Stomach burn

yesterday I was talking to one of my best friends abroad. His name was Ahmad Khader, and yes It was. I knew him since we were about 10 years old from elementary school. A lot of competition was on fire through study years till we finished high school. Both of us decided to study medicine, we both have a dream to be such a change in the world one day. So, we start searching here and there to find a good university and read the eligibility criteria for each to know if we can join or not. After a lot of searching, I found one that I can join but he didn't. We passed many boundaries together so this also wasn't a big deal although it is kind of. As two guys live here in Gaza strip, Palestine, we start searching for other universities in the near countries, Jordan, Egypt.. etc, and at least we found one. It was one in Alexandria in Egypt. It took a few months for him to join the class but he did. We continue talking via video conference every week and even discussing with each other as we are in the same field for the last four years. Last week, I tried to contact for several times but it didn't work till yesterday. We start chatting like every time and how his study is going, how safety precautions are if there is any. He told me a lot about the situation there and how irresponsible the people are. There were just a few corona cases in one distant city, but life is going on in other cities. His university was one of the first universities to move to online studying and postponing the clinical rotations till safety. But in the middle of our talk, I noticed that he is not comfortable as always so I asked If I am bothering him or what is going on. After I asked several times for reassurance, He told me. "Last week, I was having stomach burn for a couple of days that disturb me, so I decided to go and see a doctor. I called the doctor who supervises us in internal medicine rotation in the hospital to book a meeting and agreed to go to his special clinic before opening. I arrived there before him and was waiting, but suddenly a rural man arrived and start talking to me. In the middle of his talk, he coughed directly toward me and almost spit all of my face. He drew a big smile and said "Don't be afraid, It's not CORONA, It's just T.B. (tuberculosis)" and laughed. At this time, the doctor arrived, shake our hands, and instead of talking about my stomach pain, I asked for a T.B. test and waiting for the results". As he finished talking, I was holding my laugh not to make fun of his sorrow, But I renamed him Ahmad T.B. to ask him the next time and remember it every time we talk to laugh again.

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Jane Doe

Aspiring writer, budding linguist.

Cape Town, South Africa