Ushkat's Mushum Dies

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ISBN: 979-8710865941

Ushkat's Mom has a little baby inside her. Every morning, Ushkat asks about her little sister.

It sounds so lovely to be a baby, floating in a nice, warm bubble, close to Mom all the time.

Ushkat would love to spend all her time cuddled up with Mom. “Why do we have to come out of there?" Ushkat asked.

Mom smiled. “Can you imagine if you were still in there?" Mom drew her arms in a big circle.

“My stomach would be this big, and I couldn't even get through the door of our home!"

Ushkat laughed at the thought of Mom with a huge belly that wouldn’t get through doors.

Maybe it's a good thing, then, that babies came out.

“And if the baby didn’t come out,” Mom continued, “we would miss out on all the joy that comes with preparing for her arrival.”

Ushkat felt that joy herself, for example when she wondered what games she and her little sister would play together.

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Ushkat felt a little weird, though, that both Mom and her felt that joy these days. Mom’s father, Ushkat’s mushum (grandfather), died a few days ago. Ushkat’s Mom and Dad organised the funeral and hosted a number of family members. There had been a lot of crying, but also a lot of laughing.

Ushkat had found it very confusing.

Everyone had left the day before; once again, only Ushkat and her parents were in the house—and the baby, of course, tucked warmly in Mom’s belly, right under her heart.

“Come,” Mom said when they had finished breakfast. “We have to start cleaning out your mushum’s room.”

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They piled a bunch of clothes to sort on mushum’s bed.

“Neka,” Ushkat said, using the Innu word for mother, “what does it mean, dying? And where is mushum now?”

“That is such a good question,” Mom answered.

“The truth is that we don’t know exactly what happens when we die. But Bahá'u'lláh told us a few things about what happens, and it sounds amazing.”

“How is it amazing?” Ushkat asked, thinking about all the crying she had witnessed over the last few days.

“Remember how we were talking about a baby has to come out of their mother’s belly?" Mom said.

“Yes, but mushum wasn't too big. Adults don't keep growing until they break the sky!"

Mom laughed. “You're right! But we use our bodies and once they are too used, we leave them behind and go somewhere else."

“Where?" Ushkat asked, placing a carefully folded shirt on the bed.

“It's a place called the Abhá Kingdom. Some people call it paradise," Mom said, shifting a pile of folded clothes on the bed to start a second pile.

“What does it look like?”

“We don't know, but Bahá'u'lláh tells us it's a great place."

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End of this sample.

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