That was the brief conversation that accompanied the prostitute’s corpse to the cemetery. That was the short conversation that spread from mouth to mouth; there was always a stranger attending every death, always testifying that the deceased was good so the angels would record them as deserving of heaven.
***
That’s what people told years later. An unknown woman was found dead in a narrow alley boarding house. She lived alone. The neighbors also didn’t know who she was. What people knew was that the woman was often seen walking like the wind, roaming the streets, with a shawl always hanging on her back.
Some said she died of some disease. At first, the people around were hesitant to mourn. Only a few people were seen tending to her corpse. They were none other than the city’s funeral workers.
But then people were amazed by a strange sight. As the woman’s coffin was lifted and carried towards the cemetery, unfamiliar figures were seen accompanying the corpse. They walked in a line behind the coffin. The procession was unending, filling all the streets. The number of mourners was beyond count. Until the corpse arrived at the cemetery, as far as the eye could see, there was a sea of people.
“Who is being buried?” asked someone who eventually joined the funeral procession to the cemetery, amazed by the unusual sight, to an unknown person next to him.
“She is the one who paved the way to heaven for everyone.”
“Yes, but who is she?”
“She is a good person. We are her witnesses.”
The questioner could only bow his head and stroke his chest. And since then, there were no more stories about the strange figure who always appeared at every death.