional occurrence that took root later, it doesn’t matter if it was a transient reality that remained imprisoned in that crypt for thousands of years, or if it was simply an illusion created by Zainab’s fantasies as a result of what she went through and the survival methods she devised, which proved successful, now that she is fifty-four years old.

Not only did she survive, but for forty years she was a woman of authority that had never been attained by a woman in Upper Egypt, and despite what happened to the family recently, she helped the idea of saving them from destitution and loss, as she is able to adapt and innovate for her survival.

Most significantly, she promised to elevate Alara to the same position as she did her mother.

She developed strategies, learned from experience, and adjusted while she was with Zainab, and now that she is prepared for the development phase, she will raise the girl from infancy toward the goals she has for her.

While Zainab sometimes resists, fights, defies her, disagrees with her, and refuses, Alara must remain available to her at all times, like a ring on her finger.

If Zainab was the school of torment, then Alara would be the university.

Beautiful, radiant, intelligent Alara.

Alara, who, if he was from a Pharaonic deity, combined beauty, cunning, sedition, humiliation, torment and suffering, so his name could only be Alara.

Or so at least, Hatshepsut hoped.