The Momma Clan

I think it was Jia who suggested we visit Egypt during our lengthy summer holidays. She was the most enthusiastic, energetic, and active of us all. I agreed because it gave me the perfect opportunity to understand ancient Egyptian history (I was well known as the bookworm of the group). Advait, being the skeptical person he is, refused at first but was interested when the subject of the Sphinx came up, which led him to agree. Varun had agreed instantly, for he was the prankster of our group (even now I’m quite sure that he was looking for a way to shut our History teacher into a pyramid) and was deeply interested in studying ancient Egyptian pranks (if they had any).

So soon, our little group set off to Egypt. We had our rest and refreshments and set off to the pyramids.

“I can’t believe it,” said Jia in awe, staring at the Pyramids.

“It looks like a birthday hat,” said Varun bluntly.

“Can you two not argue for once?” interjected Advait irritably as Jia opened her mouth to retort.

“Alright, let’s go already; you can do what you want later,” I said impatiently, earning a lot of teasing remarks for being so impatient to study the Pyramids.

As we entered, Varun simply had to touch something. And we felt ourselves fall. Later we realized it was a trapdoor.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” screamed Jia.

“SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY?” yelled Advait.

“COME ON, I WAS CURIOUS,” countered Varun.

“YOU ARE SO-“ Jia began.

“Quiet,” I hissed, interrupting their bickering. It was bad enough that we were stuck in a dark and isolated location, and my friends arguing would not help us escape.

Once silence fell, we navigated our way to a room that had ancient Egyptian words.

“What does it mean?” asked Jia.

“It says,” I answered, being the only one who paid attention during that History lesson, mainly because I was the only one interested. “There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other, and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?” 

“What does that mean?” asked Advait.

“It makes no sense,” said Varun

“If you—” I started but was interrupted by Varun, who said, “You know full well we never paid a minute’s attention in History that day,” which was punctuated by the other two nodding feverishly.

“There are,” observed Jia, “pictures of the Sun and Moon… but they don’t give birth to one another.”

“Maybe,” ventured Varun, “It’s about stars.”

“What?” said Advait incredulously, “It’s got nothing to do with that idiot… but it could be related to the Sun and Moon.”

“What if it’s about day and night?” I asked, and upon seeing the surprised look on their faces, I explained, “If we look at it logically, then you notice that after day comes night and after night comes day.”

“When you put it that way,” said Advait slowly, “It does make sense.”

With everyone’s agreement, we answered the riddle and got out quite safely. Once we’d reached home, we thought it would be nice to record such an incident, and that’s how the responsibility of this story fell on me. Until we fall into another Pyramid, I say goodbye.

-Jagruti Rajguru