Queen of the Heavens by Kingsley Guy Read Free Book Online Page A

so.”
    “Don’t concern yourself with me,” I told him. “When you’re well and working, make an offering to the poor in the name of Ptah. That is all I ask.”
    My attention was diverted by a commotion nearby.
    “A leper!”someone shouted. “Be gone. Get away.”
    I walked to the edge of the crowd and looked down the street at a stooped woman in rags. Several men and boys picked up stones and cast them at her. She crouched, and raised her arms to deflect the missiles coming at her head.
    “Stop.” I shouted. “Allow the woman to come here.”
    The people obeyed, but backed away some distance, not wanting to be near the leper. As she approached, my breath left me, as I looked at the face of a living being that was rotting like a corpse that had not been mummified. Puss flowed from open sores around the woman’s eyes, and a hole existed where once there had been a nose. I, too, wanted to back away, but found I could not move my legs.
    “What power do you have that keeps the crowd from stoning me?” she asked.
    “I’m a healer,” I answered. “The people respect me for this.”
    As I looked at the woman, I knew her time in the earthly realm was all but at an end. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I cannot save you.”
    “I would not expect you to even try. I know I’m about to die. I came to Memphis from the edge of the desert, where the lepers gather, to seek out my children one last time.”
    “Did you find them?”
    “Yes, but they would have nothing to do with me. Their fear of my disease kept them from even sitting with their mother for a short time.”
    As I stood looking at the pathetic creature before me, I heard Isis’ voice.
    “Embrace the woman and give her your love.”
    Embrace a leper, Isis? I can’t do that , I replied through my thoughts.
    “Embrace her, Tuya. You must.”
    Isis. I cannot. I, too, might become a leper.
    “You call yourself a healer, and you won’t extend your love to the most wretched?” Isis cried. “You’re not deserving of my power.”
    The goddess’ reproach came as a shock, for she had never before spoken to me with anger.
    Forgive me, but I have great fear, I replied.
    Isis moderated her tone. “Love and fear cannot exist together, Tuya. Take the leper in your arms and give her your love. If you act with love and compassion, her disease cannot touch you.”
    I did not want to do this. For a moment, I thought of disobeying Isis, but I feared another reproach from the Queen of the Heavens more than I feared the leper. With trepidation, I reached out to the woman and placed my arms around her. The stench nearly sickened me as my nose came close to her rotting flesh. Then, to my surprise, the violet hue filled my consciousness, and the terrible stench turned to a smell as sweet as that of a lotus blossom. The leper and I were both petals in the Flower of Life, and all fear vanished as love flowed between us. Isis was correct. Where love exists, fear cannot, and as I continued to embrace the leper I realized she and I were one.
    When the violet hue lifted and we finally separated, I remained filled with peace and calm. The woman looked into my eyes, her lips, or what was left of them, upturned in a slight smile.
    “I was never afraid of dying,” the leper said, “but before crossing over to the afterworld, I wanted to know love one more time in this world. Even my children could not show me love, but you did, and I am grateful.”
    I reached out and stroked the woman’s face.
    “Your courage will be rewarded as you face Osiris’ Judgment,” I said.
    The woman took my hand in hers and kissed it. “The rewards will be yours, my dear,” she replied, then released my hand and walked away.
    As I watched the woman depart, I did not regret that I could not heal her body, for I had helped instead to heal her soul, and she had helped to heal mine.
    When I turned again to the crowd, I saw the people had maintained their distance. “Which of the poor among you